The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 444
CH. 6 AL-AN'ĀM PT. 7 وَكَذَلِكَ نُرِئَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ مَلَكُوتَ And thus did We show. 76 Abraham the kingdom of the السَّمَوتِ وَالْاَرْضِ وَلِيَكُونَ مِنَ heavens and the earth that he الْمُوْقِنِينَ might be rightly guided and that he might be of those who have certainty of faith. 821 word ✓ but al, (14:42). Now, as has already been stated, the word ✓ may be applied to a person other than the real father, but the word (walid) which means "the begetter" is applied to none but the actual father. This clearly shows that Āzar who has been called the ✓ (ab) of Abraham was a different person from the J, (walid) of Abraham. He was probably his uncle. Some passages of the Bible also support this conclusion. We are told that Abraham married Sarah, the daughter of Terah (Gen. 20:12). This shows that Terah was not his real father, for in that case he could not marry Terah's daughter, his own sister. It appears that his father being dead, he was brought up by his uncle, Azar or Athar, who gave him his daughter Sarah in marriage. As Āzar brought up Abraham and was in the position of a father to him, the latter I came to be ascribed to him as a son, and this led to the error of Azar or Athar being taken as the real father of Abraham. Again, from the Talmud it appears that Āzar prosecuted Abraham and presented him before the king for the offence of breaking idols. If Āzar had been the real father of Abraham, he would not have followed such a course against his own son. 884 821. Important Words: ملك kingdom) is derived from) ملكوت means, great i. e. he possessed complete ownership of, and power over sovereignty; dominion; kingdom; power to deal with a thing as one like; the place of holy spirits in the heavens (Aqrab). The word is specifically used about the kingdom or dominion of God (Mufradāt). See also 1:4. Commentary: The word (kingdom), as shown above, is peculiar to the dominion of God. Thus the words, And thus did We show Abraham the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, mean, We showed Abraham the power and control which We exercise over every part of the universe. Shihābud-Din Suhrawardī, a great Muslim divine, says in his famous work, the 'Awäriful-Ma'arif, that when a spiritual wayfarer reaches this stage, i. e. when he is made to witness the sovereignty of God, he is, as it were, spiritually reborn and that no person can be admitted into the presence of God until he has attained this stage. When, however, a man has attained this stage of certainty and conviction, doubt cannot enter his mind, for then he lives in the very presence of God.