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Prophet / MessengerPhase 1 · Adam to IsaMain personality

Prophet Ibrahim (Khalilullah) (AS)

إبراهيم

c. 2000-1800 BCE (traditional; disputed) date disputed

The 'Friend of Allah' and father of prophets, who broke with his people's idolatry, survived the fire, and with Ismail built the Ka'bah. Jews, Christians and Muslims all claim him, but the Quran calls him a hanif Muslim.

Biography

Ibrahim grew up among idol-worshippers; his father Azar (6:74) was among them. He reasoned against the worship of stars, moon and sun (6:76-79), gently invited his father (19:42-47), smashed his people's idols leaving the largest (21:58-63), and was thrown into a fire that Allah made cool and safe (21:68-69). He debated a king who claimed power over life and death (2:258).

He emigrated, and Lut believed in him and emigrated too (29:26). In old age he was given Ismail through Hajar, and later Ishaq through Sarah (11:71; 14:39). He settled Hajar and the infant Ismail by the Sacred House in a barren valley (14:37); the long narration of Ibn Abbas describes Hajar's running between Safa and Marwah and the gushing of Zamzam (Sahih Bukhari 3364). Later, Ibrahim and Ismail raised the foundations of the Ka'bah (2:127), and he proclaimed the Hajj to mankind (22:27).

He was tested with a dream of sacrificing his son; both submitted, and Allah ransomed the son with a great sacrifice (37:102-107). Allah made him an Imam for mankind (2:124), took him as Khalil (4:125), and gave him scrolls (suhuf, 87:19; 53:36-37). He is one of the Ulul-Azm (33:7; 42:13). The Quran declares he was 'neither a Jew nor a Christian, but a hanif Muslim' (3:67). In the Mi'raj, the Prophet ﷺ saw him in the seventh heaven reclining against al-Bayt al-Ma'mur (Sahih Bukhari 3207).

Most scholars hold that the son to be sacrificed was Ismail (supported by the sequence of 37:101-112, where the glad tidings of Ishaq come after the sacrifice story); a minority held it was Ishaq. His birthplace (Ur, Babylon, Kutha or Harran) and dates are disputed.

Sources & explanation

۞ Qur'an

2:124 2:125 2:126 2:127 2:128 2:129 2:130 2:131 2:258 2:260 3:67 3:68 3:95 3:96 3:97 4:125 6:74 6:75 6:76 6:77 6:78 6:79 6:83 14:35 14:37 14:39 16:120 16:121 16:122 16:123 19:41 19:42 19:46 19:47 21:51 21:57 21:58 21:63 21:68 21:69 22:26 22:27 26:69 26:70 26:77 26:78 26:79 26:80 26:81 26:82 29:26 37:83 37:99 37:100 37:101 37:102 37:103 37:104 37:105 37:106 37:107 37:112 53:37 60:4 87:19 57:26 11:69 11:71 51:24

Links open quran.com.

📜 Hadith verified on sunnah.com

  • Sahih al-Bukhari 3207 Sahih

    The Mi'raj: the Prophet ﷺ met Adam, Yahya and Isa, Yusuf, Idris, Harun, Musa and Ibrahim in successive heavens.

  • Sahih al-Bukhari 3364 Sahih

    Ibrahim left Hajar and the infant Isma'il in the valley of Makkah; the spring of Zamzam; the Jurhum tribe settled; Ibrahim and Isma'il later built the Ka'bah.

  • Sahih al-Bukhari 3356 Sahih

    Ibrahim circumcised himself at the age of eighty.

  • Sahih al-Bukhari 3358 Sahih

    Ibrahim never said anything untrue except three times (statements made for the sake of Allah), including 'I am sick' and 'the big idol did it'.

  • Sahih al-Bukhari 3349 Sahih

    The first to be clothed on the Day of Resurrection will be Ibrahim.

  • Sahih al-Bukhari 3382 Sahih

    'The honourable son of the honourable son of the honourable son of the honourable: Yusuf son of Ya'qub son of Ishaq son of Ibrahim.'

💬 Explanation Unverified

Engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza's perspective

Methodological note (not a direct quote): Engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza's widely known approach is to build narratives primarily on the Quran and Sahih Hadith, to set aside Israiliyat (Judeo-Christian lore absorbed into later tafsir) and weak or fabricated narrations, and to avoid sectarian framing. Applied to this node: Ibrahim's narrative is taken from the Quran and Sahih Bukhari 3364, with Israiliyat details set aside. The Quranic point that he belonged to no later sect (3:67) underpins a non-sectarian reading of religious history.

Empires in their lifetime

  • Sumerian city-states c. 4500 – c. 1900 BCE
    Traditional dating (c. 2000–1800 BCE, disputed) places Ibrahim in late Sumerian / early Babylonian Mesopotamia.

Further references

  • Quran 2:124-133
  • Quran 6:74-83
  • Quran 21:51-73
  • Quran 37:83-113
  • Quran 3:67
  • Quran 4:125
  • Quran 87:19
  • Sahih Bukhari 3364
  • Sahih Bukhari 3207

Connections

Comes from

  • Prophet Nuh (AS) father of — Prophethood placed in progeny of Nuh and Ibrahim (57:26); of Nuh's way (37:83)

Leads to

Linked with