The Quran narrates the story of Prophet Abraham (PBUH) with the idol worshippers in various Surahs such as Surah Maryam and Surah Al-Anbyaa’.
The story starts when Prophet Abraham (PBUH) tried to convince people to worship Allah (SWT) only and leave away worshiping idols. He counted Allah’s favors and reminded them of His unlimited power. Allah is The Creator, The Sustainer, and The Powerful. On the Other hand, Idols cannot harm or benefit anyone rather than being Gods themselves.
However, people rejected his call and made fun of him. Prophet Abraham (PBUH) wanted to practically teach people that idols cannot even defend themselves. He went to their idols, destroyed them, left the biggest one safe, and hung the ax on him.
When people found out what had happened, they called Prophet Abraham (PBUH) and he replied: “The biggest idol is the one who did it, go ask them if they can reply!”
This made them wonder and think they were false. However, they insisted on their shirk and aimed to punish Prophet Abraham (PBUH) by putting him on fire.
Allah (SWT) saved him and made the fire cool for him where he got out of the fire safely and miraculously by the will of Allah (SWT)!
The learned lessons:
Allah (SWT) is The only One God.
Call people to Islam through wisdom.
Allah (SWT) saves believers in life and the hereafter.
Source:
Surah Maryam, verses: 41-50.
Surah Al-Anbyaa, verses: 51-73
2. Solomon (PBUH) & The Ants
Prophet Solomon (PBUH) was a great king of a great kingdom. He had a great army that consisted of many soldiers of humans, jinn, animals.. etc.
One day, prophet Solomon and his army were walking in a valley of ants. When they got near, one of the ants called upon the other ants to escape into their homes as Prophet Solomon’s army would destroy them!
Prophet Solomon (PBUH) heard and understood her call. He smiled at her words and ordered his army to keep away from the ants’ valley. Prophet Solomon then prayed to Allah (SWT) and praised Him for His blessings, saying:
“My Lord! Inspire me to ˹always˺ be thankful for Your favors which You have blessed me and my parents with, and to do good deeds that please you”
(Surah Al-Naml (Ants): verse 19)
Learned Lessons:
Allah (SWT) has favored Prophet Solomon with a special ability to understand animals and different creatures.
Muslims should be Merciful to Allah’s creatures no matter their size.
We should praise Allah (SWT) for his favors.
Source: Surah Al-Naml, verses: 15-19.
Best day to pray
There was a young boy who doesn’t like to pray his 5 daily prayers. He was very lazy. He thought that performing the prayers daily was very troublesome indeed.
One day, he had a great idea. He figured that he should find out which day of the week is the best day in which to pray. And he’ll pray very very well on that day. As for the rest of the week, he’ll just relax and not worry about any prayers at all.
He went to his grandfather, “Grandpa, which day of the week is the best day to pray our 5 daily prayers?”
“My grandson, the best day to pray is the day before you die.”
The boy was astonished.
“Grandpa, that’s impossible! How can I know the day of my death?”
“Exactly, my grandson,” the wise man replied, “No one knows the day of his death. That’s why we need to pray every single day.”
