21:69 Al-Anbiyaa (The Prophets)

فانتصر الله لخليله لما ألقوه في النار وقال لها: { كُونِي بَرْدًا وَسَلَامًا عَلَى إِبْرَاهِيمَ ْ} فكانت عليه بردا وسلاما، لم ينله فيها أذى، ولا أحس بمكروه.

قال الله " يا نار كونى بردا وسلاما على إبراهيم " قال لم يبق نار في الأرض إلا طفئت وقال كعب الأحبار لم ينتفع أحد يومئذ بنار ولم تحرق النار من إبراهيم سوى وثاقه وقال الثوري عن الأعمش عن شيخ عن علي بن أبي طالب " قلنا يا نار كوني بردا وسلاما على إبراهيم " قال لا تضر به وقال ابن عباس وأبو العالية لولا أن الله عز وجل قال " وسلاما " لآذى إبراهيم بردها وقال جويبر عن الضحاك " كوني بردا وسلاما على إبراهيم " قالوا صنعوا له حظيرة من حطب جزل وأشعلوا فيه النار من كل جانب فأصبح ولم يصبه منها شيء حتى أخمدها الله قال ويذكرون أن جبريل كان معه يمسح وجهه من العرق فلم يصبه منها شيء غير ذلك وقال السدي كان معه فيها ملك الظل. وقال علي بن أبي حاتم حدثنا علي بن الحسين حدثنا يوسف بن موسى حدثنا مهران حدثنا إسماعيل بن أبي خالد عن المنهال بن عمرو قال أخبرت أن إبراهيم ألقي في النار قال فكان فيها إما خمسين وإما أربعين قال ما كنت أياما وليالي قط أطيب عيشا إذ كنت فيها وددت أن عيشي وحياتي كلها مثل عيشي إذ كنت فيها وقال أبو زرعة ابن عمرو بن جرير عن أبي هريرة قال إن أحسن شيء قال أبو إبراهيم لما رفع عنه الطبق وهو في النار وجده يرش جبينه قال عند ذلك نعم الرب ربك يا إبراهيم وقال قتادة لم يأت يومئذ دابة إلا أطفأت عنه النار إلا الوزغ وقال الزهري أمر النبي "صلى الله عليه وسلم" بقتله وسماه فويسقا. وقال ابن أبي حاتم حدثنا عبيد الله بن أخي ابن وهب حدثني عمي حدثنا جرير بن حازم أن نافعا حدثه قال حدثتني مولاة الفاكه بن المغيرة المخزومي قالت دخلت على عائشة فرأيت في بيتها رمحا فقلت: يا أم المؤمنين ما تصنعين بهذا الرمح؟ فقالت نقتل به هذه الأوزاغ إن رسول الله" صلى الله عليه وسلم" قال "إن إبراهيم حين ألقي في النار لم يكن في الأرض دابة إلا تطفئ النار غير الوزغ فإنه كان ينفخ على إبراهيم" فأمرنا رسول الله" صلى الله عليه وسلم" بقتله.

How Ibrahim was thrown into the Fire and how Allah controlled it

When their arguments were refuted and their incapability became clear, when truth was made manifest and falsehood was defeated, they resorted to using their power and strength, and said:

حَرِّقُوهُ وَانصُرُواْ ءَالِهَتَكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ فَـعِلِينَ

("Burn him and help your gods, if you will be doing.") So they gathered together a huge amount of wood. As-Suddi said, "I if a woman was sick, she would make a vow that if she recovered she would bring wood to burn Ibrahim. Then they made a hole in the ground and set it aflame, and it burned with huge sparks and immense flames. There had never been a fire like it. They put Ibrahim, peace be upon him, into a catapult, at the suggestion of a nomadic Kurdish man from Persia." Shu`ayb Al-Jaba'i said, "His name was Hayzan, and Allah caused the earth to swallow him up, and he will remain sinking into it until the Day of Resurrection. When they threw him he said, `Sufficient for me is Allah, and He is the best disposer of affairs.' " This is similar to what Al-Bukhari recorded from Ibn `Abbas that Ibrahim said, "`Sufficient for me is Allah, and He is the best disposer of affairs," when he was thrown into the fire, and Muhammad ﷺ said it when they said:

إِنَّ النَّاسَ قَدْ جَمَعُواْ لَكُمْ فَاخْشَوْهُمْ فَزَادَهُمْ إِيمَـناً وَقَالُواْ حَسْبُنَا اللَّهُ وَنِعْمَ الْوَكِيلُ

(Verily, the people have gathered against you, therefore, fear them. But it increased them in faith, and they said: "Allah is sufficient for us, and He is the best disposer of affairs.") 3:173. Sa`id bin Jubayr reported that Ibn `Abbas said: "When Ibrahim was thrown into the fire, the keeper (angel) of the rain said: `When will I be commanded to send rain' But the command of Allah was more swift. Allah said:

ينَارُ كُونِى بَرْداً وَسَلَـمَا عَلَى إِبْرَهِيمَ

(O fire! Be you cool and safety for Ibrahim!), and there was no fire left on earth that was not extinguished." Ibn `Abbas and Abu Al-`Aliyah said: "Were it not for the fact that Allah said,

وَسَلَـماً

(and safety), Ibrahim would have been harmed by its coldness." Qatadah said: "On that day there was no creature that did not try to extinguish the fire for Ibrahim, except for the gecko." Az-Zuhri said: "The Prophet commanded that it should be killed, and called it a harmful vermin."

وَأَرَادُواْ بِهِ كَيْداً فَجَعَلْنَـهُمُ الاٌّخْسَرِينَ

(And they wanted to harm him, but We made them the worst losers.) they were defeated and humiliated, because they wanted to plot against the Prophet of Allah, but Allah planned against them and saved him from the fire, and thus they were defeated.

We said ‘O fire! Be coolness and safety for Abraham!’ and so it only consumed the bonds with which he had been tied. Its heat departed but its luminosity remained. And by His words wa-salāman ‘and safety’ Abraham was safe from salima death because of its coolness.

قُلْنَا يَا نَارُ‌ كُونِي بَرْ‌دًا وَسَلَامًا عَلَىٰ إِبْرَ‌اهِيمَ (We said, "0 fire, be cold and safe for Ibrahim." - 21:69) As stated above, one explanation of the fire becoming cool and comfortable for Sayyidna Ibrahim (علیہ السلام) could be that it ceased to be fire and changed into a pleasant breeze. However, the more plausible explanation is that the fire remained as fire but did not touch the body of Sayyidna Ibrahim (علیہ السلام) ، although it burnt other things around him, so much so that it even burnt down the rope which bound him.

According to some historic versions he remained in the fire for seven days and used to recall that those seven days were the most comfortable time of his entire life. (Mazhari)

We said, “O fire, be coolness and safety!” For the companions of recognitions and the lords of realities, there is another intimation in this verse. They have said that this was a call to a fire that was made ready in the fireplace of Abra- ham's spirit. When Nimrod placed him in the mangonel, Abraham placed his own secret core in the mangonel of contemplation. As soon as he came near the fire of Nimrod, the burn of witnessing the Real made him want to sigh so as to extinguish Nimrod's fire. The call came, “O fire,” that is, “O fire of witnessing, be coolness. Be cold toward Nimrod's fire and do not exercise your ruling authority over it, for We have decreed that We will bring forth from the midst of the fire a scented garden full of flowers and blossoms to honor Our bosom friend and make manifest a miracle for him. If you extinguish it, it will not become a garden and the miracle will not appear. Be cold toward Nimrod's fire so that the garden may appear, and be safety for Abraham so that the miracle may appear.” Listen to another subtle point, more wonderful than that: Your soul is like Nimrod, the soul's caprice is fire, and your burnt heart is Abraham. The soul has lit up the fire of caprice, placed the heart in the mangonel of disobedient acts with the chains of deception and the fetters of appetite, and thrown it into the fire of caprice. Before it takes one step, intellect comes like someone dis- tracted, a servant-boy to the heart, and says, “Have you any need?” The heart responds, “'Of you, no.' O intellect, do you remember when it was said to you, 'Come!', and you came? It was said, 'Go!,' and you went? It was said, 'Who are you?', and you were at a loss? On that day you did not know your own road. How do you know what is right for me today?” When the heart enters the fire of caprice, the command arrives, “O fire, be coolness! O fire of caprice, be cold for the heart, for it is already burned by love for Me.” For in the lover's heart is the fire of love. The burnt one will not be burned again.