# Why did most commentators say God commanded the sacrifice?

*Ibn Abbas on 'I think I have been commanded', the relief as the test, and the Israiliyyat*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/yruc09ajkeq/s/4/
- Date: 2020-10-28 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: "God did NOT ask Abraham to sacrifice his son" | Mufti Abu Layth (11:55–14:34)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRuC09ajKEQ&t=715s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/yruc09ajkeq/

**Topics:** Tafsir and verse study; Stories of the prophets; False and fabricated hadith

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Ibn Abbas is reported to have read Ibrahim's words as 'I think I have been commanded', and some commentators say the relief itself was the test. Mufti Abu Layth attributes the common view to early Muslims absorbing Jewish narratives.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says the traditional view that God commanded the sacrifice entered Islamic thought through Jewish and Judaeo-Christian narratives taken by early Muslims, and he cites the reading attributed to Ibn Abbas that Ibrahim saw something that suggested to him he had been commanded.

**Evidence, his words at 13:55:** “you have to understand that a lot of our early islamic thought has been influenced by the israelites by jewish judeo-christian narratives that have been floating” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRuC09ajKEQ&t=835s)

## Longer summary

Reading from the commentaries, Mufti Abu Layth says that 'I have been commanded' is one understanding, but that Ibn Abbas is reported to have read Ibrahim's words as 'I saw something in a dream which gave me to understand that I have been commanded', that is, something that suggested a command rather than a command itself. He brings up a second commentary, which he names indistinctly, and reads that the trial could be the test as commonly understood, or that the relief Ibrahim received was itself very testing, because he realised he could have murdered his own son. He then asks why people historically said otherwise and answers that much early Islamic thought was influenced by Jewish and Judaeo-Christian narratives, since early Muslims took material from Jewish scribes for whom this was simply what had happened with Abraham.

## Sources and names cited

- Ibrahim
- Ibn Abbas
- al-Muharrar al-Wajiz of Ibn Atiyya [?]
- Israiliyyat

## Transcript (machine tier, 11:55–14:34)

[11:27] nobody should ever be conducting these kind of sacrifices human sacrifices okay so that's um the actual interpretation and you can see here as well this is tafsir samani where he is mentioning that he's got let me just bring this one i have this right so here he mentions oh sorry um

[12:01] that the the verse which we translated it says that i've been uh commanded that's one understanding of it but he mentions ibn abbas says that this is why he thinks that and it said that you see i saw something in a dream which to me it gave the understanding that i've been commanding not that i have been commanded you understand what reflects or demonstrates to me that

[12:40] maybe i've been commanded so that's and here you've got a taser of ibn uh the mahara which is where he mentions what in okay so it could be that this what is it that is

[13:17] that what was a test could be the the you know it could be this he's saying obviously because many and i'm going to come to that many people historically went with that that it was the actual test or it could be that this now relief that he had was very testing for him why was this relief testing for him because there's the understanding that he could have sacrificed he could have murdered his own son so this was very testing upon him now it's important to understand this why now first of all why did people then

[13:55] if i'm saying this why have people historically said something different now you have to understand that a lot of our early islamic thought has been influenced by the israelites by jewish judeo-christian narratives that have been floating so many early muslims took things from early jewish scribes like

[14:25] all these people and and obviously in the judeo culture this is what they thought had happened so people are accepting that look there was this this incident with abraham but where did this come from this where did the commandment was it just something he saw himself what did god tell him now i know in the bible they say it as oh god told him but not in the quran the quran never said that and allah could have said that it was so easy to say we told him sacrifice and then we found him to indeed be somebody who lives up to his word so we told him stop but allah never said that

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment yRuC09ajKEQ/s/4. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/yruc09ajkeq/s/4/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.