Surah Maryam (19) — Ayah 54

(Ayah 54) ➊ {وَ اذْكُرْ فِي الْكِتٰبِ اِسْمٰعِيْلَ … :} This is the fifth story, that of Isma'il (peace be upon him), who was the son of Ibrahim (peace be upon him) and the father of all the people of Hijaz. (Ibn Kathir) Although all the prophets are true to their promises, this quality was especially found in Isma'il (peace be upon him). First of all, he had the trait that he would say "in sha Allah" when making a promise, as he said to his father when making a promise: «{ سَتَجِدُنِيْۤ اِنْ شَآءَ اللّٰهُ مِنَ الصّٰبِرِيْنَ }» [ الصافات : ۱۰۲ ] "If Allah wills, you will find me among the patient." Then, it was the truthfulness of his promise that when he promised his father that he would be patient at the time of being sacrificed, he lay down fearlessly under the knife and did not utter even a sigh. What could be a greater fulfillment of a promise than this? Fulfilling a promise is faith, and breaking a promise is hypocrisy. Abu Sufyan admitted before Heraclius: [ يَأْمُرُنَا بِالصَّلَاةِ وَالصَّدَقَةِ وَالْعَفَافِ وَالْوَفَاءِ بِالْعَهْدِ وَأَدَاءِ الْأَمَانَةِ ] [ بخاري، الجھاد والیسر، باب دعاء النبي صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم إلی الإسلام… : ۲۹۴۱ ] that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commands us to pray, to speak the truth, to be chaste, to fulfill promises, and to return trusts. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) counted breaking a promise as one of the three signs of a hypocrite. [ بخاری، الإیمان، باب علامات المنافق : ۳۳، عن أبي ھریرۃ رضی اللہ عنہ ]

➋ Here, Tabari and Ibn Kathir have narrated from Sahl bin Aqil that Isma'il (peace be upon him) promised a man to stay in a place until he came, and when the man forgot, Isma'il (peace be upon him) stayed there for a day and night until he came. For this reason, Allah Almighty said: «{ اِنَّهٗ كَانَ صَادِقَ الْوَعْدِ }» And Sufyan Thawri narrated that he heard that Isma'il (peace be upon him) stayed there for a year. But both these narrations are the sayings of some scholars; the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) never narrated them. Obviously, these two elders took these narrations from the Israelites, and we can neither declare the statements of the People of the Book as true nor false.

➌ In Sunan Abi Dawud and others, a similar incident is narrated about our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that before prophethood, due to a promise to wait for a man to come, he (peace and blessings be upon him) stayed there for three days and nights. However, Shaykh al-Albani (may Allah have mercy on him) declared it weak.

➍ { وَ كَانَ رَسُوْلًا نَّبِيًّا :} Allah Almighty called Ishaq and Ya'qub (peace be upon them) only prophets (Maryam: 49), and Isma'il (peace be upon him) {’’رَسُوْلًا نَّبِيًّا ‘‘ }, which expresses his high status. Isma'il (peace be upon him) was a messenger to the people of Jurhum, whose son-in-law he also was. The Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: [ إِنَّ اللّٰهَ اصْطَفی مِنْ وَلَدِ إِبْرَاهِيْمَ إِسْمَاعِيْلَ ] [ ترمذي، المناقب عن رسول اللّٰہ صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم ، باب ما جاء في فضل النبي صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم : ۳۶۰۵ ] "Allah Almighty chose Isma'il (peace be upon him) from among the children of Ibrahim (peace be upon him)."