The Mayor, a patron to the local Interfaith Group, chose ‘town and gown’ as the theme for his year in office. As part of his commitment to the interfaith activities, the Mayor invites this group’s members to speak on his theme, yearly, according to their individual faith’s perspective.
I had the opportunity to talk to interfaith members, and other audience, in the Mayor’s parlour, on his theme from the perspective; ‘how Islam encourages learning and scholarship, in order to build a human civilization and explore God’s creation, enabling man to comprehend His majesty, power and wisdom’.
I always, in my talks, highlight the fact that the Islamic faith does not consist of blind belief or unrealistic dogma. On the contrary, its teachings require us to acquire knowledge through faith; learning to understand creation and by hopefully becoming wiser, to develop the ability to distinguish between right and wrong, before making any choice.
Islam does not encourage any doctrine which is static, or based on ignorance and prejudice. Faith is not forced on anyone, but the ultimate destinies of the doers of both good and wrong are explained.
From its beginning, Islam has tried to enlighten people with both the light of faith, and the light of Knowledge.
While Islam makes it absolutely clear that those who have knowledge are not equal to those who don’t, the Quran says: ‘Say ‘are those who know and those who do not know equal? It is those who are imbued with understanding that receive reminders.’ (S39/V9)
On a practical level, Islam has consistently encouraged people to seek knowledge and made provision for this. For example, when Makkan forces, in their first attack on the Muslims, lost the war and many were made war captives, the Prophet gave a choice to all those who were literate to ransom themselves from captivity, by teaching ten Muslim children to read and write. Some of the companions of the prophet who rose to the position of the Scribe of the Revelation, or learned other languages, were from this early batch of students.
Muslims, men and women, were obligated by the Prophet to learn. He, in one of his very famous directives to the believers, says: ‘Seeking knowledge is an obligation on every individual man and woman’.
He urged them to seek knowledge, even though it may necessitate travelling to China: ‘Seek knowledge even though you have to travel to China’.
He goes further than that when He says: ‘A Word of wisdom is the lost property of a believer. Wherever he may lay his hand on it, he is the most deserving of it’.
This seems to be the primary reason why the Abbasid Caliph al-Ma'mun established the famously known ‘House of Wisdom’ or ‘Bait al-Hikmah’.
The House of Wisdom was a library and translation institute, as well as the major intellectual centre of the Islamic Golden Age. It was credited with bringing together most of the best known scholars from around the globe, to share information ideas and culture in Baghdad from the 9th to 13th centuries, and many of the most learned Muslim scholars were part of this excellent research and educational institute.
The great scholars of the House of Wisdom included Al-Khawarizmi, the "father" of algebra, which takes its name from his book Kitab al-Jabr.
The Quran, in this respect, directs people to travel all over the globe to explore how creation began: ‘say: travel through the earth and then see how Allah did originate creation’. (S29/V20)
When Islamic sciences took root, students were encouraged to study the creation in the light of this divine guidance. Millions of manuscripts were produced after intensive ‘research’, most of which are still preserved in libraries and learning centres worldwide. Modern sciences employ the same methodology of research by continuing to travel intensively to study the world.
Acquiring this combination of Faith (Imaan) and knowledge, as per the Quranic teachings, is, we are taught, a means of attaining a higher rank in the Sight of God.
Indeed, the first revelation of the Quran to the Prophet started with the word: ‘Read’, and included the following words: reading, teaching, pen and delivering humans from ignorance. However, a further point to be noticed here is the one which directs the process of reading and learning ‘in the name of your Lord’.
Knowledge, according to the teachings of the Quran, should not be just secular, i.e. the mere process of learning the ‘cause and effect’ or about ‘law of nature’, without trying to comprehend the glory and majesty of the ‘All Knowing’. All knowledge flows from the source of eternal wisdom and the ultimate source of cause and effect.
This is why the Quran reminds both people of learning, and seekers of knowledge, by saying: ‘Indeed, among His servants, only those grasp the majesty of God, who are scholars.’ Surah 35/V27.
It is interesting to read the preceding part of this verse which says: ‘Do you not see that Allah sends down rain from above? With it, then, We bring out produce of various colours. And in the mountains are tracts white and red, of various shades of colour, and black intense in hue. And so amongst men and beasts and cattle are of various colours’.
Is it then any wonder that the Muslim world takes pride in having established the first university?
The University of Al Karaouine (Al-Qarawiyine) in Fez, Morocco is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest degree-granting university and continuously operating institution of higher learning in the world, founded in 859 by a well educated Muslim woman called Fatima al-Fihri.
The university produced great thinkers such as Abu Al-Abbas al-Zwawi, Abu Madhab Al-Fasi, a leading theorist of the Maliki School of Islamic jurisprudence and Leo Africanus, a renowned traveller and writer.
The university played a leading role in both the cultural and the academic relations between the Islamic world and Europe. A renowned Jewish philosopher and theologian Maimonides (Ibn Maimun) studied under Abdul Arab Ibn Muwashah. In addition, Ibn al-Arabi Ibn Khaldun and Al-Bitruji (Alpetragius) were both connected with the university, either as academicians or as students.
Alongside the Qur’an and Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), other subjects, such as grammar, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, history, geography and music, were taught. Gradually, a broader range of subjects were introduced in the university, particularly natural sciences, physics and foreign languages.
Muslims also established another university in Cairo, Egypt in 975AD. Known as ‘Al-Azhar University’, it offered a variety of post-graduate degrees (Ijazah), and had individual faculties for a theological seminary, Islamic law and jurisprudence, Arabic grammar, Islamic astronomy, early Islamic philosophy, and logic in Islamic philosophy.
Some scholars, such as George Makdisi, John Makdisi and Hugh Goddard, argue that European medieval universities were influenced in many ways by the medieval university institutions in Islamic Spain (when it was part of the Islamic country between 711 and 1492 and called Al-Andalus), the Emirate of Sicily, and by the Middle East in general.
As a footnote, the degree system, known as ‘Ijazah’ was a tradition, well established among Muslim scholars, from the time of the Prophet Muhammad. Ijazah means authorisation, whereby the teacher authorises his students to narrate and spread the knowledge they gained from him, in its authentic and original form.
Wednesday 30 March 2011
Sunday 20 March 2011
8 questions
I am sent questions and queries from time to time by people who are working on some research programme or writing about Islam and Muslims. The following are 8 questions which I answered and thought to place it on my blog for general public.
1) What do you think of the extremists who kill in the name of Islam?
We need to be careful when we say ‘extremists who kill in the name of Islam’. No one kills in the name of Islam. Killing is an act of murder and those who kill will always seek to justify their acts, to satisfy their conscience, and to attempt to persuade others of the legitimacy of their reasons for committing them. They could be Muslim political fanatics or some of the Irish who want to get rid of British rule or defend their right to be part of British rule. Some states commit acts of mass murder, and justify them as being ‘in the long term interest of the country’ or by enacting new laws to justify their criminality.
The Quran says: ‘and those who do not associate beside Allah any other god, and do not kill the soul that Allah has sanctified it except (within) legal right’…
This applies in a case of retaliation or to the law of retribution.
Destroying people’s lives by committing a murder or mass murders and attempting to justify it within any legal framework or system, religious or secular, is simply unacceptable.
2) What are your views on the Burqa, Hijab and Niqab?
There are few issues here:
Let me first clarify that majority of Islamic scholars are not of the opinion that women should cover or veil their faces.
The wearing of the Hijab is intended to protect a woman’s dignity by the wearing of clothes that cover her, and do not show her body in a provocative or inappropriate manner.
The wearing of the Burqa is now mostly confined to the women of Afghanistan, although it used to be worn, and can still be seen in parts of Pakistan and India. This is a fading local cultural phenomenon.
The Niqab, worn previously by women who were from a traditionally very conservative society, is, in my opinion, now worn either to show a deep personal commitment to spiritual purity, or, as is the case in many Muslim countries, has become part of local religious requirement.
The secular systems and the Feminist movements in the West oppose it; they hold the view that it symbolises the repression of women, or wearing it goes against the European norms of women’s liberty. Many people within some religious establishments also express the same objections, and cite it as an example of Islam’s inferiority and incompatibility with the present age. Women should have the choice and the right to demonstrate their liberty by exercising their options to wear whatever covering they want, or do not want, or in any other way.
Neither the state, nor any other organisation, should dictate to any religious minority, on what they should or should not wear, in my opinion. Let there be a personal choice which Islam will always defend.
3) Do you think women are oppressed in Islam?
I do not think women are oppressed in Islam in any sense. Islam was the first religious and legal system to grant them distinct equal rights, and made any discriminatory acts against them unlawful. Both men and women are equally responsible for their actions in the Sight of God and are given, equally, the free will to show their commitments towards Him.
Men and women are equal in their personal rights, ownership of business and properties, full entitlement to education, employment or inheritance law. Modesty is a requirement for both men and women.
If any cultural or local tribal traditions adversely affecting the treatment of women are seen to exist, they are not derived from Islam.
4) Many people who are against Islam like to take things out of context from the Quran. What do you think of that?
This has become widespread in a world where everyone declares that all religions should be treated fairly. However, quotes made freely and totally out of context, seem to have become the norm when attacking Islam and its teachings.
Islam, as is clear from the Quran, invites people to understand its teachings and not to take it for granted. Islam has no attitude of blind belief. It invokes people’s wisdom and intelligence, and says: ‘The truth is from your Lord, let him who wants to believe, do so, and let him who wants to disbelieve in it, do so’…
The Quranic teachings were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad over a 23 year period, which included periods of peaceful preaching and severe persecution, when wars were imposed on Muslims, forcing them to leave their towns. This resulted in the building of a community and eventually a state, in another town, together with further teachings concerning both the spiritual and the mundane life of the people, the formation of treaties and alliances, and co-existence with other communities.
Those who would malign Islam, deliberately and spitefully, confuse one period with another.
5) Do you think the Quran advocates violence?
No, the Quran does not advocate violence. The Quran is quite clear on this when it says: ‘and when they incline to peaceful relationship then you must respond to it and place your trust in Allah…
It also says: ‘there is no compulsion in religion’. Many wars were undertaken in the name of religion but Islam abolished the whole idea of imposing a religion onto another people. There is no concept of holy war in Islam. Jihad, as a concept equal to holy war, is a wholly un-Islamic one.
The Quran repeats in the most clear term saying: ‘Allah does not love those who spread mischief in the land’.
The Quran goes further and says: ‘and (only) fight in the way of Allah against those who are fighting you and do not transgress, as Allah does not love those who transgress (the limits).
Yes, Islam grants a person or a people the right to defend themselves when attacked; a path followed by all nations and peoples.
6) What stops people from learning about Islam?
I would say there are lots of people who learn about Islam and appreciate its teachings. However, in my opinion, historical prejudices, personal grievances, a dislike of Muslims, a feeling of racial supremacy, narrow mindedness and sense of monopoly about God and His favours, all combine when people disapprove of learning about Islam, as do images of violence, suicide bombings, immigration, projection of Sharia as repressive legal system, and all that is hateful to any person of common sense.
When people are continually told that violence comes from Muslims, understandably they come think that Islam is about violence. It is also understandable that some people, having continually received the wrong message, would like to protect themselves or their children from anything Islamic.
It is all about Image, and I remember one of the reasons raised by an opponent in the Prophet’s time, mentioned in the Quran, for not embracing Islam was their saying: ‘if it (Islam) were to be of any good, it would not have come to you’.
7) Does the media have a role in this?
Some of the media has, and continues, to play an extremely spiteful role in directing people’s minds against Islam and Muslims, particularly, when it comes to the reporting of conflicts in the world, and on local issues concerning the community. The Media needs sensationalism to engender greater profits, and continues to manipulate the news regardless of who is hurt and harmed in the process.
News that may concern an individual from the Muslim community, which is somehow linked to a regional conflict, is made to show that whatever happened was the result of being a Muslim, and political ideologues are continually encouraged to attack Islam.
.
8) What can be done to stop misconceptions arising amongst people?
The other day I was reading some comments made about an article written by a Muslim on Islam, in which one commentator said: ‘…minds are already made-up about Islam’.
This is a true reflection of a real prejudice and shows that many people in this world are not open to any form of reasoning but only heed the opinions which are already firmly entrenched in their own minds. It is a sad situation, the changing of which will be an enormous undertaking, involving all of us, at all levels of society.
Politicians, media and communities, all need to be more responsible and should show leadership by demonstrating that they all wish to build a firm and lasting community relationship.
The wider community should bear greater responsibilities towards creating an environment in which peoples can prosper and ideas can be challenged in a positive manner. At the moment, Muslims are being bombarded with allegations and are then expected to prove themselves by coming forward with solutions!
Everyone needs to assist in the creation of an environment of trust, encompassing a willingness to engage, create human fellowship, try to find the common ground, regard all people as equal and worth listening to, and dealing with all in a fair way. The Media should be made far more responsible for what they are publishing.
1) What do you think of the extremists who kill in the name of Islam?
We need to be careful when we say ‘extremists who kill in the name of Islam’. No one kills in the name of Islam. Killing is an act of murder and those who kill will always seek to justify their acts, to satisfy their conscience, and to attempt to persuade others of the legitimacy of their reasons for committing them. They could be Muslim political fanatics or some of the Irish who want to get rid of British rule or defend their right to be part of British rule. Some states commit acts of mass murder, and justify them as being ‘in the long term interest of the country’ or by enacting new laws to justify their criminality.
The Quran says: ‘and those who do not associate beside Allah any other god, and do not kill the soul that Allah has sanctified it except (within) legal right’…
This applies in a case of retaliation or to the law of retribution.
Destroying people’s lives by committing a murder or mass murders and attempting to justify it within any legal framework or system, religious or secular, is simply unacceptable.
2) What are your views on the Burqa, Hijab and Niqab?
There are few issues here:
Let me first clarify that majority of Islamic scholars are not of the opinion that women should cover or veil their faces.
The wearing of the Hijab is intended to protect a woman’s dignity by the wearing of clothes that cover her, and do not show her body in a provocative or inappropriate manner.
The wearing of the Burqa is now mostly confined to the women of Afghanistan, although it used to be worn, and can still be seen in parts of Pakistan and India. This is a fading local cultural phenomenon.
The Niqab, worn previously by women who were from a traditionally very conservative society, is, in my opinion, now worn either to show a deep personal commitment to spiritual purity, or, as is the case in many Muslim countries, has become part of local religious requirement.
The secular systems and the Feminist movements in the West oppose it; they hold the view that it symbolises the repression of women, or wearing it goes against the European norms of women’s liberty. Many people within some religious establishments also express the same objections, and cite it as an example of Islam’s inferiority and incompatibility with the present age. Women should have the choice and the right to demonstrate their liberty by exercising their options to wear whatever covering they want, or do not want, or in any other way.
Neither the state, nor any other organisation, should dictate to any religious minority, on what they should or should not wear, in my opinion. Let there be a personal choice which Islam will always defend.
3) Do you think women are oppressed in Islam?
I do not think women are oppressed in Islam in any sense. Islam was the first religious and legal system to grant them distinct equal rights, and made any discriminatory acts against them unlawful. Both men and women are equally responsible for their actions in the Sight of God and are given, equally, the free will to show their commitments towards Him.
Men and women are equal in their personal rights, ownership of business and properties, full entitlement to education, employment or inheritance law. Modesty is a requirement for both men and women.
If any cultural or local tribal traditions adversely affecting the treatment of women are seen to exist, they are not derived from Islam.
4) Many people who are against Islam like to take things out of context from the Quran. What do you think of that?
This has become widespread in a world where everyone declares that all religions should be treated fairly. However, quotes made freely and totally out of context, seem to have become the norm when attacking Islam and its teachings.
Islam, as is clear from the Quran, invites people to understand its teachings and not to take it for granted. Islam has no attitude of blind belief. It invokes people’s wisdom and intelligence, and says: ‘The truth is from your Lord, let him who wants to believe, do so, and let him who wants to disbelieve in it, do so’…
The Quranic teachings were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad over a 23 year period, which included periods of peaceful preaching and severe persecution, when wars were imposed on Muslims, forcing them to leave their towns. This resulted in the building of a community and eventually a state, in another town, together with further teachings concerning both the spiritual and the mundane life of the people, the formation of treaties and alliances, and co-existence with other communities.
Those who would malign Islam, deliberately and spitefully, confuse one period with another.
5) Do you think the Quran advocates violence?
No, the Quran does not advocate violence. The Quran is quite clear on this when it says: ‘and when they incline to peaceful relationship then you must respond to it and place your trust in Allah…
It also says: ‘there is no compulsion in religion’. Many wars were undertaken in the name of religion but Islam abolished the whole idea of imposing a religion onto another people. There is no concept of holy war in Islam. Jihad, as a concept equal to holy war, is a wholly un-Islamic one.
The Quran repeats in the most clear term saying: ‘Allah does not love those who spread mischief in the land’.
The Quran goes further and says: ‘and (only) fight in the way of Allah against those who are fighting you and do not transgress, as Allah does not love those who transgress (the limits).
Yes, Islam grants a person or a people the right to defend themselves when attacked; a path followed by all nations and peoples.
6) What stops people from learning about Islam?
I would say there are lots of people who learn about Islam and appreciate its teachings. However, in my opinion, historical prejudices, personal grievances, a dislike of Muslims, a feeling of racial supremacy, narrow mindedness and sense of monopoly about God and His favours, all combine when people disapprove of learning about Islam, as do images of violence, suicide bombings, immigration, projection of Sharia as repressive legal system, and all that is hateful to any person of common sense.
When people are continually told that violence comes from Muslims, understandably they come think that Islam is about violence. It is also understandable that some people, having continually received the wrong message, would like to protect themselves or their children from anything Islamic.
It is all about Image, and I remember one of the reasons raised by an opponent in the Prophet’s time, mentioned in the Quran, for not embracing Islam was their saying: ‘if it (Islam) were to be of any good, it would not have come to you’.
7) Does the media have a role in this?
Some of the media has, and continues, to play an extremely spiteful role in directing people’s minds against Islam and Muslims, particularly, when it comes to the reporting of conflicts in the world, and on local issues concerning the community. The Media needs sensationalism to engender greater profits, and continues to manipulate the news regardless of who is hurt and harmed in the process.
News that may concern an individual from the Muslim community, which is somehow linked to a regional conflict, is made to show that whatever happened was the result of being a Muslim, and political ideologues are continually encouraged to attack Islam.
.
8) What can be done to stop misconceptions arising amongst people?
The other day I was reading some comments made about an article written by a Muslim on Islam, in which one commentator said: ‘…minds are already made-up about Islam’.
This is a true reflection of a real prejudice and shows that many people in this world are not open to any form of reasoning but only heed the opinions which are already firmly entrenched in their own minds. It is a sad situation, the changing of which will be an enormous undertaking, involving all of us, at all levels of society.
Politicians, media and communities, all need to be more responsible and should show leadership by demonstrating that they all wish to build a firm and lasting community relationship.
The wider community should bear greater responsibilities towards creating an environment in which peoples can prosper and ideas can be challenged in a positive manner. At the moment, Muslims are being bombarded with allegations and are then expected to prove themselves by coming forward with solutions!
Everyone needs to assist in the creation of an environment of trust, encompassing a willingness to engage, create human fellowship, try to find the common ground, regard all people as equal and worth listening to, and dealing with all in a fair way. The Media should be made far more responsible for what they are publishing.
Tuesday 8 March 2011
Was Abraham a Jew?
This morning, Sunday, on Radio 4, I listened to an interesting presentation about the life of the Prophet Abraham, Peace be up on him, whose heritage is claimed by the three monotheistic communities of faith; Jews, Christians and Islam.
Two points mentioned in this presentation require a response.
1- Although all three religious traditions claim their faith is directly inherited from Abraham, is Abraham relevant any more in our time?
2- One participant, a Jewish rabbi, said that Abraham was the first Jew.
References to the above two points can be read in the Quran itself, as the same question and claims were made in the time of the Prophet Muhammad himself.
With regards to the first question, the Quran says: ‘and then we have revealed to you (O Muhammad) that you follow the religion of Abraham and that he was not of polytheists’.
This shows that what was relevant in the time of Abraham was also relevant at the time of Muhammad. The Quran mentions a common thread between the teachings of the two great Prophets, Peace be upon them; belief in the Oneness of Allah and the avoidance of polytheism.
Polytheism negates the legitimate authority of the Creator and creates shadowy gods without any proof and logic.
This one essential message, common to all three religions throughout human development and history since the time of Adam, remains relevant to all peoples, in terms of their faith, practices and essential ethical values, to this day.
Abraham, represented in the teachings of all the prophets and Messengers, is as relevant in our time as he was in the time of Muhammad. Unfortunately, the rejection of faith and the entertaining of doubts with no firm evidence to support them, or ‘diluting’ the authority of the Creator, is as fashionable in our time as it was in the times of the prophets.
Yet many find Abraham irrelevant, including people from the three monotheistic communities, when comparing the present, in terms of material and scientific developments, to his time. But do we still entertain the questions such as, who are we? Where do we come from? Why are we here? What happens to us once we die? Is there a life after death or a hereafter?
Do we still not approve of the best of human characteristics like truthfulness, goodness and trustworthiness? Do we not disapprove off negative human qualities, like lying, betrayal and slander? God’s teachings, through His prophets and Messengers, confirm both the positive human qualities and negative ones.
As to the second question; was Abraham the first Jew, I find it quite irrational. If he was the first Jew then surely he was the first Arab as well, Ishmael being his eldest son.
The Quran dealt with this question long ago, when it said: ‘Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian; but surely someone who was devoutly committed to God and a Muslim (someone who bowed his will to God).
Racially all Arabs and Jews are the children of Abraham. As Abraham came from the land now known as Iraq, one could claim he was of Arabic origin, though I am not quite sure if the people of Iraq at that time had Arab or Persian origins.
However, Islam teaches us look at Abraham in non-racial terms.
Abraham was a prophet and the connecting bond is the spiritual following of his teachings. The Quran says: ‘the closest of people to Abraham are those who followed him (in his teachings) and this prophet (Muhammad) and those who believed (in him)’.
Abraham was all about a total spiritual commitment to God with his continuous endeavours to be upright in his faith. That is why the Quran called him the imam (leader of the spiritual community to God) and an Ummah (nation) in himself.
Two points mentioned in this presentation require a response.
1- Although all three religious traditions claim their faith is directly inherited from Abraham, is Abraham relevant any more in our time?
2- One participant, a Jewish rabbi, said that Abraham was the first Jew.
References to the above two points can be read in the Quran itself, as the same question and claims were made in the time of the Prophet Muhammad himself.
With regards to the first question, the Quran says: ‘and then we have revealed to you (O Muhammad) that you follow the religion of Abraham and that he was not of polytheists’.
This shows that what was relevant in the time of Abraham was also relevant at the time of Muhammad. The Quran mentions a common thread between the teachings of the two great Prophets, Peace be upon them; belief in the Oneness of Allah and the avoidance of polytheism.
Polytheism negates the legitimate authority of the Creator and creates shadowy gods without any proof and logic.
This one essential message, common to all three religions throughout human development and history since the time of Adam, remains relevant to all peoples, in terms of their faith, practices and essential ethical values, to this day.
Abraham, represented in the teachings of all the prophets and Messengers, is as relevant in our time as he was in the time of Muhammad. Unfortunately, the rejection of faith and the entertaining of doubts with no firm evidence to support them, or ‘diluting’ the authority of the Creator, is as fashionable in our time as it was in the times of the prophets.
Yet many find Abraham irrelevant, including people from the three monotheistic communities, when comparing the present, in terms of material and scientific developments, to his time. But do we still entertain the questions such as, who are we? Where do we come from? Why are we here? What happens to us once we die? Is there a life after death or a hereafter?
Do we still not approve of the best of human characteristics like truthfulness, goodness and trustworthiness? Do we not disapprove off negative human qualities, like lying, betrayal and slander? God’s teachings, through His prophets and Messengers, confirm both the positive human qualities and negative ones.
As to the second question; was Abraham the first Jew, I find it quite irrational. If he was the first Jew then surely he was the first Arab as well, Ishmael being his eldest son.
The Quran dealt with this question long ago, when it said: ‘Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian; but surely someone who was devoutly committed to God and a Muslim (someone who bowed his will to God).
Racially all Arabs and Jews are the children of Abraham. As Abraham came from the land now known as Iraq, one could claim he was of Arabic origin, though I am not quite sure if the people of Iraq at that time had Arab or Persian origins.
However, Islam teaches us look at Abraham in non-racial terms.
Abraham was a prophet and the connecting bond is the spiritual following of his teachings. The Quran says: ‘the closest of people to Abraham are those who followed him (in his teachings) and this prophet (Muhammad) and those who believed (in him)’.
Abraham was all about a total spiritual commitment to God with his continuous endeavours to be upright in his faith. That is why the Quran called him the imam (leader of the spiritual community to God) and an Ummah (nation) in himself.
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