Prophet Abraham’s three statements: Lies or misunderstood truths? Understanding the hadith and Quran

Abdullah Tahir, Student Jamia Ahmadiyya UK

The question of whether Prophet Abrahamᵃˢ engaged in what some might term “lies” has been a topic of scholarly discussion in Islamic circles for centuries. A hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari recounts Prophet Muhammad’s^sa words regarding certain statements made by Abrahamᵃˢ which have sparked debate among Muslim scholars.

By analysing the context and background of the three statements, I aim to demonstrate that Prophet Muhammad^sa referred to these as “lies” only because they were perceived as such by people, though in reality, they were not deceitful at all when examined closely.

It’s also important to note that the Quran strongly condemns lying and emphasises the importance of truthfulness: 

“Shun therefore the abomination of idols, and shun all words of untruth” (Surah al-Hajj, Ch.22: V.31). 

Here, lying has been equated with idol worship, the greatest of sins in Islam.

Another Quranic verse states, “And confound not truth with falsehood nor hide the truth, knowingly.” (Surah al-Baqarah, Ch.2: V.43) This underscores the gravity of lying and concealing the truth.

Keeping this in mind, Allah describes Abrahamᵃˢ in the Quran as “صديقا نبيا” (a truthful prophet) (Surah Maryam, Ch.19: V.42), highlighting his inherent honesty. This divine endorsement of Hazrat Abraham’s truthfulness negates any suggestion that he could have lied.

Hazrat Abdullah ibn Mas‘udʳᵃ relates that the Holy Prophet Muhammadˢᵃ said: “Truth guides to virtue and virtue guides to Paradise. A person persists in telling the truth until he is named Truthful in the sight of Allah. Lying leads to vice and vice leads to the Fire; and a person goes on lying till he is named a liar in the sight of Allah” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab-ul-Adab, Hadith 6094)

The above references show how lying draws a person away from Allah and paradise. 

Now that it has been established that lying is a major sin according to Allah and His Prophet^sa, let’s look at the hadith and interpret it by the Quran and the esteemed status of Hazrat Abrahamᵃˢ in the sight of Allah.

The hadith which is often quoted to claim Abrahamᵃˢ “lied” (God forbid) is as follows:

لَمْ يَكْذِبْ إِبْرَاهِيمُ ـ عَلَيْهِ السَّلاَمُ ـ إِلاَّ ثَلاَثَ كَذَبَاتٍ ثِنْتَيْنِ مِنْهُنَّ فِي ذَاتِ اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ، قَوْلُهُ ‏{‏إِنِّي سَقِيمٌ ‏}‏ وَقَوْلُهُ ‏{‏بَلْ فَعَلَهُ كَبِيرُهُمْ هَذَا‏}‏، وَقَالَ بَيْنَا هُوَ ذَاتَ يَوْمٍ وَسَارَةُ إِذْ أَتَى عَلَى جَبَّارٍ مِنَ الْجَبَابِرَةِ فَقِيلَ لَهُ إِنَّ هَا هُنَا رَجُلاً مَعَهُ امْرَأَةٌ مِنْ أَحْسَنِ النَّاسِ، فَأَرْسَلَ إِلَيْهِ، فَسَأَلَهُ عَنْهَا‏.‏ فَقَالَ مَنْ هَذِهِ قَالَ أُخْتِي

Prophet Muhammad^sa is reported to have said:

“Abraham, peace be upon him, did not lie except on three occasions. Two of them were for the sake of Allah, the Almighty: his saying, ‘I am sick,’ and his saying, ‘Rather, this, their chief, has done it.’ And he (the narrator) said: One day, while he was with Sarah, he came upon one of the tyrants. It was said to him (the tyrant), ‘There is a man here with a woman who is one of the most beautiful of people.’ So he sent for him and asked him about her. He (Abrahamᵃˢ) said, ‘Who is this?’ He replied, ‘She is my sister.’” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab Ahadith-ul-Anbiya, Hadith 3358)

It appears from this hadith that Abrahamᵃˢ supposedly lied when he said:

1. He was sick
2. Claiming their chief idol broke the other idols
3. That his wife Sarah was his sister to the tyrant

Let’s examine each of the three statements attributed to Prophet Abrahamᵃˢ to determine whether they can truly be considered lies.

‘I am sick.’

To better understand the context of Abrahamᵃˢ saying “I am sick,” it is essential to consider the surrounding verses from the Quran:

وَاِنَّ مِنۡ شِیۡعَتِہٖ لَاِبۡرٰہِیۡمَ , اِذۡ جَآءَ رَبَّہٗ بِقَلۡبٍ سَلِیۡمٍ , اِذۡ قَالَ لِاَبِیۡہِ وَقَوۡمِہٖ مَاذَا تَعۡبُدُوۡنَ , اَئِفۡکًا اٰلِہَۃً دُوۡنَ اللّٰہِ تُرِیۡدُوۡنَ , فَمَا ظَنُّکُمۡ بِرَبِّ الۡعٰلَمِیۡنَ , فَنَظَرَ نَظۡرَۃً فِی النُّجُوۡمِ , فَقَالَ اِنِّیۡ سَقِیۡمٌ , فَتَوَلَّوۡا عَنۡہُ مُدۡبِرِیۡنَ , فَرَاغَ اِلٰۤی اٰلِہَتِہِمۡ فَقَالَ اَلَا تَاۡکُلُوۡنَ , مَا لَکُمۡ لَا تَنۡطِقُوۡنَ , فَرَاغَ عَلَیۡہِمۡ ضَرۡبًۢا بِالۡیَمِیۡنِ , فَاَقۡبَلُوۡۤا اِلَیۡہِ یَزِفُّوۡنَ ﴿95﴾ قَالَ اَتَعۡبُدُوۡنَ مَا تَنۡحِتُوۡنَ , قَالَ اَتَعۡبُدُوۡنَ مَا تَنۡحِتُوۡنَ , قَالُوا ابۡنُوۡا لَہٗ بُنۡیَانًا فَاَلۡقُوۡہُ فِی الۡجَحِیۡمِ , فَاَرَادُوۡا بِہٖ کَیۡدًا فَجَعَلۡنٰہُمُ الۡاَسۡفَلِیۡنَ , وَقَالَ اِنِّیۡ ذَاہِبٌ اِلٰی رَبِّیۡ سَیَہۡدِیۡنِ

“And verily of his party was Abraham; And verily of his party was Abraham; When he said to his father and to his people, ‘What is it that you worship? ‘Do you falsely seek gods beside Allah? ‘So what is your idea about the Lord of the worlds?’ Then he cast a glance at the stars, And said, ‘I am indeed [feeling] unwell.’ So they went away from him turning their backs. Then he went secretly to their gods and said, ‘Will you not eat? ‘What is the matter with you that you speak not?’ Then he began suddenly to strike them with the right hand. Thereupon [the people] came towards him hastening. He said, ‘Do you worship that which you have [yourselves] carved out, ‘Whereas Allah has created you and your handiwork?’ They said, ‘Build for him a structure and cast him into the fire.’ Thus they intended an evil design against him, but We made them most humiliated. And he said, ‘I am going to my Lord, Who will guide me.” (Surah As-Saffat, Ch.37: V.84-100)

Many scholars and commentators of the Quran have struggled to explain why Prophet Abrahamᵃˢ ^as said, “I am sick” in this context. Some suggest he was genuinely ill at that moment. However, this interpretation seems disconnected from the preceding verse, which mentions Abrahamᵃˢ looking at the stars.

Hazrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad^ra beautifully offers a different explanation that resolves the puzzle. Here’s a summary of his perspective, as presented in Sair-e-Ruhani:

“The truth is that none of these interpretations are correct. The actual meaning of “فَنَظَرَ نَظْرَةً فِي النُّجُومِ” (Then he cast a glance at the stars) is this: When Abraham^as was debating with these people, during the discussion, Allah inspired in his heart that these verbal arguments wouldn’t satisfy them. He should do this: draw up a horoscope he had right then and there. Thus, while they were arguing that there is no power in the stars to harm anyone and that all powers and abilities belong to God Almighty alone, Abrahamᵃˢ suddenly changed the direction of his speech and said, “Look! Since you believe so much in the movements and patterns of the stars, I will draw up this horoscope in front of you to complete the argument against you.”

“So, when they looked at the horoscope, it indicated that Abrahamᵃˢ was in danger and would soon fall ill. To determine this, they might have looked up at the sky, which is possible because the word ‘في’ [in] is used in the verse, or they might have looked at a [astrological] chart. Anyway, when they observed the movement of the stars and drew up the horoscope according to the prescribed chart, it stated that due to the movement of a certain star, Abrahamᵃˢ would fall ill at that very hour. (So ‘إِنِّي سَقِيمٌ’ doesn’t mean ‘I am sick,’ but rather ‘I am about to become sick.’)

“When this horoscope was drawn up, Abrahamᵃˢ said to them, “Now our debate is over. If I fall ill, I’ll accept that you’re right, and if I don’t fall ill, you’ll have to admit that believing in the movements and patterns of stars and thinking that stars influence humans is nonsense.” So the matter ended there, and they left.

“As soon as Abrahamᵃˢ was free from this, he went to the idol house and started breaking the idols. When their idols were broken and people became aware, they rushed to Abrahamᵃˢ and asked, “What are you doing?” He replied, “Can’t you see what I’m doing? I’m breaking your idols so that you know I’m not sick, and what your horoscope predicted was wrong.”

“When they saw that they had suffered a double humiliation – firstly, the star’s influence predicted by the horoscope proved wrong, and secondly, their idols were broken at the very hour when Abrahamᵃˢ was supposed to fall ill – they became extremely angry. They decided to throw Abrahamᵃˢ into the fire immediately so that they could tell people what was written in the horoscope about a calamity befalling Abrahamᵃˢ.” (Sair-e-Ruhani, Hazrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad^ra, pp. 70-71) Meaning, he would be put into the fire and burned, God forbid.

This explanation clarifies why Hazrat Abraham^as said he was sick in response to the idolaters. It was not a lie at all!

‘Somebody has surely done this’

The context behind this verse is that Prophet Abraham^as, as mentioned earlier, broke the idols of the worshippers in their absence. When questioned about it, he seemingly lied by saying:

قَالَ بَلۡ فَعَلَہٗ ٭ۖ کَبِیۡرُہُمۡ ہٰذَا فَسۡـَٔلُوۡہُمۡ اِنۡ کَانُوۡا یَنۡطِقُوۡنَ

(Surah al-Anbiya, Ch.21: V.64)

The majority of scholars translate this verse as “(I have not done this but) the big idol has done it.” But this doesn’t seem to be correct. The Five Volume Commentary of the Jamaat discusses this and says: 

“If the expression بل فعله کبیرھم ھذا is rendered as ‘somebody has surely done this,’ a stop will have to be placed after فعله and the words کبیرھم ھذا will be treated as an independent sentence meaning, ‘here is the chief’ of them. This is the meaning we have adopted in the text and this seems to be the more correct meaning. Or the words بل فعله کبیرھم ھذا may have been spoken ironically or by way of mockery by Abraham as was his wont while talking to his idolatrous people. (Five Volume Commentary, Vol. 4, p. 2098)

Regarding the second interpretation – that he said it out of mockery –  Hazrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad^ra elaborates in his Tafsir-e-Kabir: 

“One meaning of بل فعله is that someone must have done this act. In this case, ‘ بل’ doesn’t mean contradiction but confirmation, meaning yes, someone must have done it. The pause indicates that the next part is separate, asking why you’re questioning me instead of the big idol.

“Another interpretation is that Abraham^as, as per his habit, speaks indirectly, saying ‘Why would I do it? He must have done it.’ Such speech doesn’t imply denial but means ‘Was this even a question worth asking? If I didn’t do it, would this idol have done it?’

“Hearing this response, those people felt ashamed in their hearts and said, ‘You yourselves were wrong.’ Upon further reflection, they became even more ashamed or returned to their mischief and said, ‘Abraham, you know these idols don’t speak.’

“Then Hazrat Abraham^as said, ‘Do you worship these idols besides Allah, which can neither benefit nor harm you?’” (Tafsir-e-Kabir [2023], Vol. 8, p. 57)

With this context, it becomes clear that Hazrat Abraham^as did not lie at all.

“She is my sister.”

In regards to this statement, Abraham^as himself clarifies in the hadith that he didn’t lie when he said to his wife, “O Sarah! There are no believers on the surface of the earth except you and I.”

Addressing this and other statements, Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-Asqalaniʳʰ provides an insightful explanation:

“As for calling these three instances lies, it is because he said something that the listener would perceive as a lie, but upon closer examination, it was not a lie; rather, it falls under the category of ambiguous statements (ta’reedh) that can be interpreted in two ways.” (Fath-ul- Bari, Vol. 6, p. 391)

He further states, “It is not a lie because he was referring to the sisterhood in Islam and the true religion they both followed, not biological sisterhood. Allah Almighty says: ‘The believers are but brothers’ (Surah al-Hujurat, Ch.49: V.11), and the Prophetˢᵃ said: ‘A Muslim is a brother of another Muslim; he does not wrong him nor does he hand him over to an oppressor […]’ (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 2442). This indicates that Prophet Abraham^as meant religious brotherhood.” (Ibid)

Thus, when context is provided, it becomes clear that attributing lying to Prophet Abraham^as is incorrect. Prophet Muhammadˢᵃ meant that on three occasions, Prophet Abraham^as said something that might be perceived as a lie by listeners, but upon closer examination, it was not deceitful at all. Hence, Allah’s words remain true when He called Abraham^as a “truthful prophet”.