in order to vindicate the folly and tyranny upon which they insisted. But the Lord, Glorified and Exalted be He, foiled their plot and exalted His word, His religion, and His proof, as He says:
“They said, ‘Burn him and stand up for your gods, if you would act at all!’ We said, ‘O fire, be coolness and safety for Abraham.’ They sought to scheme against him, but We made them the most abject of losers.” (al-Anbiyāʾ 21:68–70)
They therefore began gathering firewood from every place they could reach, and they kept at it for a long time. A woman among them who fell ill would vow that, should she recover, she would carry wood for Abraham’s fire. They then dug a huge pit (1), heaped the wood into it, and set it ablaze; the flames raged, flared, and rose, sending up sparks the like of which had never been seen.
Next they placed Abraham—peace be upon him—into the bucket of a massive catapult (2) fashioned for them by a Kurdish man (3) named “Hayzan,” the first to construct such engines. Allah caused the earth to swallow him, and he continues to plunge within it (4) until the Day of Resurrection.
They began binding and shackling Abraham, while he kept saying, “There is no god but You; glory be to You! Praise is Yours, and sovereignty too; You have no partner.” When the Friend of the Most Merciful—peace be upon him—was set, bound hand and foot, in the cup of the catapult and hurled into the fire, he said, “Allah is sufficient for us, and He is the best disposer of affairs.”
Al-Bukhārī (5) relates from Ibn ʿAbbās that the words “Allah is sufficient for us, and He is the best disposer of affairs” were uttered by Abraham when he was cast into the fire, and by Muhammad when it was said to him: “Those to whom the people said, ‘Indeed, the people have gathered against you, so fear them!’—but it only increased them in faith, and they replied, ‘Allah is sufficient for us, and He is the best disposer of affairs.’ So they returned with a blessing and favor from Allah; no harm whatsoever had touched them.” (Āl ʿImrān 3:173–174)
Abū Yaʿlā reports: Abū Hishām al-Rifāʿī told us, Ishāq ibn Sulaymān told us, from Abū Jaʿfar al-Rāzī, from ʿĀṣim ibn Abī al-Nujūd, from Abū Ṣāliḥ, from Abū Hurayrah, who said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “When Abraham was flung into the fire he said, ‘O Allah, You are One in the heaven, and I am One upon the earth, worshipping You.’ ” (6)
Some of the early scholars mentioned that Gabriel met him while he was in mid-air and asked, “Do you have any need?” He replied, “With you—no.” (7)