Prophet Ismail

Prophet Ibrahim ﷺ had spent his whole life calling people to Allah. He had faced fire, mockery, and exile. But there was one thing his heart ached for: a child.

He turned to Allah with the simplest, most beautiful prayer:

رَبِّ هَبْ لِي مِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ

"My Lord, grant me [a child] from among the righteous."

And Allah answered.

"So We gave him good tidings of a forbearing boy."

That boy was Ismail ﷺ whose name means "Allah has heard." Born to Ibrahim and his wife Hajar, he came into the world as an answer to a prayer. His very name was a reminder: Allah always hears.

When Ismail was still a nursing baby, Allah commanded Ibrahim to do something that seemed impossible: take his wife Hajar and their infant son to a barren, empty valley in Arabia a place with no water, no plants, no people and leave them there.

The valley was called Bakkah what we know today as Makkah.

Ibrahim left them with only a small bag of dates and a water-skin. He turned to walk away.

Hajar called after him: "O Ibrahim are you leaving us in a valley with no people and nothing?"

Ibrahim did not answer. He kept walking.

She called again: "Did Allah command you to do this?"

He said: "Yes."

Hajar said with complete certainty: "Then He will not abandon us."

Before he left, Ibrahim turned and made a dua for them that Allah preserved in the Qur'ān forever.

The water ran out. Hajar looked at her baby Ismail growing weak with thirst and could not bear to watch.

She ran to the nearest hill Safa climbed it and looked for any sign of help. Nothing.

She ran to the next hill Marwa and looked again. Nothing.

Seven times she ran between those two hills, searching desperately for water or a traveller who might help.

Then she heard a sound. She went back to Ismail and saw water bursting from the ground beside him.

The Hadith tells us she cupped her hands around it, saying "Zam zam!" meaning "Gather, gather!" trying to contain the spring as it flowed.

The Prophet ﷺ said: "May Allah have mercy on Ismail's mother had she left Zamzam alone and not tried to contain it, it would have been a flowing river."

That spring Zamzam still flows today, thousands of years later. Millions of pilgrims drink from it every year.

Years passed. Ismail grew into a young man strong, patient, and deeply devoted to Allah.

Then one night, Ibrahim had a dream.

In it, he saw himself sacrificing his own son Ismail.

For a prophet, dreams are a form of revelation. This was not just a dream it was a command from Allah.

Ibrahim went to Ismail and told him, with complete honesty, what he had seen:

"O my son, indeed I have seen in a dream that I must sacrifice you. So tell me what you think."

He did not hide it. He did not pretend it hadn't happened. He told his son and gave him the choice to respond.

What Ismail said next would make his name live forever.

A father had just told his son: I must sacrifice you.

The son a young man, full of life looked at his father. And said:

يَا أَبَتِ افْعَلْ مَا تُؤْمَرُ ۖ سَتَجِدُنِي إِن شَاءَ اللَّهُ مِنَ الصَّابِرِينَ

"O my father, do what you are commanded. You will find me, if Allah wills, of the steadfast."

No argument. No panic. No bargaining. Just complete, willing submission to Allah's command.

Both father and son walked to the place of sacrifice. Ibn Kathir narrates that on the way, Shaytan tried three times to tempt them away from obeying Allah and three times they drove him away by throwing pebbles. Those same three spots are still marked today at Hajj: the Jamarat.

Ismail lay down and submitted completely. Ibrahim prepared to fulfill the command of Allah.

Ibrahim had fulfilled the command in his heart he had truly submitted and was ready to follow through. The knife was raised.

Then Allah called out:

"O Ibrahim you have fulfilled the vision! Indeed, We thus reward the doers of good. Indeed, this was the clear trial."

The test was never about the blood. It was about the heart. And their hearts had passed completely.

Allah then gave them a great ransom:

"And We ransomed him with a great sacrifice."

A ram appeared provided by Allah to be sacrificed in place of Ismail.

This is why, every year on Eid al-Adha, Muslims around the world sacrifice an animal. We are following the footsteps of Ibrahim and Ismail remembering the day two people chose Allah above everything, and Allah honoured them forever.

Years later, father and son were reunited again for one of the greatest construction projects in history.

Allah commanded Ibrahim to build His House the Ka'bah in the same valley where he had once left Ismail as a baby.

Together, Ibrahim and Ismail raised the walls of the Ka'bah, stone by stone, with their own hands. As they built, they prayed:

رَبَّنَا تَقَبَّلْ مِنَّا ۖ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ

"Our Lord, accept this from us. Indeed You are the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing."

That simple, humble prayer from two prophets building the House of Allah is one we can say after every good deed we do.

The Ka'bah stands today. Over a billion Muslims face it in every salah. Millions circle it every year. And it was built by two people who, when Allah called, answered without hesitation.

That is the legacy of Ismail ﷺ the forbearing boy who became the father of the Arab prophets, ancestor of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ himself.