Ibrāhīm, Peace Be Upon Him: The Sound Heart and the Thought of the Lord of the Worlds

Occasion: Transcription of a Fajr khatira delivered on 10 October 2026 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

O Allah, make life an increase for us in every good, and make death a relief for us from every evil, through Your mercy and good pleasure, O Lord of the worlds.

Our khatira this Fajr is with Ibrāhīm, peace be upon him, and at its beginning noble prophets were mentioned: Mūsā, ʿĪsā and Yūsuf, peace be upon them, and our Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ, and the command to follow ﴿مِلَّةَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ حَنِيفًا﴾ ("the religion of Abraham, inclining toward truth").^[1]

A sound heart

Our Lord, glory be to Him, the Exalted, says: ﴿وَإِنَّ مِن شِيعَتِهِ لَإِبْرَاهِيمَ ۝ إِذْ جَاءَ رَبَّهُ بِقَلْبٍ سَلِيمٍ﴾ ("And indeed, among his followers was Abraham, when he came to his Lord with a sound heart").^[2] He came to his Lord with a sound heart, then ﴿إِذْ قَالَ لِأَبِيهِ وَقَوْمِهِ مَاذَا تَعْبُدُونَ ۝ أَئِفْكًا آلِهَةً دُونَ اللَّهِ تُرِيدُونَ﴾ ("When he said to his father and his people: What is it that you worship? Is it falsehood, gods other than Allah, that you desire?").^[3]

He shows them the effect of what they do

Ibrāhīm, peace be upon him, shows them the effect of what they do on their minds and hearts before telling them what is right, putting them in an awkward position between themselves and their own selves before he does anything. He wants to stand them before themselves, before the truth. And then the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, the Exalted, tells us: ﴿فَمَا ظَنُّكُم بِرَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ﴾؟ ("Then what is your thought about the Lord of the worlds?")^[4]

So what is your own thought about the Lord of the worlds? And the Prophet ﷺ on the day of the Conquest said to the people of Mecca: What do you think I will do to you? They said: A noble brother and the son of a noble brother. He said: Go, for you are the freed.^[5] That was their thought of the Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ, so what is your thought of the Lord of the worlds?

And in Sūrat al-Muṭaffifīn: ﴿أَلَا يَظُنُّ أُولَٰئِكَ أَنَّهُم مَّبْعُوثُونَ﴾ ("Do they not think that they will be resurrected?").^[6] So we have a thought about the Lord of the worlds, and a thought about the Resurrection. So what is your thought about the Lord of the worlds? He, glory be to Him, the Exalted, is the Generous, the Forbearing, the Loving, the Kind, the Accepter of repentance, the Subtle, the All-Aware, the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing, the Merciful, the Bestower, the All-Powerful.

The idols do not eat and do not speak

﴿فَنَظَرَ نَظْرَةً فِي النُّجُومِ ۝ فَقَالَ إِنِّي سَقِيمٌ ۝ فَتَوَلَّوْا عَنْهُ مُدْبِرِينَ﴾ ("Then he cast a glance at the stars, and said: Indeed, I am ill. So they turned away from him, departing"), ﴿فَرَاغَ إِلَىٰ آلِهَتِهِمْ فَقَالَ أَلَا تَأْكُلُونَ ۝ مَا لَكُمْ لَا تَنطِقُونَ﴾ ("Then he turned to their gods and said: Do you not eat? What is the matter with you that you do not speak?").^[7]

At this point the speaker recited the opening of Āyat al-Kursī, then Sūrat al-Ikhlāṣ: ﴿قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ ۝ اللَّهُ الصَّمَدُ ۝ لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ ۝ وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ﴾ ("Say: He is Allah, One. Allah, the Eternal Refuge. He neither begets nor is born, and there is none comparable to Him"), and he repeated: One, the One, the Unique. Then he returned to Ibrāhīm, peace be upon him, as he addresses the idols: What is the matter with you that you do not speak? ﴿فَرَاغَ عَلَيْهِمْ ضَرْبًا بِالْيَمِينِ ۝ فَأَقْبَلُوا إِلَيْهِ يَزِفُّونَ﴾ ("Then he turned upon them, striking with his right hand. So they came to him, hastening"), ﴿قَالَ أَتَعْبُدُونَ مَا تَنْحِتُونَ ۝ وَاللَّهُ خَلَقَكُمْ وَمَا تَعْمَلُونَ﴾ ("He said: Do you worship what you carve, while Allah created you and what you do?").^[8]

Between doing, working and making

He stopped at His words ﴿وَمَا تَعْمَلُونَ﴾ ("and what you do"), and mentioned with it «الفعل» (doing) and «الصنع» (making), and explained that there is a difference between them: doing is random action, whereas working is making something with intention, you intend to do it, and you have thought about the matter before doing it and then done it, so it is not a random "whack."^[9]

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: The phrase "follow the religion of Abraham, inclining toward truth" came in abbreviated form in the transcript; in this wording it is close to the saying of the Exalted in Sūrat al-Naḥl (123) and in Āl ʿImrān (95), and its place in the speaker's words was not clear, so the quotation has been recorded only as far as it came. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: Al-Ṣāffāt: 83–84. ^[3]: Editor's documentation: Al-Ṣāffāt: 85–86. ^[4]: Editor's documentation: Al-Ṣāffāt: 87. ^[5]: Editor's documentation: The story of the Conquest of Mecca and his saying "Go, for you are the freed" is well known in the books of sīra; it has been relayed here as the speaker narrated it, without certainty as to the attribution of its chain. ^[6]: Editor's documentation: Al-Muṭaffifīn: 4. ^[7]: Editor's documentation: Al-Ṣāffāt: 88–92. ^[8]: Editor's documentation: Al-Ṣāffāt: 93–96. Āyat al-Kursī is in Sūrat al-Baqara (255), and al-Ikhlāṣ is surah (112). ^[9]: Editor's documentation: The speaker's words distinguishing between doing, working and making are garbled in the transcript in two places, so only what became clear has been recorded.