Chief of the Prophets

Chief of the Prophets — Page 198

Chapter Eight 198 Naturally, he had great love for Ibrāhīm. But by the decree of God, this child also did not stay with him for long, he became sick at the age of one and a half years and passed away. Muḥammad sa was deeply grieved at his death and tears started flowing from his eyes. Seeing his condition, ‘Abdur-Raḥmān bin ‘Auf ra said, “O Messenger of Allah, you also cry!” Muḥammad sa replied, “O son of ‘Auf, this is a mercy which God has put in the heart of His servants. ” Then he said: Our eyes shed tears and our hearts grieve. But we say only what our Lord is pleased with. O Ibrāhīm, we are sorely grieved for you. 1 What a great example of patience was shown by our Prophet sa ! Usually it is seen that if a father who after losing all of his children is blessed with a son from Allah the Exalted in an old age, and if that son also dies, he would lose control and resort to wailing and crying. But what a perfect example was shown by our Prophet sa , that neither the heart was so hard that tears did not come, nor was there any complaint to God. Rather, he adopted the way which was based on the perfect balance and exemplified the true relationship with Allah. Aversion to Pretension The study of the life of Muḥammad sa shows us that there was absolutely no pretension in him. He hated anything that might even raise a suspicion of pretension about him in other people’s hearts. At the time of the death of Ibrāhīm, his son, the sun coincidentally had an eclipse. As Muḥammad sa was very grieved by his death, some 1 Sunan Abī Dāwūd (Book of Funerals)