Prophet Ibrāhīm: Part 2 — A Nation by Himself, the House and Lūṭ
Section 5 of 21 · Lives of the Prophets
An Environment of Īmān
Also, Allah (swt) has given Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him) a name that wasn't given to anybody else in the Qur'an.
وَٱصْبِرْ نَفْسَكَ مَعَ ٱلَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ رَبَّهُم بِٱلْغَدَوٰةِ وَٱلْعَشِىِّ يُرِيدُونَ وَجْهَهُۥ ۖ وَلَا تَعْدُ عَيْنَاكَ عَنْهُمْ تُرِيدُ زِينَةَ ٱلْحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا ۖ وَلَا تُطِعْ مَنْ أَغْفَلْنَا قَلْبَهُۥ عَن ذِكْرِنَا وَٱتَّبَعَ هَوَىٰهُ وَكَانَ أَمْرُهُۥ فُرُطًا
“Keep yourself content with those who call their Lord morning and evening, seeking His pleasure, and let not your eyes overlook them, seeking the splendor of the worldly life. And do not obey the one whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance, and who has followed his desire and whose behavior has exceeded the limits.” (18:28)
You know, when we're talking about Muhammad (peace be upon him): O Muhammad (peace be upon him), have patience, and stay with the ones who remember Allah in night and day. Allah is commanding Muhammad (peace be upon him) to stay with the believers. Nūḥ, when his people came and told him, leave these weak people alone, he said: no, these are the believers with me. I will be with them; I will remain with them.
These anbiyāʾ, they had believers around them, and Allah (swt) told them to remain with these believers. Why? Because we need to have an environment of īmān. We need to live in an environment of īmān. We need to have this support around us. It's difficult for human beings to live alone. We need to have this support, and Allah (swt) is commanding Muhammad (peace be upon him) to stay with the believers. Allah is commanding Nūḥ to stay with the believers. We know that Hūd was with the believers, Ṣāliḥ stayed with the believers, Mūsā stayed with the believers, and so on and so forth.
Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him) is different. First of all, Ibrāhīm was making hijrah for all of his life. And then, in many places he would go, he would be the only believer. He went to Egypt; he told his wife: me and you are the only believers here. When he was making daʿwah to his people in Iraq, only him and Lūṭ were the believers.