ভূমিকা

“Verily, Abraham was a nation (by himself) obedient to Allah, upright, and he was not of the polytheists,” Allah has taken ‘Ibrahim to be an entire nation by himself in this holy verse and each and every commentator has presented his own version and interpretation for this sentence, among them we may select the following: As ‘Ibrahim belonged to a school to which no one else belonged, therefore, he was an entire nation by himself ^1 .

He possessed the good qualities and the perfection which one may expect all the individuals of a nation to possess; that is, in him alone one might find the good traits which might belong to each of the diverse righteous individuals[^2]. The Arabic term /’ummat/ sometimes signifies the instructor of the good; thus it signifies that he was the instructor of all the good things ^3 .

The Arabic term /’ummat/ sometimes means, ‘leader’ and hence, it targets the leading figure, ‘the Imam’ of all the worshippers of Allah[^4]. The personality and the spectrum of his unique existence measured up to the scope of a nation, as he was one of the pillars of the strength of the whole nation[^5]. As he (as) was knowledgeable, he would lead an entire nation, as he is required to do so.

As he initiated a movement, he did what an entire nation was supposed to do, without having any companions, he rose alone and all by himself. It is certain that the number and the quantity is not so important; rather it is the quality which counts and the initiation of the movement is what matters. Therefore, this holy verse deals with a perfect example of a thankful servant of Allah, i.e. ‘Ibr ahim’ who is the champion of monotheism.

This is particularly important for the Muslims, in general, and for the Arabs, in particular, and it is also inspiring for them who regard him to be their leader and their earliest object of identification figure.

From among the outstanding characteristics of this great man, one may cite four attributes in this verse: At first, the Qur’an says: “Verily Abraham was a nation (by himself)…” Certainly, ‘Ibrahim was ‘a nation’, a great leader, a nation-building man; and in those days when no one spoke of monotheism, he was the champion of monotheism.