Analysis of Islamic Scripture. Surah Al-Baqarah, Verse 260 One of the most fundamental precepts of many religions is belief in the unseen.
Asim Khan 996228531
Paper 2: Surah Al-Baqarah, Verse 260
One of the most fundamental precepts of many religions is belief in the unseen. This is especially true in the religion of Islam where Muslims can only grasp the essence of their religion by having a firm belief over the existence of Allah, the Angels, the Hereafter, the Prophets, and in Allah’s power to resurrect all of the mankind on the Day of Judgment. Acting upon the rulings of Islam may be an easy task but developing a sound belief in the aforementioned tenants may be one of the most challenging aspects of Islam. When a person is able to develop a firm belief in these hidden realities, he also develops a high level of appreciation for the religion, and is able to practice the religion much more sincerely. Among those who needed the firmest of beliefs in the hidden realities were the Prophets. The Prophets were people who took the message of Allah to a particular nation, and needed to be convinced to the utmost degree in their beliefs in order to spread the message of Allah. Indeed, if the Prophets did not have true conviction in what they were preaching, there was no way for them to assert their message convincingly to bring people towards the truth. In the Quran, we find several stories where Prophets have asked Allah to show them signs of the unseen realities. One such story is provided in verse 260 of Al-Baqarah, where Prophet Abraham asks Allah to demonstrate how He would resurrect people after their death. Upon reading this verse, many people may question Prophet Abraham’s intentions and argue that it was the lack of his belief that led him to ask such a question. However, it can easily be shown through Abraham’s preceding encounters, the words used in the verse, and the practical example shown to Abraham that the Prophet had full belief in Allah’s powers, and had asked Allah merely for the sake of reassuring himself.
The first thing that must be understood is that Prophet Abraham had a very strong belief in Allah and His power. This can easily be seen in the life that Abraham led. Even at the earlier stage of his, Abraham questioned his father’s practice of worshipping idols. He was bewildered by the idea of worshipping something that was a mere creation of humans. It was the belief in oneness of Allah that led Abraham to destroy all the idols in Mecca. When Abraham was thrown in the fire, he did not show any sense of hesitation. This was probably the biggest indication of Abraham’s belief in being resurrected from his death and then having the chance to meet the being that he had obeyed his entire life—Allah. Although there is substantial evidence to suggest that Abraham had true conviction in Allah’s power, one may still question why he asked Allah how He would raise people from the dead. Abraham may have been prompted to ask this question because of the encounters he had prior to raising this question. When Abraham had a dialogue with Nimrod, Abraham said to him “My Lord is He who gives life and death.” Nimrod responded “I give life and death.” Nimrod then brought two prisoners who were destined to die, spared one of them and killed the other one, and then proclaimed “I have killed this one and given life to the other.” This may have planted an unnerving urge in Abraham’s heart to actually see Allah’s ability to resurrect people, not because he did not believe, but to witness this with his own eyes and bring conviction to his argument whenever he would face another person to the liking of Nimrod. Tustari explains that “Abraham would have felt insecure and challenged in front of Nimrod had he asked him if he had seen Allah give life and death. Abraham would have been able to say ‘Yes’ if he had actually witnessed Allah’s power.” Al-Wahidi’s asbabul al-nuzul explain that just prior to proposing the question to Allah, “Abraham passed by a dead whale, half of which was in the sea and half was in the land. The part which was in the sea was eaten up by the creatures of the sea and the part on the land was eaten up by the creatures of the land. Upon seeing this, Abraham had a natural thought, ‘How is Allah going to gather the different parts of the whale from the bellies of the creatures’ and for this reason Abraham proposed the question to Allah.” The question that Abraham proposed was merely the result of introspection and it was Abraham’s curiosity, not the lack of belief, that led him to pose the question. Even in his earlier life, Abraham was very introspective about the situations he found himself in. In Surah Al-Anam, verses 77 to 78, Abraham introspected whether the moon and the sun could be considered God and be worthy of worship. He concluded that these cannot be representations of Allah as these objects faded away and were not permanent in nature. Clearly, it was the combination of preceding occurrences and Abraham’s introspective and curious nature that led him to question Allah’s ability in raising people from the dead.
