It is related from Ibn ʿAbbās and Saʿīd ibn Jubayr that the Angel of Rain kept saying, “When will I be commanded so that I may send down the rain?”—yet Allah’s command was swifter (1).
“We said, ‘O fire, be coolness and safety for Abraham.’” (al-Anbiyāʾ 21:69)
ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib explained: that is, “so that it would not harm him” (2).
Ibn ʿAbbās and Abū al-ʿĀliyah said: Had Allah not also said “and safety for Abraham,” its coolness would have hurt him.
Kaʿb al-Aḥbār said: On that day no one on earth benefited from any fire, and nothing of Abraham was burned except the ropes that bound him (3).
Al-Ḍaḥḥāk said: It is narrated that Gabriel—peace be upon him—was with him, wiping the perspiration from his face; nothing of the fire reached him beyond that (4).
Al-Suddi said: The Angel of Shade was with him as well (5).
Abraham—peace be upon him—found himself in something like a hollow, the fire all around him while he was in a green garden. The people looked on, unable to reach him, and he would not come out to them.
Abū Hurayrah said: The finest words Abraham’s father ever spoke were when he saw his son in that condition: “What an excellent Lord is your Lord, O Abraham!” (6)
Ibn ʿAsākir reports from ʿIkrimah that Abraham’s mother looked upon her son—peace be upon him—and called out, “My son, I wish to come to you; so pray to Allah to save me from the heat of the fire around you.” He replied, “Certainly.” She then approached him, untouched by any heat of the fire; when she reached him she embraced him and kissed him, then returned (7).
Al-Minhāl ibn ʿAmr said: I was informed that Abraham remained there for either forty or fifty days, and that he said, “I never spent days and nights more pleasant than those; I wish that all my life and livelihood could be like the time I spent there,” peace and blessings of Allah be upon him (8).
They sought to triumph but were humiliated; they sought to rise but were abased; they sought to prevail but were defeated. Allah Most High says: “They sought to scheme against him, but We made them the greatest losers” (al-Anbiyāʾ 21:70), and elsewhere, “the lowest of all” (al-Ṣāffāt 37:98).