The Debate With the King, al-Namrūd

After this event happened — the king of Babylon at that time was al-Namrūd. So al-Namrūd heard about this young man who performed this miracle. Who is he? Bring him forward. So they brought Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him), this young man, to debate with the king al-Namrūd, the powerful dictator, the tyrant al-Namrūd.

So Namrūd had this debate, or dialogue, with Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him). So Ibrāhīm told the king: Allah (swt) is the one who gives life, and the one who takes it away. Can he do that? And Namrūd said: yes, I can give life, and I can take it away. How? He said: call two people from jail. Call two men from jail. So they brought these two men from jail. He commanded his soldiers to execute one of them, and he told the second one: you're free. He said: see, I took away the life of this one, and I gave life to the other one.

Ibrāhīm didn't mean this foolish, shallow meaning of giving life and death. Ibrāhīm was talking about the miracle of life, which is occurring in every single moment of the day and night, where Allah (swt) is giving life, in every single moment of the day and night, to a new creature. That is the meaning that Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him) meant.

But Ibrāhīm is not going to go and argue with the king on this point — and this is a pointer to the way of debate. If you find that the opponent is trying to trap you in an insignificant point or discussion, leave it. Ibrāhīm did not respond to this. Ibrāhīm completely changed the subject. And since he saw that this man is stubborn, and is going to debate and dialogue in this way, and argue in this fashion: I'm going to get him from another angle, to close the discussion with him. I'm not going to go down that road with him.

So Ibrāhīm completely left the issue of life and death alone, even though there's a lot that could be said in it. But Ibrāhīm did not debate that point. Fine. He chose another point. He said: Allah (swt) brings the sun from the east; bring it from the west. Fa-buhita alladhī kafar: Allah (swt) says, so the disbeliever was utterly defeated. He couldn't speak. Ibrāhīm shut him up with this argument.

As I said, this is a pointer to discussion. Because you could have discussed the point of life and death with him, and told him: no, this is not what I meant; what I meant is this and that — and it would be an endless, fruitless discussion. Ibrāhīm chose another angle, and threw an evidence on him that cannot be rebutted, and he shut him off. That's it. Fa-buhita alladhī kafar, wa-llāhu lā yahdī al-qawma al-ẓālimīn: and Allah (swt) guides not the people who are wrongdoers.