‘Abd al-Wāḥid ibn Aḥmad al-Mulayḥī informed us; Aḥmad ibn ‘Abd Allāh al-Nu‘aymī informed us; Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf informed us; Muḥammad ibn Ismā‘īl informed us; Aḥmad ibn Ṣāliḥ informed us; Ibn Wahb informed us; Yūnus informed us, from Ibn Shihāb, from Abū Salamah ibn ‘Abd al-Raḥmān and Sa‘īd ibn al-Musayyab, from Abū Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “We have more reason to doubt than Abraham, when he said, ‘My Lord, show me how You give life to the dead.’ He said, ‘Have you not believed?’ He said, ‘Certainly I have, but so that my heart may be at peace.’ May Allah have mercy on Lot: he was indeed seeking refuge in a mighty support. And had I remained in prison for as long as Joseph remained, I would have answered the caller.” (1)

Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj also transmitted this hadith from Ḥarmalah ibn Yaḥyā, from Wahb, through this same chain of transmission, with similar wording. He said: “We have more reason to doubt than Abraham, when he said, ‘My Lord, show me how You give life to the dead.’” (2)

Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Khuzaymah related from Abū Ibrāhīm Ismā‘īl ibn Yaḥyā al-Muzanī that he said regarding this hadith: “Neither the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, nor Abraham doubted that Allah is able to give life to the dead. Rather, they doubted whether He would answer them concerning what they had asked.”

Abū Sulaymān al-Khaṭṭābī said: His statement, “We have more reason to doubt than Abraham,” does not constitute an admission of doubt, either on his own part or on Abraham’s. Rather, it negates doubt from them both. That is, if I do not doubt Allah Most High’s power to give life to the dead, then Abraham is even more deserving of not doubting. He said this out of humility and self-effacement. The same applies to his statement: “Had I remained in prison for as long as Joseph remained, I would have answered the caller.” It also makes clear that Abraham’s request, peace be upon him, did not arise from doubt, but from seeking increased knowledge through direct observation; for direct observation yields a degree of knowledge and reassurance that inferential reasoning does not yield.

It was also said: When this verse was revealed, some people said, “Abraham doubted, whereas our Prophet did not doubt.” The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, then made this statement out of humility and in giving Abraham precedence over himself.

His saying, “Have you not believed?” means: You have indeed believed, so why do you ask? Allah thereby testified to his faith, just as Jarīr said:

“Are you not the finest of those who ride the mounts,
And the most generous of all people in pouring wine?”

That is, you are indeed so. But his heart was to be at peace through an increase in certainty.

His saying, “Then take four birds”: Mujāhid, ‘Aṭā’, and Ibn Jurayj said that he took a peacock, a rooster, a pigeon, and a crow. It is also related from Ibn ‘Abbās, may Allah be pleased with him, that there was an eagle in place of the pigeon.

‘Aṭā’ al-Khurāsānī said: It was revealed to him: Take a green duck, a black crow, a white pigeon, and a red rooster. Regarding His saying, “Then draw them close to yourself,” Abū Ja‘far and Ḥamzah recited it with an i-vowel on the ṣād, meaning: cut them into pieces and tear them apart. It is said: ṣāra—