Al-Mumtahana (She that is to be examined)

4. Verily, there has been an excellent example for you in Abraham and those with him when they said unto their people: “Indeed we dislike you and whatever you worship besides Allah, we have rejected you and there will be between us and you enmity and hatred for ever until you believe in Allah Alone” except the saying of Abraham to his father: “Indeed, I will ask forgiveness [from Allah] for you but I have no power to do anything for you before Allah.” “Our Lord! In You we put our trust and to You we turn in repentance and to You is our final return.

The Arabic word

uswa (“model”) is cognate with ta’assi (“following, emulation”). Imam Husayn (as) is narrated as saying that he is the model in struggling against the enemies of the Islamic faith.1

Imam Mahdi (may Allah hasten his arrival) is quoted as saying:

“The Messenger of Allah's (S) daughter, Hadhrat Zahra’ is my perfect model.”2

Since the Glorious Qur’an presents significant examples of the world of humanity to complement Divine Teachings, the blessed Verse, following the strong forbidding against befriending Allah's enemies, makes mention of Prophet Abraham (as) as the great leader respected by all nations, particularly the Arabs, saying that Prophet Abraham (as) and his adherents serve as a good example for your life, as the Arch-Prophet's (as) life is thoroughly a model of worshipping God Almighty, waging jihad in His Cause and loving His Pure Essence.

The Muslim community takes pride in their designation of the nation of Abraham (as) may set him as a perfect example in this respect.

The expression

“those with him”

designates the believers, limited in number, who followed him in worshipping God Almighty. Some maintain that the expression connotes the Prophets following his example or those Prophets who were his contemporaries is seemingly far-fetched.

To further expound the meaning, the blessed Verse proceeds to say that on that day when they said unto their polytheist and disbelieving peoples that they dislike them and what they worship besides God Almighty. They neither recognize you as believers nor your beliefs as true beliefs. They dislike both them and their worthless beliefs. To lay further emphasis on their assertions, they said that they disbelieved in them.

According to some traditions, such disbelief is one of the five types of disbelief. They said that they would persist in their denial until they believe in the One God and thereby expressed their dislike of Allah's enemies with utmost decisiveness and assertiveness declaring that such separation was irrevocable for good, unless they changed their course and convert to monotheism.

However, since there were exceptions in Abraham's life aiming at guiding some polytheists, the blessed Verse proceeds to say that they severed all their ties with the disbelieving people and refrained from expressing and affectionate words with them, except for Abraham's (as) promise to his father, or paternal uncle, Àzar, to the effect that the Prophet (as) would ask forgiveness for him from God Almighty, though God Almighty is the Oft-Forgiving and he failed to do anything but invoking Him for forgiveness.

Such exception is truly indicative of Prophet Abraham's (as) and his followers' severance of any ties with idolaters aiming at certain specific circumstances as well as expedience, since the evidence reflects that Abraham (as) had seemingly noticed the preparedness of his paternal uncle, Àzar, to convert to monotheism, but the latter was concerned that if he converted to monotheism, what would happen to his span of life spent in idolatry.

Prophet Abraham (as) assured him that he would invoke God Almighty for forgiving him and stood on his word, though Àzar failed to believe. When Prophet Abraham (as) wa certain about Àzar's enmity against God Almighty, he desisted from invoking God Almighty for his forgiveness and severed all his ties with him.

It is worthy of note that that Prophet Abraham's (as) promise to Àzar for invoking God Almighty to forgive him aimed at inviting him to believe in God Almighty rather than for mundane goals.

Thus, the blessed Verse closes by saying that they said:

“Our Lord! In You we put our trust, and to You we turned in repentance, and all shall finally return unto You.”