Ibrahim (PBUH) the Knight of Faith

                                            

                                                                                                             

The story of Ibrahim (Abraham) (A.S.) and Ismael (Issac) (A.S.) is a poignant Quranic as well as a Biblical event in which God has sent an angel to Ibrahim and commands him to sacrifice his only loving son Ismael. Ibrahim is known as the “father of faith”, whose faith has been put to test by God. Though, Sacrificing Ismael the only son of Ibrahim seems shocking and unpleasant. From an ethical standpoint, the story raises certain ethical difficulties. It might be argued from an ethical perspective that Ibrahim attempted to kill his son in accepting God's command. Furthermore, from the ethical standpoint, “what Ibrahim attempted was murder, his sacrifice cannot be understood in terms of the universal”. However, it is believed that from the ethical point of view there is no justification for killing any innocent. On the one hand, Ibrahim is becoming a murderer for an ethical mind. But on the other hand, it is believed that faith happens outside any system of thought. Faith is the central point of one’s religious life. As Soren Kierkegaard, a Christian philosopher puts, “If we are to talk of faith at all, it is of something we cannot explain in any language that suffices for people to describe and justify their actions attitudes to one another”. In this sense faith has no place in any system of thought, “faith begins precisely where thinking leaves off”.

The story illustrates that Ibrahim faced two choices the “religious” and the “ethical” or in other words, the choice of obeying the command of God or the principles of ethics. Ibrahim suspended ethical demands and obeyed God. In this sense, Ibrahim’s story contains “teleological suspension of the ethical”. He separates ethics by acting beyond ethical boundaries and emphasizes faith in order to achieve the higher (telos) objective. Hence, Ibrahim puts religious considerations over ethical demands and proved his faith in God. This sort of faith is man’s passion, his free choice of obedience to the Divine. Sacrificing Ismael was a harder trial for Ibrahim, but it is the unshaken faith of Ibrahim which prepares him to sacrifice his only son. Ibrahim knew it was the hardest sacrifice that could be demanded of him, but he also knew that no sacrifice was too hard when God demanded it. The miracle happens in the story that knife could not cut Ismael, but Ibrahim withstood the test and was allowed at the last moment to sacrifice a ram instead.

The exposition of this story unmasks some important philosophical questions. I observe that Ibrahim’s story has two aspects, one is Ibrahim’s firm faith which puts him into a very hard test, but Ibrahim irrespective of hardships and encounters believes that he will exercise his parental love again. Having a firm belief in God, Ibrahim expects that he is not going to lose his only son. Rather he believes he will get Ismael back and he does. However, Ibrahim’s faith enables him to stand with the test. It is important to note that Ibrahim’s “suspending ethics” does not mean “denying ethics”, rather it means its suspension for a certain period. The central theme of this biblical narrative concerning Ibrahim and Ismael became Kierkegaard’s existential exegesis, where ethics judge Ibrahim as a murderer whereas religion declares him a knight of faith. This faith for him is a situation of a paradox because, in it, particularly becomes higher than the universal.

The other aspect of this story made me think, Was Ibrahim really a free man? How did he exercise his freedom? Does he have the choice to disobey God? To answer these questions from the story, I think we can get closer to the story by varying its scenario. Suppose the test is about Ibrahim’s faith in God. In this regard, I claim that Ibrahim had the choice and option to give up the test and not to believe in God. Even it was strongly possible when Ibrahim found it hard to commit. Furthermore, there were other theoretical reasons as well to protect Ismael. He would no doubt choose not to believe. Hence we shall say that Ibrahim was free to choose either to obey or disobey God’s command. In other words, Ibrahim was free to resign, by resigning I mean refuse to give Ismael to God. Ibrahim, in choosing his course of action might have felt intense anguish but he has to choose. The interesting aspect of this experience and confrontation that attracted me is Ibrahim’s commitment and choice to obey God despite the feelings of pathos and extreme anguish. However, Ibrahim made a choice, he commits himself, and this act of choosing makes him authentic in existential terminology.

Another pair of question can be raised here:

a)      Was Ibrahim willing to kill Ismael?

One might wonder whether anyone should be willing to do such a thing in the name of faith.

b)      Was this event symbolic and what does it symbolize?

Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son in obedience to a Divine command implies that a believer’s moral duties are superseded by a higher obligation so that his ethical sense is overridden by an absolute duty to God. Ibrahim’s willingness is not ordinary but the extraordinary shift from lower to higher consciousness. In this senses, his faith involves hope against hope, the hope of unseen and impossible. Thus Ibrahim’s faith not only consists of the willingness to sacrifice Ismael but also in the belief that he will get Ismael back. Indeed, Ibrahim’s sacrifice of Ismael is a symbol of the sacrifice of the dearest thing that one can have on the earth. In remembrance and gratitude to Ibrahim, Muslims throughout the world celebrate Eid-ul-Adha as a symbol that commemorates the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Ismael as an act of abidance to Allah.

We cannot understand what he experienced in his trial of faith. I have a wish to see him and be a witness of those events on the journey towards the mountain Moriah the moment he went on the mountain with Ismael. What occupied him was not the finely wrought fabric of imagination but the shudder of thought.

No one who was great shall be forgotten in this world. Everyone was great in one’s own way in proportion to one’s greatness of what one loved. One who loved himself become great in himself, and those who loved others become great through their devotion, but he who loved God become greater than all. Anyone can become great in proportion to his expectancy. One can become great by expecting the possible but one who expects impossible became greater than all. Ibrahim was tested by Allah throughout his journey of faith tawhid. Ibrahim all the time withstood the test and Allah SWT in return shower His countless blessings upon him. Allah SWT honored him and informing us of the honor of Ibrahim Al-Khalil, and made Ibrahim an Imam and model for the people because of the way he conducted himself and adhered to tawhid.

But it is important to see if Ibrahim had lost heart and with a broken spirit yielded up his son, would he have been recognized as the father of the faith? If he had simply said, all is lost. God requires Ismael, I will sacrifice him, and with him all my joy. He would have made only the first movement of faith. But Ibrahim made the second movement as well. He believed that Ismael would be restored to him. Moreover, murder is to kill someone forcibly. But can Ibrahim be said to have been willing to commit murder in this sense? Ibrahim trusted that Ismael would not be lost even if he were to kill him. That confidence, crazy to our ears, is what made Ibrahim into a knight of faith. I quote Allama Iqbal to remind people of the significance of Ibrahimic faith and obedience to God.

“Aj Bhi ho jo Baraheem(A.S.) ka Imaan paida                  

Aag Kar Sakti hai Andaz-e- Gulistan paida”

“If the faith of Abraham there, once again is born, Where leaps this flame, flowers will bloom, and laugh its blaze to scorn”.