Allah tested Ibrahim with words, testing him with commands and prohibitions. And Allah's testing of His servant is a metaphor for enabling him to choose between two matters: what Allah wants and what the servant desires. It is as if He is examining him on what he does so that He may reward him accordingly. Abu Hanifa, may Allah be pleased with him, read it, which is the reading of Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him: (Ibrahim's Lord) with Ibrahim in the nominative and Lord in the accusative. The meaning is that He called him with words of supplication, as the tester does to see if he will respond to them or not. If you say: the subject in the common reading follows the verb in estimation, then the attachment of the pronoun to it is an implicit mention before the mention. I say: the implicit mention before the mention would be to say: His Lord tested Ibrahim. As for 'Ibrahim's Lord tested him,' or 'His Lord tested Ibrahim,' neither of them has an implicit mention before the mention. The first has the pronoun mentioned before the pronoun explicitly. As for the second, Ibrahim is advanced in meaning, and it is not like: 'His Lord tested Ibrahim.' For the pronoun in it has preceded both in wording and meaning, so there is no way for its correctness. The implied subject in 'So He completed them' in one of the readings for Ibrahim means: He fulfilled them properly and performed them excellently without negligence or delay. And similarly (And Ibrahim who fulfilled). In the other reading, it is for Allah, the Exalted, meaning He granted him what he requested without diminishing anything from it. This is supported by what was narrated from Muqatil that he explained the words as what Ibrahim asked his Lord in His saying: (My Lord, make this a secure city), (and make us Muslims for You), (and send among them a messenger from them). (Our Lord, accept from us). If you say: what is the agent in 'when'? I say: it is either implied, like: and remember when He tested him, or 'And when He tested him' was like this and that. If you say: what is the position of 'He said'? I say: in the first it is an initiation, as if it were said: So what did his Lord say to him when He completed the words? It was said: He said, 'Indeed, I am making you a leader for the people.' And in the second, it is a clause connected to what precedes it. It may also be an explanation of the saying: (He tested) and an interpretation of it, meaning by the words what He mentioned of leadership, purifying the house, and raising its foundations. And Islam is before that in His saying: (When his Lord said to him, 'Submit'). And it was said regarding the words: they are five for the head: shaving the head, trimming the mustache, using a miswak, rinsing the mouth, and inhaling water. And five for the body: circumcision, shaving the pubic hair, cleaning oneself after using the restroom, trimming the nails, and plucking the armpit hair. It was said that He tested him with the laws of Islam with thirty arrows: ten in Al-Bara'a (the repentant and the worshippers), ten in Al-Ahzab (Indeed, the Muslims and the Muslim women), and ten in Al-Mu'minun, and a question was asked until His saying (And those who are diligent in their prayers). It was said that they are the rites of Hajj, such as tawaf, sa'i, stoning, ihram, and the declaration. It was said: He tested him with the star, the moon, the sun, circumcision, the sacrifice of his son, the fire, and migration. The Imam is the name of the one who is followed, like a garment for what one is wrapped in, meaning they follow you in their religion. And 'from my descendants' is an addition to the 'you' as if he said: and I will make some of my descendants, just as one might say to you: I will honor you, and you say: and Zayd. 'The wrongdoers' was read as 'the wrongdoers,' meaning whoever is wrong from your descendants will not attain my succession and my covenant to him regarding leadership. Only the one who is just and free from wrongdoing will attain it.

And they said: In this is evidence that the sinful person is not suitable for leadership. How can one be suitable for it whose judgment and testimony are not valid, whose obedience is not obligatory, whose news is not accepted, and who is not advanced for prayer? Abu Hanifa, may Allah have mercy on him, used to secretly give fatwas about the obligation to support Zayd ibn Ali, may Allah be pleased with them, and he would send money to him and go out with him against the usurping thief who claimed to be the imam and caliph, like the Duwaniqi and his likes. A woman said to him: I advised my son to go out with Ibrahim and Muhammad, the sons of Abdullah ibn al-Hasan, until he was killed. He said: I wish I were in your son's place. He would say about al-Mansur and his followers: If they wanted to build a mosque and wanted me to count its bricks, I would not do it. And from Ibn Uyayna: The oppressor can never be an imam. How can an oppressor be appointed to leadership, when the imam is meant to restrain the oppressors? If one who is unjust in himself is appointed, then the saying goes: Whoever entrusts the wolf is unjust. And the House is a common name for the Kaaba, like the star for the Pleiades, a place of refuge for people, a place of return for pilgrims and those who perform Umrah. They disperse from it and then return to it, meaning those who visit it or their likes. And a place of safety, as in His saying: (A Sacred Place of Safety, while people are being snatched away from around them). And because the wrongdoer seeks refuge there, he is not harmed until he exits.

And it was recited: 'Mithabat', because it is a place of return for all people and is not specific to any one of them (Equal are the resident therein and the visitor). And 'Take from it' means to say, that is, we said take from it a place of prayer in which you pray. It is recommended and preferred rather than obligatory. And about the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, 'He took the hand of Umar and said: This is the station of Ibrahim.' Umar said: Should we not take it as a place of prayer? He meant: Should we not prefer it for its virtue by praying in it, seeking blessings from it and wishing for the place where Ibrahim stood? He said: I was not commanded to do that, and the sun did not set until it was revealed.

[This was narrated by Abu Nu'aym from the narration of Mujahid from Ibn Umar: 'That the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, took the hand of Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, and passed by the station and said to him: O Messenger of Allah, is this the station of Ibrahim? He said: Yes. He said: Should we not take it as a place of prayer? Then Allah revealed (And take from the station of Ibrahim a place of prayer) - the verse. And he said: It is strange from the narration of Mujahid. It was uniquely narrated by Ja'far ibn Muhammad al-Mada'ini from his father from Harun al-A'war from Aban ibn Taghlib from al-Hakam from Mujahid. And in the two Sahihs from Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, he said: Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, said: 'My Lord agreed with me in three - and he mentioned the hadith.' And in it: 'I said, O Messenger of Allah, if we took from the station of Ibrahim a place of prayer, it was revealed.' ] And from Jabir ibn Abdullah: 'That the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, touched the stone and walked three rounds and walked four, until when he finished, he went to the station of Ibrahim and prayed behind it two rak'ahs and recited (And take from the station of Ibrahim a place of prayer).

[Thus he mentioned it. And what is in Sahih Muslim in the long hadith about the description of Hajj is: 'That he recited the verse when he finished the tawaf and then prayed.'] And it was said: A place of prayer is claimed. And the station of Ibrahim is the stone that has the imprint of his feet, and the place where the stone was when he placed his feet on it, which is the place called the station of Ibrahim. And about Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, that he asked al-Mutalib ibn Abi Wada'a: Do you know where his original place was? He said: Yes, and he showed him his place today. And from Ata: (The station of Ibrahim) is Arafat, Muzdalifah, and the pebbles, because he stood in these places and supplicated therein. And from al-Nakha'i:

The entire sanctuary is the station of Ibrahim. And it was recited (and they took) in the past tense, as an addition to: (We made), meaning that the people took from the place of Ibrahim, which was marked due to his importance and the settling of his descendants near it, a qibla to which they pray. We commanded them both to purify My House by purifying it, or meaning to purify it. The meaning is to purify it from idols and impurities, and the circumambulation of the one in a state of janabah and the menstruating woman, and all filth. Or to dedicate it solely to these, so that no one else may approach it. And the 'aakifin are the neighbors who have devoted themselves to it, meaning they have settled and do not leave, or the ones in i'tikaf. It is also possible that by 'aakifin he means the standing ones, meaning those standing in prayer, as He said: (for the ones who circumambulate and the standing ones and the bowing ones in prostration). The meaning is for the circumambulators and the worshippers, because standing, bowing, and prostration are the postures of the one praying.