We often see the term "role model" in newspapers and magazines. It
refers to someone who leads thesort of life that you would like to
live. Many of us choose our favorite sports star or film star as our
role model because we are impressed by the glitter and flair of these
wealthy people. However, if we stopped to think about what kind of
lives the starsreally lead, perhapswe would have second thoughts
about our choice of role model. How many of these stars have never
known or have forgotten Allah intheir quest for fame and riches! How
often are they consumed by hate, envy, violence, drugs and other
evils! Whoreally wants that kind of life? Certainly not we Muslims.
The Qur'an tells us that theprophets should be our role models, and
Prophet Ibrahim (alayhis salam) in particular is frequently mentioned.
He was obedient to Allah, upright, and he did not worship any god but
Allah. He turned away from thosewho worshipped idols, even from his
own father. He was grateful to Allah for the blessings which were
bestowed on him. Hewas rewarded with good in this world and he is
among the righteous in the hereafter.
Prophet Ibrahim's call
Prophet Ibrahim 's (alayhis salam) father, Azer, was a stone carver.
He carved theimages of the idols which his people worshipped. Prophet
Ibrahim (alayhis salam) grew up in an atmosphere of paganism, in which
Allah was just one of many gods worshipped by his people. But Allah
chose Ibrahim (alayhis salam) to be His prophet. Prophet Ibrahim
(alayhis salam) saw a star when it rose and called upon it as his
lord, but when it set he realized that it was powerless. He called
upon the moon when it rose in the sky, but it too disappeared as
itset. Then he decided to worshipthe sun when it rose, but even the
sun with all its brilliance had to set each evening. It wasat this
point that Prophet Ibrahim (alayhis salam) was ready to acknowledgethe
supremacy of the Creator of all the heavenly bodies, the Lord of all
creation, and a being without equal and withoutpartners. He tried
unsuccessfully to persuadehis father and his people to discard the
useless idolsand to submit themselves wholly to Allah. He promised his
father that he would pray for forgiveness for him, and since he had
promised, he did pray. But we are told in the Qur'an that we should
shun pagans and we should not pray for them (Qur'an 9:113-114).
Prophet Ibrahim (alayhis salam) asked his people why they worshipped
those idols which they themselves had made, instead ofthe true God
who had created everything andeverybody.The people answeredthat they
worshipped the idols because their fathers had done so. One day, when
noone was about, Prophet Ibrahim (alayhis salam) took his right hand
and smashed the idols to pieces, all except the biggest. The people
came running, asking who had destroyed their gods. Prophet Ibrahim
(alayhis salam) pointed to the biggod and said, "He did it. Why don't
you ask them?" But of course those fragments of stone were not able to
speak and the people knew in their hearts that the big stone could not
have destroyed them. So ProphetIbrahim (alayhis salam) asked,"Why do
you worship these powerless rocks instead of Allah who is all
powerful?" Then the people were very angry and they seizedProphet
Ibrahim (alayhis salam) and threw him into a blazing fire. ButAllah
was with Prophet Ibrahim (alayhis salam) and made the blaze feel cool
to him. Prophet Ibrahim (alayhis salam) emerged from the fire
unharmed.
In Arabia at the time of the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him),
threereligious groups claimed ancestry to the prophet Ibrahim (alayhis
salam). They were the Christians, the Jews, and the pagan
idol-worshippers. But the religion of Ibrahim (alayhissalam) was none
of these three. His religion was truly that of Islam , a total
submission to the will of Allah. It is he who should serve as our role
model, a man of unswerving faith introubled times.
You can read about Prophet Ibrahim (alayhis salam) as a role model
andabout his disputes over the idols in the following suras of the
Qur'an: 2:130, 135, 258; 3:67; 6:74-83; 16:120-123; 19:41-50;
21:51-71; 26:70-82; 37:83-98; 60:4-6.
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