Ibrāhīm and the Arrogant King

The discussion then passes to several profound accounts. One is that of Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him) and Namrūd ibn Kanʿān, a most arrogant ruler of his time, whom Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him) had on one occasion to confront.

This ruler held himself to be a god — held it literally, and held that he had power to do such and such. Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him) challenged this folly, saying that his lord, the true Lord, gives life to men and can take life away and give death. So the man, in his foolishness, sought to prove it: he took a guilty man about to be crucified and set him free, and took another, an innocent man off the street, and put him in prison, saying: I can do the same thing. But when at last he was challenged as to whence the sun is brought each day — the sun rises in the east, Allah (swt) supplying the movement of the sun from the east — that was beyond him, and he fell silent.