“Lo! those of mankind who

have the best claim to

Abraham are those who

followed him.”

(The Qur’an, 3:68

How Abraham Became
“The Friend of God”

The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah got tangled up in a war which went against them, and their enemy captured everything, including their food. Lot, Abraham’s nephew (Lut), “was living in Sodom, so they took him and all his possessions.”¹ It was Allah’s merciful way of warning Lot to get out of that wicked place!

When Abraham heard what had happened, he called 318 men from his camp to go with him to rescue Lot. The little “army” marched nearly 400 kilometres, “attacked the enemy by night, and defeated them, … and recovered [got back] all the loot that had been taken. He also brought back his nephew Lot and his possessions.”²

“Keep the loot, but give me back all my people,” the king of Sodom pleaded, but Abraham, still looking for a heavenly city rather than earthly riches, replied: “I will not keep anything of yours, not even a thread or a sandal strap … I will take nothing for myself.”³ But the servant of God did give a tenth of all as “tithe” to the Lord’s priest, Melchizedek.*

Now we find Allah again speaking to his “friend”: “I will shield you from danger and give you a great reward.”⁴

In spite of this something troubled Abraham. He wasn’t worried about those heathen kings coming back to get revenge on him, but how about Allah’s promise to give him “many descendants”? Allah had raised his expectations sky high with this promise when he left Ur, but to date not even baby number one had arrived. Had God forsaken his faithful servant? Or worse yet, had he deceived him?

This wonderful promise was ringing in Abraham’s ears night and day, but why didn’t Allah do something to fulfil it?

Finally, Abraham decided that he expected him to do something. He thought of a plan! Perhaps he was trusting Allah too much, for Sarah had not become a mother. Abraham decided that he must do the actual work of fulfilling the divine promise to him.

Therefore he made a plan to adopt his servant Eliezer of Damascus as his legal heir. Through him he would have those “many descendants”. It was common custom in old Mesopotamia for wealthy but childless couples to adopt a favourite slave as heir to all their property. He would then care for them in their old age. After all, Eliezer had been born in Abraham’s own house. Perhaps that is what Allah had all along intended him to do! This was the only plan the aged patriarch could think of.

No, not at all, Allah said. “This slave Eliezer will not inherit your property; your own son will be your heir.”⁵

Abraham was astonished! There was no gynaecologist available to cure Sarah of her infertility, and besides, she was now too old to conceive a baby. Abraham could see no way for this astounding promise ever to be fulfilled. Try to put yourself in his place. What an impasse!

Abraham tossed and turned on his bed that night and racked his brain, but he could see no solution to the problem. The cool desert breeze flapped the tent awning as Abraham lay awake in the darkness pondering this amazing new revelation. “Your own son … !” He had no son, and Sarah was well past the time of child-bearing. “Your own son …!” Oh, how Abraham had often yearned for a boy whom he could call “my son,” but the older he became, the less it seemed that Allah’s promise of “many descendants” would be fulfilled. He was willing to love Eliezer as a son, and Eliezer’s children as grandchildren, but no, Allah had said that he would not accept such a plan of Abraham’s own devising.

Suddenly Abraham heard the divine voice invite him to come outside the tent. Not a cloud speckled the depths of the moonless night. Millions of sparkling stars twinkled in the crystal clear mountain air while the gentle breeze caressed his upturned face.

“Look at the sky and try to count the stars,” Allah commanded.

Abraham doubtless had much better eyesight than we have these days. Sometimes what we see as one star turns out, through the giant modern telescopes, to be a galaxy composed of unnumbered stars. The Milky Way, for example, is made up of 100 thousand million stars similar to our own sun.⁶ Some scientists believe that stars known as quasars are really far distant galaxies like the Milky Way. Stars, suns, shining galaxies—the night sky was glittering with these untold billions of heavenly bodies. Abraham could not even begin to count them, even if he had had a modern computer at his disposal.

“You will have as many descendants as that,” said Allah.

Ah, thought Abraham, not only is the great promise renewed; now it is multiplied beyond my happiest dreams! Again he explored the heavens with his eyes. Allah waited for him to respond. They were friends, remember, he and Abraham. Would Abraham reject the promise? Would he angrily accuse Allah of deceiving him with news that was too good to be true? So many unbelievers and infidels have reacted that way, rebelling against his great love and compassion.

Eliezer is not to be one of those stars; “your own son … ,” a baby boy yet unknown and unseen, will be the progenitor of those myriads of descendants. Is it too much to believe?

A thousand volts of electricity may be ready to flow through a wire, but unless we complete the circuit by switching the power on, nothing happens. God has already taught his “friend” that his own “works,” like adopting Eliezer, will not bring about the fulfilment of the divine promise. God alone must do the work; but how is Abraham to turn the switch so that the power in the divine promise becomes effective? Allah cannot force all these “descendants” on Abraham if he should be unwilling to accept and believe the promise, for he is merciful and compassionate and will not abuse or misuse his faithful servant. Abraham is his “friend,” and no one will force a friend against his own will. How will Abraham respond?

Abraham reviews the years of disappointment through which he has suffered. How many times has he been tempted to give up, and renounce his confidence in Allah’s unfulfilled promise! Where has Allah been all these years? Why has he apparently forgotten his friend? Now he has spoken again, inviting Abraham to try to count those innumerable twinkling stars above his head, saying, “you will have as many descendants as that.” “Oh, does he love me that much?” cries the chastened patriarch.

Tears start to trickle from Hazrat Abraham’s uplifted eyes. The shining stars are swimming in his tear-brimming vision. His body begins to heave as he sobs. Oh, the mercy and love of the faithful Allah! He has not forgotten to be gracious! This tender love overwhelms Abraham, and with all his heart he responds to God’s promise: “And he believed in the Lord.”⁷ All the faith of Abraham’s heart hoarded up for decades is poured out in that confession, “I believe.” The doubts that have been warring against God are vanquished now; the fears that God is not faithful are over. Abraham’s heart is now pulsating in beautiful harmony with the heart of God, and there is sweet peace between Allah and his friend. (That same peace is what we want!)

Let us note that Abraham made no promises to Allah. All he did was to “believe.” He repented of his wrong plans to “work” that fulfilment of the promise by adopting Eliezer; nothing that he could do would fulfil the promise. He must let Allah do it! Now he appreciates not only that Allah is able to do it, but also that he is willing to do it. His faith is a heart-appreciation of God’s character of tender love and faithfulness. It is easier for us to believe in His infinite power than in His infinite love!

The Hebrew word used here for “believe” is the root of our word “amen,” as it is also in Arabic. All Abraham could do was to cry out in the night stillness, “Amen! Amen! So be it.” He placed his will, his heart-appreciation, on the side of God, and this was the faith that God was waiting for. It closed the circuit, allowing heaven’s “thousand volts” of omnipotent power to flow. Allah was delighted with his servant. This was all he asked from Abraham!

Nearly 1,800 years later another father also pleased him. The story is in the Holy Injil. This father already had a son, but he had lost him, because the poor boy was possessed of a demon. “If thou canst do anything,” he cries out to Jesus, “have compassion on us and help us.”

Jesus directs the doubting father’s “if” right back at him: “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.”

Again, as in the story of Abraham, the tears flowed from a father’s eyes: “And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”⁸ Such faith is all that Allah has ever asked from anyone; then his miracle-working power can go to work. The works are his; the faith is ours, a gift from him for us to develop and strengthen by use.

Outside his tent that brilliant starlit night, Abraham “believed in the Lord; and he [Allah] counted it [his faith] to him for righteousness.”⁹ The word “righteousness” means to be put right with God, to be justified. All of Abraham’s doubts needed to be put right. Also his attempt to do Allah’s work for him — this was something that Abraham had to learn to understand more clearly. We read in the Qur’an of how his faith grew: “Remember when Abraham said, O Lord, make this land a place of security; and grant that I and my children may avoid the worship of idols; for they, O Lord, have seduced a great number of men. … O Lord, grant that I may be an observer of prayer, and a part of my posterity also, O Lord receive my supplication. O Lord forgive me, and my parents, and the faithful, on the day whereon an account shall be taken.”¹⁰

When Allah counted his faith to him for righteousness, he was being put right with God. Nothing that Abraham could do could put him right with Allah. Man cannot save himself. Man cannot change his own heart. All his promises “to be good!” are worthless, for we humans are notorious for our failure to keep our promises. No human being can get himself out of the pit into which man has fallen. Modern man has discovered many amazing technological wonders, but the world’s heavy burden of sadness remains: he cannot make himself good. Only Allah can do that for him, and man’s faith is necessary in order to let him do it.

It is not enough to be told that we must be good. If it is up to us to make ourselves pure before we can come to Allah, there is no hope for us, for no man or woman can make himself or herself pure. Evil, impure thoughts and imaginings come into our hearts uninvited; feelings of hatred or resentment well up within us like brackish water bubbling out of a poisonous desert spring. For us to imagine that we have the power within ourselves to cleanse and purify that inner fountain is vain, and is the worst kind of idol-worship, for it is the worship of ourselves in place of Allah. The fountain of our hearts must be cleansed, and only Allah as a Saviour can accomplish that work.

Abraham’s experience demonstrates, for all men to see plainly, that righteousness comes only by faith. By faith man is declared right; by faith he is made right.

Noah (Nuhu) is another example of a man put right by faith. Allah warned him of the coming flood. Long before the time of Abraham, Noah worshiped the true God, believed his holy word, and forthwith proceeded to act upon his faith. He “prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.”¹¹ In other words, Noah could not take praise to himself; all praise went to Allah. It was not Noah that did the good work, it was faith working in him.

Every pagan religion in the world denies this godly truth, declaring that man can save himself by his own works. Thus man’s attention is diverted away from the one true object of his worship, Allah, and is placed upon himself, weak and sinful as he is. True religion turns our attention away from everybody and everything, all material objects, and directs us to look to Allah alone. This was the true faith that Abraham pioneered, and which was to be given to a world that was weary of worshiping idols.

Since faith is to be directed alone to Allah, it must not be directed toward man himself. Abraham denounced the senseless idol worship in Ur. But just suppose man makes an idol of himself? Is that not the worst kind of idol worship?

Suppose a man makes an idol of the good deeds he has done, the alms he has disbursed, the mosques he has built, the pilgrimages he has made, or even the prayers he has recited. It is all in vain! Idol worship is trusting the idol for righteousness and peace of heart. Suppose one trusts his own good deeds the same way? This is the most clever idolatry that Iblis has ever invented! It leads people to worship themselves, while they are deceived into thinking they are worshipping Allah! This is the essence of the idolatry that true believers protest against.

If Hazrat Abraham had made Eliezer his heir and thus fulfilled Allah’s promise, Abraham would ever afterward have been a proud man, holy in his own eyes, congratulating himself on his wisdom and superior goodness. This would have led him right back into the same idolatry that he forsook in Ur, only the image he would bow to would have been himself!

Abraham would kiss no idol, no stone, no object, nor would he bow to the heavenly bodies or to himself—this is the lesson he learned that quiet starlit night. God accepted his faith for righteousness. This faith was a complete confidence in what Allah alone would do, not in what he himself could do.

The wise Maulana Sayyid Abul A’la Maududi says:

Hazrat Ibrahim [Abraham] was born in the home of an idolater, but he came to know God and obeyed him. That is why God made him Imam of the whole world.¹²

Choose this faith of Abraham for yourself! Let Allah also be as delighted with you as he was with Abraham and let him also call you his “friend.” This is what it means to be a descendant of Abraham.

*Everyone who has the faith of Abraham will also return to Allah one tenth of all that heaven gives him as “increase.” By doing so, Abraham confessed his faith that he was the source of all that he possessed. Returning a faithful tenth to him is his appointed way for us to say “Thank you” for all the gifts of life which we enjoy. The prophet Malachi says that withholding the tithe (or tenth) is robbing God, and calls on us to “prove” him by returning to him a faithful tithe or tenth; then we can watch him keep his promise to “open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it” (Malachi 3:8-10).

Chapter 6: Good News: Allah Shows a Smiling Face!

Index: In Search of the Treasure of Faith

References:

1. Genesis 14:12, TEV.
2. Genesis 14:14-16, TEV.
3. Verses 21-24, TEV.
4. Genesis 15:1, 6, TEV.
5. See Genesis 15:1-4 TEV.
6. World Book Encyclopedia, Vol. 18, p. 474.6.
7. Genesis 15:6, emphasis supplied.
8. Mark 9:22-24, emphasis supplied.
9. Genesis 15:6.
10. The Qur’an 14:35, 36, 40, 41.
11. Hebrews 11:7.
12. Fundamentals of Islam, Essence of Islam, Book 1, p. 8.