Ismail

Ismailعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام is the firstborn son of Ibrahimعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام. His mother is Hajar. He is the ancestor of the Arabs and through them the Prophet ﷺ. His name is on the tongue of every Muslim every time Hajj is performed, every time water is drawn from Zamzam, every time Eid al-Adha comes around. He is woven into the bones of Islam itself.

The Qur'an gives him a short list of titles that carry weight. He was of the patient (Qur'an 21:85). He was true to his promise (Qur'an 19:54). He was beloved to his Lord (Qur'an 19:55). For a prophet, these are not small.

The valley with no water

The first scene of his life is also the first scene of Zamzam. The famous narration in Sahih al-Bukhari (3364) tells it carefully. Ibrahimعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام, by the command of Allah, took Hajar and the infant Ismailعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام to a barren valley in the Hijaz. No people, no water, no tree. Only stone and sand. He left them a small skin of water and a small bag of dates and turned to leave.

Hajar followed him. Did Allah command you to do this? He said yes. She said the line scholars still repeat. Then He will not abandon us.

Ibrahimعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام walked until he was out of sight. He turned toward the place where the Kaaba would later stand and prayed.

Our Lord, I have settled some of my descendants in a valley with no cultivation, by Your Sacred House. (Qur'an 14:37)

The water and the dates finished. Ismailعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام began to cry from thirst. Hajar climbed the nearest hill, Safa, to look for help. She saw no one. She climbed the next hill, Marwa. She ran between the two hills seven times. On the seventh, she heard a sound and came back to find that the angel Jibril had struck the earth near Ismailعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام and water had burst from the ground.

She gathered the water with her hand, saying zamzam, meaning gather, gather. The Prophet ﷺ said may Allah have mercy on the mother of Ismailعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام. If she had let Zamzam flow, it would have been a flowing stream (Sahih al-Bukhari 3364).

Every Hajj, three million people run between Safa and Marwa, following the steps of a single mother who refused to give up on a thirsty baby. Allah immortalised her search in the rites of Islam.

The son who said yes

Ismailعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام grew up in that valley. The Bedouin tribe of Jurhum settled near Zamzam and lived among them. He learned Arabic from them and grew up as one of them.

When he was old enough to walk and work alongside his father, the test came. Ibrahimعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام saw a dream that he should sacrifice his son. Prophets' dreams are revelation. He told Ismailعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام what he had seen.

The son's reply is the line that names him among the patient for all time.

He said, "O my father, do as you are commanded. You will find me, in sha' Allah, of the patient." (Qur'an 37:102)

He was not asked to fight. He was asked to lie down. To go willingly into a slaughter at the hand of his own father, on the word of his father's Lord, on the basis of a dream. He said yes.

They both submitted. Ibrahimعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام laid him down. He turned his face away so he would not have to watch. At that moment, Allah called out from above.

And We called to him, "O Ibrahimعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام. You have fulfilled the vision." (Qur'an 37:104-105)

A ram was sent down from heaven and sacrificed in place of the son. Allah had not wanted the son. He had wanted to see whether they would give him up. They would. So He gave them both back.

Every Eid al-Adha, every animal slaughtered in remembrance, every Muslim repeating the takbir on the tenth of Dhul-Hijjah is repeating a scene that started with a son who said in sha' Allah, of the patient.

The Kaaba

When Ismailعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام was a young man, his father returned. They were given the command to raise the foundations of the House. Ibrahimعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام laid the stones. Ismailعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام handed them up. Their dua is recorded in the Qur'an.

Our Lord, accept this from us. Indeed, You are the Hearing, the Knowing. (Qur'an 2:127)

They did not ask for anything for themselves except acceptance. They asked Allah to make a nation from their descendants that would worship Him (Qur'an 2:128-129). The Prophet ﷺ is the answer to that dua. So is every Muslim who prays toward that House.

The mercy lens

The mercy is in three places.

First, the well. A child cried in a desert and Allah opened the ground. Hajar trusted. She ran seven times. Allah honoured both her trust and her effort. The water has not stopped flowing.

Second, the ram. The son was offered. The son was returned. The command was the test. The blade was not the goal. Once they had said yes with their hearts, the test was over. Allah does not always take what you have given up for His sake. This pattern of the held hand is the mercy that introduces Allah by name.

Third, the lineage. The Prophet ﷺ is descended from Ismailعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام. The dua of two men in a desert valley became the religion of more than a billion people.

The justice counterweight

The knife was real. The lying down was real. The willingness was real. Submission is not a soft idea in Islam. It is the spine. Ismailعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام, a young man with a long life ahead, lay down on a stone because his father had been told to. Most of us will never be asked anything close.

What this teaches the reader

Two small things.

One. Trust looks like running. Hajar did not sit by her baby and weep. She climbed Safa. She climbed Marwa. She did this seven times. Trust in Allah is not passive. It is full effort with the heart settled.

Two. When Allah asks for a thing, give it. He is not always going to take it. He is sometimes testing whether the hand is open. If the hand is open, the thing often comes back with more.