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islam

A Historical Debate

Who was Namrood? 
Namrood was a king bearing utmost arrogance. He was the first one to place the royal crown of kingship on his head and to claim that he is god. He was born of an illegitimate birth due to fornication committed by  his mother. His mother thought that if there would be no inheritor of the kingdom, then the kingship will end. That illegitimate child grew up and became a very prominent king. It is famous that there have been only four persons who had been given the kingship of the entire world. Among these four people, two were true believers and two were unbelievers. Sayyiduna Sulayman and Sayyiduna Zul-Qarnayn   were among the believers while Namrood and Bakht Nasr were among the unbelievers. Namrood took all the food stuff under his control and passed the legislation in his kingdom that he would provide sustenance to only those people who would acknowledge him as god. 
Once, Sayyiduna lbraheem  went to him to get some cereals. Namrood, the cruel and wicked said, ‘First accept me as your god. Only then I will give you cereals.’ In presence of all his courtiers, Sayyiduna lbraheem openly announced, ‘You are a liar and I worship the only one with whom no partners can be associated.’ Upon hearing this, Namrood lost control out of anger and ordered for dismissal of Sayyiduna Ibraheem  without giving him even a single grain. Sayyiduna lbraheem and few of his devoted believers became restless due to extreme hunger. Due to the intensity of hunger, they were about to die. Sayyiduna lbraheem  took a  sack, went to a mound of sand and brought back the sack full with sand. He then supplicated in the court of Allah  and consequently, the sand turned into flour. Sayyiduna lbraheem  fed his devotees from that flour and he also ate from it.
The enmity of Namrood rose to such an extent that he got Sayyiduna lbraheem put into fire. But the fire turned into a garden for him and he  safely came out of the fire. As soon as Sayyiduna lbraheem  came out of the fire, he openly announced Namrood to be a liar and resumed preaching the oneness of Allah openly. Namrood became disturbed too much and one day, he called Sayyiduna Ibraheem  in his court for dialogue. Following dialogue took place in between them in the form of a debate. (I’afseer As-Saawi, vol. 1, pp. 219-220; part 3, Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayah 258)
Namrood:
O lbraheem! Tell me who your Rab is, towards worship of Whom you are calling the people?
Sayyiduna Ibraheem:
O Namrood! My Rab is the One Who gives life and death to the people.
Namrood:
I can also do this. Hence in order to prove his point, he called two prisoners from the prison into his court. One had been sentenced to death and the other had already been released from the prison. Namrood freed the one who was sentenced to be hanged and hanged the one who was guiltless. Then he said, ‘You see, I have given life to dead and death to alive.’ From this ridiculous display of Namrood, Sayyiduna Ibraheem   concluded that Namrood was an extremely foolish person who had misinterpreted life and death. Hence, Sayyiduna Ibraheem presented a clear and logical argument and said:
Sayyiduna Ibraheem:
O Namrood! My Rab is the One Who brings out the sun from the east. If you are god, then bring out the sun from the west for one day.
Listening to this argument by Sayyiduna Ibraheem ‘ Namrood got astonished and could not say anything. Thus this debate ended and Sayyiduna Ibraheem walked out victorious. After this, Sayyiduna Ibraheem resumed preaching of monotheism more openly with a new vigour. The Holy Quran has described the event of this debate in the following words:
0 Beloved Prophet! Did you not see him (Namrood) who clashed with Ibraheem concerning his Lord, (merely) because Allah had given him kingship? When Ibraheem said, ‘My Lord is He Who gives life and causes death,’ he answered, ‘I give life and cause death.’ Ibraheem said, ‘So Allah brings the sun from the East, you should (try to) bring it from the West!’ So the disbeliever was utterly confounded, and Allah does not guide the unjust.
[Kanz-ul-Iman (Translation of Quran)J (Part 3, Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayah 258)
Allah steadfastly. Neither did he get frightened of the great number of N amrood’ s army nor did he ever get depressed by the oppression of Namrood. Instead, when the tyrant Namrood put Sayyiduna Ibraheem  in the blazing flames of fire, even then the determination of Sayyiduna Ibraheem  in the proclamation of the message of monotheism remained unaffected. Then the heartless Namrood banned the provisions for Sayyiduna Ibraheem  􀀋. Even this could not affect the perseverance of Sayyiduna Ibraheem –

Namrood then challenged Sayyiduna Ibraheem  for a debate and called him in the royal court to inspire him by showing his royal grandeur and splendour. Sayyiduna Ibraheem accepted the challenge of debate without any fear and presented such strong and sound arguments before N amrood that he became puzzled and failed to answer. The truth as mentioned in the following ayah overwhelmed the court and courtiers of Namrood:
And say (0 Beloved), ‘The truth has arrived and falsehood has perished;
indeed falsehood had to perish.’
[Kanz-ul-Iman (Translation of Quran)J (Part 15, Surah Bani Israel, Ayah 81)
Finally, the truthfulness of Sayyiduna Ibraheem  dominated and Namrood was killed by just a feeble insect i.e. a mosquito. The devout Islamic scholars should pick the moral lesson from the excellent character of Sayyiduna Ibraheem that, whilst confronting the forces of evil, they should show perseverance and remain steadfast until the last breath without having any fear and without getting worried from the difficulties. They should have a stern belief that the help from Allah will definitely descend and ultimately, they will succeed against the infidels and the infidels will be destroyed. 
2. We should also believe faithfully that Allah will provide us sustenance from an unseen source. When the tyrant Namrood ceased the provision of food for Sayyiduna Ibraheem , and he could not get even a single grain in the whole country, Allah turned sand and soil into flour. Thus, the truthfulness of the following Islamic belief became fully evident: 
Indeed only Allah is the Great Provider, the Mighty, the Poweiful.
[Kanz-ul-lman (Translation of Quran)] (Part 2 7, Surah Az-Zariyaat, Ayah 58)
In short, the blessed lifestyle of Sayyiduna Ibraheem   is a paragon for the Islamic scholars. It is an unshakeable reality that those following the footsteps of Sayyiduna Ibraheem  will definitely be successful. This is a reality that is evident like sun.   This reality has been expressed delightfully in the following couplet:  

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