IbrahimSA and Sarrah reached Egypt, where Ibrahim met Hajar, the daughter of a noble king in Egypt. The king offered Hajar’s hand in marriage to Ibrahim.
Ibrahim NabiSA married Hajar and Allah blessed them with a son, Ismail, who would be his successor as ImamSA. Allah also blessed Sarrah with a son, Is-haaq, after years of marriage, in spite of old age.
Ibrahim left for the valley of Bat-ha (Mecca) with Hajar and their son, Ismail, as per the wish of Allah. It is said that when they reached there, after a long and tiring journey, Ismail who was only a few months old, was thirsty and cried for water. It was a hilly area and Hajar couldn’t find water anywhere, thus she ran in desperation between two hillocks named “Safa” and “Marwa”, but in vain. When she returned to Ismail she was surprised to find a spring sprouting from the land underneath Ismail’s feet. It was the spring of Zamzam.
Allah tested both father and son. Ibrahim told Ismail: “O my son, I see in a dream that I offer you in sacrifice, what do you say to that?” Ismail replied, “O my father! Do as you are commanded: you will find me, if Allah so wills, forbearing and enduring.”(37,102) Aqa MaulaTUS elaborated that the faith of Ismail was so strong that in reply to his father he did not say “do as you have seen in your dream” but “do as you are commanded.”
It was the tenth of Zilhijja (Eid-ul-adha) when Ibrahim and Ismail prepared for the sacrifice submitting their wills to Allah. Ibrahim laid Ismail prostrate on his forehead when Allah called out, “O Ibrahim! You have fulfilled the dream” and in the place of Ismail, Jibraeel placed a ram for sacrifice.
Allah proclaims in the Quran, “And we ransomed him for a momentous sacrifice”. Instead of Ismail we made a great sacrifice. Aqa MaulaTUS explained the meaning of this incident in the third waaz in Ashara Mubaraka. Maula elaborated, “Ibrahim sacrificed Is-haaq by placing him amongst the people. It is a very difficult task to stay amongst the people as they continuously abuse, attack and oppose. Is-haaq sacrificed himself for Ismail. Likewise, Duat MutlaqeenRA sacrifice themselves for the khidmet of Imam uz zamanSA.”
When Ibrahim first tested Ismail and asked him to stay amongst the people, Ismail agreed at once saying that he did not mind doing whatever he was asked to do. He stated that he did not find any work too small or unworthy, if indeed Ibrahim was the one who commanded it.