that is, he frightens them through his allies. (1)
It was also said: He ascribed leading astray to the idols because they are a cause of it, just as one may say, “The world has tempted me,” attributing the temptation to the world because it is the cause of temptation. (2)
“Whoever follows me is of me”: that is, he is among the people of my religion. “And whoever disobeys me, then indeed You are All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” Al-Suddi said: This means, whoever disobeys me and then repents.
Muqatil ibn Hayyan said: Whoever disobeys me in matters short of shirk.
It was also said that Abraham said this before Allah informed him that He does not forgive shirk. (3)
“Our Lord, I have settled some of my descendants in an uncultivated valley near Your Sacred House, our Lord, so that they may establish prayer. So make hearts among the people incline toward them, and provide them with fruits so that they may be grateful.” (37)
His saying, may He be exalted, “Our Lord, I have settled some of my descendants”: He included “some” to indicate part of a whole. The meaning of the verse is: I have settled one of my descendants “in an uncultivated valley,” namely Mecca, for Mecca is a valley between two mountains, “near Your Sacred House.” He called it sacred because that which is prohibited in its vicinity is not prohibited elsewhere.
Abd al-Wahid ibn Ahmad al-Mulayhi informed us; Ahmad ibn Abd Allah al-Nu'aymi informed us; Muhammad ibn Yusuf informed us; Muhammad ibn Isma'il related to us; Abd Allah ibn Muhammad related to us; Abd al-Razzaq related to us; Ma'mar informed us, from Ayyub al-Sakhtiyani and Kathir ibn [Abi Kathir ibn] al-Muttalib ibn Abi Wada'ah—one of them adding details beyond the other—from Sa'id ibn Jubayr [who said]: Ibn Abbas said: Women first began wearing belts because of Ishmael’s mother. She wore a belt in order to conceal her tracks from Sarah. Then Abraham, peace be upon him, brought her and her son Ishmael, while she was nursing him, until he set them down near the House, beside a tree above Zamzam, in the upper part of the mosque. At that time, there was no one in Mecca, nor was there any water there. He left them there, placing beside them a leather bag containing dates and a waterskin containing water. Abraham then turned back and departed. Ishmael’s mother followed him and said, “O Abraham, where are you going, leaving us in this valley where there is no human being and nothing else?” She said this to him repeatedly,