Today we share comparison of two prophets who had soft corner for their relatives and invoked mercy of Allah for their forgiveness. In both cases, the prophets were admonished and cautioned against taking side of their polythetic relatives.
The Qur'an draws a powerful parallel between Prophet Noah (Nuh) praying for his disbelieving son and Prophet Abraham (Ibrahim) praying for his disbelieving father, highlighting a lesson in divine boundaries of mercy, justice, and loyalty to faith over blood ties.
These two referred prophets are mentioned in Surah Hud (11:45–46) and Surah At Tauba (9:114)
Similarities Between the Two Stories
- Both Prophets Show Natural Family Love
- Noah for his son
- Abraham for his father
- They both initially pray for forgiveness or safety for their close family members who are disbelievers.
- Relevant Verses
- Noah and His Son — Surah Hud (11:45–46):
- "O my Lord! Indeed, my son is of my family..."
- [Allah said:] 'O Noah, indeed he is not of your family; indeed, his work was unrighteous.'"
- Allah stops Noah from making further intercession for his son after his disbelief becomes clear.
- Abraham and His Father — Surah At-Tawbah (9:114): "And the request of forgiveness by Abraham for his father was only because of a promise he made to him. But when it became clear to him that he was an enemy to Allah, he disassociated himself from him."
Key Message and Relationship
- Noah and His Son (relationfather and son)
- Prayed for son’s salvation during the flood, though his son has shown no inclination to leave idolatory and refused to listen to his father's invitation to be on his side, leaving idolatory.
- Allah’s Response: Son is not part of Noah’s “spiritual” family
- Abraham and his Father )relation son and father)
- Abraham prayed to Allah to forgive his father, though knowing he was staunch polythetic and did not heed to many pleas of his son to leave idolatory.
- However, on admonishming from Allah and having finally known that his father is clear the father was an enemy of Allah, Abraham disassociated
Lesson: Blood ties do not override faith. Loyalty must be to God first.
Theological Message
- Faith is not inherited — even a prophet’s child or parent can be among the disbelievers.
- Prophetic compassion has limits — when someone opposes God knowingly, even prophets must stop pleading for them.
- Spiritual kinship vs biological kinship — true family in the Qur'an is defined by shared belief and righteousness, not just blood.
Qur’anic Principle – Surah Mujadila (58:22):
“You will not find a people who believe in Allah and the Last Day having affection for those who oppose Allah and His Messenger, even if they were their fathers or their sons or their brothers or their kindred.”
The above comparative cases have been mentioned for beleivers to know that there is no let up if one commits shirk: Assoccating someone / earthly deities at par with Allah, for Allah is the Omnipotent and shares His powers with no one. That is why even requests of prophets, whowere very dear to Allah, were turned down outsightly and told to set aside relations based on biological kinship against the spiritual kinship. This the test the beleivers ahve to take and qualify to be known as true beleivers with form faith.
Those who “strictly observe the limits prescribed by Allah” in regard to the articles of the faith, worship-morality, social behavior, culture, economics, politics, judiciary, peace and war, and in all the aspects of their individual and collective lives are the blessed ones. They neither transgress these limits in order to follow their lusts nor invent laws, nor replace the divine law by other laws. They establish these limits and prevent their violations. Hence, the true believers are those who not only strictly observe the limits prescribed by Allah, but also do their very best to establish them and safeguard them so as to prevent their violation to the best of their powers and capabilities.
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Let us not soften our hearts fro those who violate the Divine Order. Praying to them is tantamount to deviating from the Divine Order and if it is done inadvertantly, one must immediate repent and seek Divine forgiveness. Indeed Allah is the most forgiving and merciful.
وَمَا عَلَيۡنَاۤ اِلَّا الۡبَلٰغُ الۡمُبِيۡنُ
(36:17) and our duty is no more than to clearly convey the Message.”
That is Our duty is only to convey to you the message that Allah has entrusted us with. Then it is for you to accept it or reject it. We have not been made responsible for making you accept it forcibly, and if you do not accept it, we shall not be seized in consequence of your disbelief, you will yourselves be answerable for your actions on Day of Resurrection.
May Allāh (سبحانه و تعالى) help us understand Qur'ān and follow the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, which is embodiment of commandments of Allah contained in the Qur'ān. May Allah help us to be like the ones He loves and let our lives be lived helping others and not making others' lives miserable or unlivable. May all our wrong doings, whether intentional or unintentional, be forgiven before the angel of death knocks on our door.
Reading the Qur'ān should be a daily obligation of a Muslim - Reading it with translation will make it meaningful. But reading its Exegesis / Tafsir will make you understand it fully. It will also help the Muslims to have grasp over social issues and their answers discussed in the Qur'an and other matter related to inter faith so that they are able to discuss issues with non-Muslims with authority based on refences from Qur'an.
May Allah forgive me if my posts ever imply a piety far greater than I possess. I am most in need of guidance.
Note: When we mention God in our posts, we mean One True God, we call Allah in Islam, with no associates. Allah is the Sole Creator of all things, and that Allah is all-powerful and all-knowing. Allah has no offspring, no race, no gender, no body, and is unaffected by the characteristics of human life.
Please refer to our reference page: Al-Qurʾān: Selected verses from Surah .9 At Tauba (The Repentance) for more selected verses from Surah At Tauba.
Fore more selected verses from Al-Qurʾān Please refer to our Selected verses from Sūrahs of Qur'an to highlight important topics with detailed explanation and Reference Page on Understanding Al Qur'an for knowing more about Islam and Qur'an. You may also refer to our Reference Pages for knowing more about Islam and Quran.
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