﴿And he advised them﴾ meaning: with this saying or the advice or the characteristic that Allah has chosen for him. Perhaps he did not mention the pronoun so as not to imply a return to his Lord; and it was read as "And he advised" so it is from advising and the advice, which is the precedence in the beneficial matter whose outcome is praiseworthy. The reading with emphasis is more eloquent in indicating repetition and abundance. ﴿Ibrahim advised his sons and Yaqub﴾ he also advised his sons saying: each of them said: ﴿O my sons, indeed Allah﴾ with His greatness and perfection ﴿has chosen for you the religion﴾ and that is Islam, so He has made you independent of seeking it and pondering over it, as a mercy from Him to you. ﴿So﴾ meaning: thus it resulted that I say to you: do not ﴿die﴾ in any state of the states ﴿except that you are﴾ meaning: while you are ﴿Muslims﴾ meaning: submitting with your hands and all that is attributed to you to Allah. You have no share in anything at all nor should you turn to anyone other than your Lord. For indeed, whoever's neediness is complete towards the Rich, the Wise, He will suffice him accordingly. And He, glorified and exalted is He, affirmed by the following verses the invalidity of what the obstinate ones among the Jews and Christians hold, and He cleared His friend and the prophets from that in a manner that necessitated certainty that they are aware of its invalidity.

The mention of the story of Ibrahim, peace be upon him, from the Torah: It was mentioned in the first book of it that he is Ibrahim son of Tarikh son of Nahor son of Sharugh son of Arghu son of Phaligh son of Abir son of Shalikh son of Arfakhshad son of Sam son of Nuh; because it was said in the Torah: when a hundred years passed upon Sam, Arfakhshad was born to him. Then thirty-five years passed upon him and Shalakh was born to him, and he was named in another place Shalih. Then thirty years passed upon him and Abir was born to him. Then thirty-four years passed upon him and Phaligh was born to him. Then thirty years passed upon him and Arghu was born to him. Then thirty-two years passed upon him and Sharugh was born to him. Then thirty years passed upon him and Nahor was born to him. Then twenty-nine years passed upon him and Tarikh was born to him. Then seventy-five years passed upon him and Ibrahim, Nahor, and Haran were born to him. And he differed from him in the Gospel somewhat, as it was said in the Gospel of Luke: Nahor son of Sharugh son of Arghu son of Phaligh son of Abir son of Salah son of Qinan son of Arfakhshad son of Sam son of Nuh; and Nuh, as stated in the Torah, is the son of Lamech son of Metushalach son of Khunukh son of Yared son of Halil son of Qinan son of Anush son of Sheeth son of Adam, peace be upon him.

And thus he said in the Gospel of Luke, except that he said in Lamak: (p-169) Lamak, and in Yaredh: Yaredh son of Mahalalel. Then he said in the Torah: And Haran fathered Lot, and Haran died in the lifetime of his father Terah in the land in which he was born, which is Ur of the Chaldeans - and in one version: the Kazdanians - "So Abram took Sarai as his wife, and she was barren, and she bore him no child. Then Terah took his son Abram and Lot the son of his brother Haran and his daughter-in-law Sarai from Ur of the Chaldeans, intending for the land of Canaan. They arrived at Haran and settled there. Terah died in Haran at the age of two hundred and five years; and the Lord said to Abram: Leave your land from where you were born and from the house of your father to the land that I will show you, and I will make you into a great nation and bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." So Abram did as the Lord commanded him, and Lot the son of his brother went with him, and Sarai his wife was then seventy-five years old, and with them were all their livestock and what they had acquired in Haran. They went to the land of Canaan and arrived there. Abram came to the land of Shechem and to the oak of Moreh, and the Canaanites were then in the land. The Lord appeared to Abram and said to him: "To your descendants, I will give this land." And Abram built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him (p-170) and moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. Then he journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev. Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land. When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife: "Indeed, I know that you are a beautiful woman. When the Egyptians see you, they will say: 'This is his wife,' and they will kill me, but they will let you live. Please say you are my sister, so that it may go well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you." - And he mentioned the story of Pharaoh taking her and the plagues that befell him, which prevented him from her, and he let her go and treated her well and to Abraham - until he said: So Abram went out of Egypt, he and his wife and Lot with him to the land of the south - and in one version: to the south - which is the direction of the south, and Abram was very rich, and he went on his journey from the south until he came to Bethel, to the place where he had pitched his tent at the beginning, and Lot with him had flocks and cattle and very much goods, and the land was not able to support them both because their livestock was very great. So it was mentioned that Lot lifted his eyes and looked toward the land of the Jordan, and behold, it was all a land of watering and drinking like the garden of the Lord and like the land of Egypt that is in the entrance of Zoar - and in one version: Zagar - so Lot chose the land of the Jordan; and Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent toward Sodom. And the men of Sodom were wicked and exceedingly sinful, and the Lord said to Abram after Lot had separated from him: "Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward - in one version: to the north and south and east and west - for all the land which you see, I will give to you and your descendants forever, and I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you." Then Abram moved his tent and went and dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the Lord. And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar - and in one version: Shinwar - and Arioch king of Ellasar - and in one version: the Khazar - and Chedorlaomer king of Elam - and in one version: Khuzistan and Targil king of Gilan - and in one version: the nations - these made war with the kings of the Sodomites in the valley of Siddim, which is the Salt Sea. They killed the giants who were in the ten cities and the heroes who were there and the Amorites who were in the mountains of Seir - and in one version: Shurat - to the border of Paran which is in the wilderness, and they returned and came to En Mishpat - and in one version: the judgment - which is Kadesh, and killed all the kings of the Amalekites and the Amorites who dwelt in En Gedi. And King Bera of Sodom and King Birsha of Gomorrah and King Shinab of Admah and King Shemeber of Zeboiim and the king of Bela, which is Zoar - and in one version: Zagar - five kings, fought against the four in the valley of the Sodomites, and the king of Sodom and the king of Gomorrah fled and fell there, and the rest fled to the mountains, and they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their provisions and took Lot, the son of Abram's brother, and his goods and departed. Then one who escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, for he had dwelt in the terebinth trees of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner, and they were allies with Abram. Now when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his three hundred and eighteen trained servants who were born in his own house, and went in pursuit as far as Dan - and in one version: Banias - and he divided his forces against them by night, and he and his servants attacked them and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus, and he brought back Lot, his brother, and his goods and all the women and the people. Then the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king's valley. And after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom said to Abram: "Give me the persons, and take the goods for yourself." But Abram said to the king of Sodom: "I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth, that I will take nothing, from a thread to a sandal strap, and that I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, 'I have made Abram rich.' Except only what the young men have eaten and the portion of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion." (p-175)

And everyone who is from the children of the strangers who are not from your seed, let him circumcise the circumcision of the newborn in your house and the one purchased with your money. And my covenant shall be a mark upon your bodies, a covenant everlasting to eternity. And every male who has a foreskin, if he does not circumcise his foreskin on the eighth day, let that soul be destroyed from its people, for it has invalidated my covenant. And Allah said to Ibrahim: 'Sarai is your companion, do not let her name be Sarai, for her name is Sarah, and I will bless her, and I will give you from her a son and bless him, and he will be a leader of many nations, and kings of nations will come forth from his descendants.' So Ibrahim fell on his face laughing and said in his heart - and in another narration, he was astonished and said to himself - 'Will a son be born to a man of a hundred years, and Sarah gives birth when she has reached ninety years!' And Ibrahim said to Allah: 'Oh, would that Ishmael might live before You!' And Allah said to Ibrahim: 'Indeed - and in one version: Yes - Sarah your companion will bear you a son, and you shall name him Ishaq, and I will establish the covenant between me and him forever and for his descendants after him. And I have responded to you regarding Ishmael, and I have blessed him and multiplied him greatly, and he will beget twelve great leaders, and I will make him a leader of a great nation. And I will establish my covenant with Ishaq, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.' So when he finished speaking, the Lord's revelation departed from Ibrahim, and Ibrahim went with his son Ishmael and all the sons of his house and the ones purchased with his money, every male from the house of Ibrahim, and he circumcised their foreskins on that day as Allah commanded him. And Ibrahim was ninety-nine years old when he circumcised his foreskin, and Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised. He also circumcised with him the sons of the strangers who were accompanying him. Then he completed the glad tidings of Ishaq, as will come in Surah Hud, if Allah the Exalted wills - until he said: 'And the Lord mentioned Sarah as He said: And Allah, blessed and exalted is He, did with Sarah as He promised, so she conceived and bore Ibrahim a son in his old age at the time which Allah had promised. And Ibrahim named his son from Sarah Ishaq. And Ibrahim circumcised his son Ishaq on the eighth day as the Lord commanded him, and Ibrahim was a hundred years old. And Sarah said: 'Indeed, Allah has favored me and made me rejoice with great joy, so whoever hears, let him rejoice with me.' And she said: 'Who would have said to Ibrahim that Sarah would nurse a boy and bear a son after old age?' So the boy grew and was weaned, and Ibrahim made a great feast on the day he was weaned. Then he mentioned the matter of Sarah regarding the expulsion of Hagar and her distancing, and that this greatly distressed Ibrahim, and he said: 'And Allah said to Ibrahim: Do not let the condition of the boy and your maid be difficult for you.' So Ibrahim rose early and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar and placed it on her shoulder, and the boy and the food, and she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beer Sheba - and in one version, Beer al-Hilf, because Ibrahim had made a pact with the owner of that land at that time - and the water in the skin ran out, so she placed the boy under a bush and went and sat opposite him at a distance of a bowshot so that she would not see the death of him. And when the boy cried and wept, Allah heard his voice, and the angel of Allah called to Hagar from heaven and said to her: 'What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for Allah has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Arise, lift up the boy and hold him tightly with your hand, for I will make him a leader of a great nation.' And Allah opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water, so she went and filled the skin and gave the boy a drink. And Allah was with the boy, and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness of Paran, and he learned archery in that wilderness, and his mother took for him a wife.

And in it, this saying regarding the expulsion of Hagar and her son appears to contradict what has preceded about the circumcision of Ishmael, peace be upon him. For it states that he was thirteen years old, and this implies that he was an infant. In the authentic hadith, "He placed him by the House while he was nursing." This can be understood in light of this last saying. As for the first, it did not state that he was at the circumcision in Jerusalem. It is possible that Allah, glorified and exalted is He, caused the earth to fold for Ibrahim, peace be upon him, by the Buraq or otherwise, so he went to the honored Mecca, circumcised him, and then returned. In it, there is a good tidings of our Prophet Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, which is clearer than what they mentioned, which is his saying: "And all the tribes of the earth will be blessed by you," because this did not occur with any of the children of Ibrahim, peace be upon him, except with the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him. He has established the blessing with him and the good in most of the tribes of the earth, and the remaining will be after the descent of Isa, peace be upon him. Likewise, his saying: "And his hand is over all the people," to the end of it, because no one has reported that Ishmael, peace be upon him, had a hand over all the people, nor did he settle over all the borders of his brothers, nor did any of his offspring possess this description except the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him. Then I saw in the explanation of the Maqasid by Sheikh Sa'd al-Din al-Taftazani and the explanation of the Sahifah by Imam al-Samarqandi a note on this text.