“And We called out to him: ‘O Abraham! You have indeed fulfilled the vision.’ Thus do We reward those who do good. This was truly the clear trial. And We ransomed him with a mighty sacrifice.”

“And We called out to him”: the conjunction in “and We called out to him” is supplementary; the intended meaning is, “We called out to him,” like His saying, “And they agreed to put him into the darkness of the well, and We revealed to him” [Joseph 12:15]—that is, “We revealed to him.” Thus he was called to from the mountain: “O Abraham! You have indeed fulfilled the vision.” The statement ends here, after which a new statement begins: “Thus do We reward those who do good.” Its meaning is: just as We excused Abraham from slaughtering his son, so We reward whoever excels in obeying Us. Muqatil said: Allah rewarded him for his excellence in obedience by excusing him from slaughtering his son.

“This was truly the clear trial”: that is, the manifest test, when He tested him with the slaughter of his son. Muqatil said: Here, balāʾ means a blessing: namely, that his son was ransomed with the ram.

If it is asked: How could He say, “You have indeed fulfilled the vision,” when he had seen the slaughter but did not actually slaughter him?

It is said: He was deemed to have fulfilled it because he did all that was within his power. What was required was that they both submit to Allah Most High’s command, and they did so.

It is also said: [He had] seen in his dream the act of hastening to slaughter, but had not seen the shedding of blood. In wakefulness, he did what he had seen in the dream; hence He said to him, “You have indeed fulfilled the vision.” (1)

“And We ransomed him with a mighty sacrifice”: Abraham looked, and there was Gabriel with a white ram with horns. He said, “This is a ransom for your son, so slaughter it in his place.” Gabriel proclaimed Allah’s greatness, the ram proclaimed Allah’s greatness, and his son proclaimed Allah’s greatness. Abraham then took the ram, brought it to the place of sacrifice at Mina, and slaughtered it.

Most Quran commentators said: That ram had grazed in Paradise for forty autumns. (2)

It is narrated from Sa'id ibn Jubayr, from Ibn Abbas, that he said: The ram which Abraham slaughtered was the one offered in sacrifice by Abel, the son of Adam. (3)

Sa'id ibn Jubayr said: It was fitting that it be great. Mujahid said: It was called mighty because it was accepted. (4) Al-Husayn ibn al-Fadl said: Because it was from Allah. It was also said: mighty in physical size; and it was said: mighty in reward.