Nobody Believed in Him Except Lūṭ

Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him) made daʿwah to his people; and after all of his efforts, and the miracle of Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him) being saved from the fire, nobody believed in Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him) except his nephew.

Allah (swt) says: fa-āmana lahu Lūṭ. Lūṭ believed in Ibrāhīm. Lūṭ is the nephew of Sayyidunā Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him). After all of this effort, after this miracle happening in front of the eyes of this nation, nobody believed in him except his nephew, Lūṭ (peace be upon him).

And they had to leave. They had to flee from the persecution and the oppression of their homeland. They had to give up the land of their birth, and the land where they were raised up, and go and find another land to worship Allah (swt). Allah (swt) says: wa qāla innī muhājirun ilā rabbī, innahu huwa al-ʿAzīzu al-Ḥakīm — I will emigrate for the sake of my Lord; verily He is the Almighty, the All-Wise.

Where was Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him) heading? Allah (swt) says: wa najjaynāhu wa Lūṭan ilā al-arḍi allatī bāraknā fīhā li-l-ʿālamīn — and We rescued him and Lūṭ (in English, Lot) to the land which We have blessed for mankind, for the world.

And the blessed land is the Holy Land, al-Shām, which is composed today of four countries, because everything in the Muslim world has split up. In the past it was al-Shām; now it is Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan. And the centre of it all, and the holiest of it, is Jerusalem, Bayt al-Maqdis. This is the direction Sayyidunā Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him) was heading for.