Al-Bukhārī states: “Bayān ibn ʿAmr related to us, al-Naḍr related to us, Ibn ʿAwn informed us, from Mujāhid, who said that he heard Ibn ʿAbbās—may Allah be pleased with them both. They mentioned to him the Antichrist and that between his eyes is written ‘disbeliever’ or the letters K-F-R. He replied, ‘I did not hear that; rather the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

“As for Abraham, look to your companion. As for Moses, he is curly-haired and dark-skinned, riding a red camel whose bridle is a rope of palm-fiber; it is as though I am watching him as he descends into the valley.”’

Al-Bukhārī also recorded this report in the Book of Ḥajj and in the Book of Dress, and Muslim transmitted it as well, all through Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā, from Ibn Abī ʿAdī, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAwn.

[The Death of Abraham and Opinions Regarding His Age]

Ibn Jarīr records in his History that Abraham was born during the reign of Nimrod son of Canaan—who, according to some, is the famed king al-Ḍaḥḥāk, said to have ruled for a thousand years and to have been extraordinarily ruthless and unjust. Others claim he was from the people of Rāsib, the nation to whom Noah—peace be upon him—was sent, and that at the time he ruled the entire world.

They report that a star arose whose light eclipsed that of the sun and the moon, striking the people of that age with fear. Nimrod panicked, gathered the priests and astrologers, and questioned them. They said, ‘A child will be born in your realm, and your kingdom will perish at his hands.’ He therefore ordered that men be separated from women and that every newborn male be killed from that moment on. It was in that very period that Abraham the Close Friend was born. Allah, exalted is He, protected him from the schemes of the tyrants. He grew into a remarkable youth; Allah nurtured him with a fine upbringing until the events already related took place.

His birthplace, it is said, was Sūs; others say Babylon; still others say the Sawād district near Kūthā. Earlier we cited Ibn ʿAbbās—may Allah be pleased with them both—who said that he was born at Barzah, east of Damascus.

When Allah destroyed Nimrod at his hands, Abraham migrated to Harran and then to the land of Syria, residing in the region of Jerusalem, as we have mentioned. There Ismāʿīl and Isḥāq were born to him. Sarah died before him in the village of Hebron in the land of Canaan, at the age of one hundred—