What did Prophet Ibrahim really mean by his three statements?
Understanding Misdirection (Tawriya) in Islamic Teachings: The Three Statements of Prophet Ibrahim
Summary
Sh. Ali Mashhour discusses the concept of intercession (shafa'a) on the Day of Judgment, explaining how people will seek the most virtuous prophets to intercede with Allah. He focuses on Prophet Ibrahim's statement that he told three misdirections (kidhbat), which Sh. Ali Mashhour clarifies are not lies in the conventional sense but rather tawriya—statements that are true but not in the context the listener expects. Sh. Ali Mashhour provides detailed examples from Ibrahim's life and the Battle of Badr to illustrate this concept, explaining the linguistic and contextual nuances of misdirection in Arabic. He concludes by discussing the permissibility of tawriya for different people, noting that while it is disliked (makruh) for regular Muslims except in specific circumstances like oaths or testimony, it is not befitting for prophets.
Note: This transcript was generated using YouTube's automatic captioning, with AI-assisted cleanup for readability. It may contain inaccuracies due to background noise, audio quality, or limitations of the transcription software — particularly during Arabic recitation. Listener discretion is advised; please refer to the original video for precise wording.
His nation, but for all the nations. And he referred to this as a shafa. What UT to shafa. In the narration of Jabir, I've been given five things that no other prophet before me has been given. And he referred to this as what UT to shafa. And so the people will be waiting on the day of judgement. We all will be waiting on the day of judgement for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to come and judge and commence judgement. And people will be in a state of extreme anxiety, extreme extremely apprehensive. And so they will decide to look for the most virtuous of people to intercede for them. To intercede for them that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala commence his judgement. And so they will go to Adam. And he will refer them to Nuh. And Nuh will refer them to Ibrahim alayhis salaam. And we stop there. So when they come to Ibrahim alayhis salaam, he will say to them inna rabbi Nafsi nafsi nafsi. And so Ibrahim alayhis salaam will say today my lord has become angry with an anger that he has not had before this and he will not have again after. And indeed, I told three mis truths. And he refers to them as kidhbet, which is plural for kidhba. And a kidhba in the language of the prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam is any statement or any notion that the listener is given that does not coincide with the reality that they are inquiring about. Those parameters are very important because when we look at these three kidhbet that Ibrahim alayhi salaam told, we see that they're not lies in the sense that we understand what a lie is. Something is yes and he said no. Something is there and he said it's not there. Something is not there and he said it's there. This is not the kind of lies that he was speaking about. These mis truths or if you will, misdirections, they are referred to by the scholars of Islam as a tawriya. And a tawriya essentially is that a person says something that is true, just not true in the context that the listener is expecting. It's true, but not true in the context that the listener is expecting. In another wording of this same narration, the prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam clearly says what these three are. He said in that Ibrahim alayhi salaam kadh kadhaba thalatha kidhbat. Ithnani.
[Arabic recitation]
Alaihis Salaam did give three instances of misdirection. two of them for the sake of Allah and one of them with respect to his wife Sarah. So the two that he mentions for the sake of Allah was in his debate with his people. And that is that he said when they told him to come with them in the second. I'm I am sick and he meant it in that he is spiritually sick. He is sickened by their worship of other than Allah. But they understood it to mean physically sick. Right? So it's true. It's just not true in the context that the listener is expecting. The second is that he destroyed the idols and he left the biggest one. And then when they asked him The ask the big one. He you know, he's got the ax there. Looks he did it. Ask him. The big one did it. Now notice they all know that this is a type of sarcasm. Right? So the listener it is not true in itself, but the listener knows that it's not true. some scholars counted the debate that he had with his people that is mentioned in Surat Al-An'am.
[Arabic recitation]
That these are the two. And then the third one is that when a Namrood took him and wanted to take his wife, he said to his wife, "Say that I'm your brother." Right? So that they wouldn't kill him. And so, what did he mean? He is her brother in Islam. In Islam. Right? But they the listener understands it to be her brother in blood, in relation. So it's true, just not in the same context. We gave another example of this of the prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam in the battle of Badr. So, Badr was not supposed to be a battle. It wasn't. Badr was supposed to just be a caravan that they got word was coming back from Ash-Sham. Remember Ash-Sham, Allah says the Shita'i was safe. So this caravan was coming back. Abu Sufyan was leading this caravan. It had about 40 men guarding it. You know, light work, just enough to be able to fend off bandits, you know. That's that's what a caravan is. They're not They're not dressed for war. Right? Imagine a soldier in our day versus a Brinks truck, you know, an armored truck. They're not dressed for war. They don't have weapons for war. They They have civilian level weapons. And so, this is what they were expecting. So, based on that into intelligence they had far more than they needed with respect to manpower. He took 315 or 313 different narrations, only one horseman. Right? That's all that he needed. And they had light weapons, light armor. They weren't going expecting a war. They were going expecting a caravan. But then, that information got leaked. And Abu Sufyan took a different route and sent you know, someone to Mecca. And they prepared an army and they mobilized very quickly. So, by the time they arrived at Badr, the caravan was gone and the army was on its way. And so, when he realized that the caravan is not there, something is wrong. This is the path that they're supposed to be taking. The Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam and his companions, they surmised that they got wind that we were coming. And this is not something you could just turn away and go back home. Right? When you have a an army that you're facing, if you turn away and go back home, they'd just follow you. Right? So, the problem was that they were stuck. And so there was, you know, another caravan or some travelers on the road coming from that direction. And the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam was asking them did you see an army mobilize coming this way? And it was a big army because they had over a thousand combatants with them. And they came with big with big weapons, right? They came fully armored. Some of them had armor from his head all the way to his toes. The only thing showing was his eyes. That's war. They came intending war, right? So, he asked this travelers and they said, "Well, tell us where you're from." Well, he didn't want to say, "We're from Medina. We are the Muslimin." Right? I'm Muhammad ibn Abdillah, the messenger of Allah. This is Abu Bakr and this is Omar and my social security and my address. They didn't want to say that because this will get back to the other army. So, he said, "Well, tell us if you saw and I'll tell you where we're from if you tell us." Now, the word from in Arabic is min ma. Ma here could mean what are you from and it could mean where are you from. It's ambiguous in Arabic. In English, it's not, but in Arabic, it is. And so, he said, "Yes, we saw them coming." He said, "How many camels are they slaughtering?" He said, "They're slaughtering 10." 10 camels. He figured it was roughly a thousand men that were coming. And so, he turned to leave and they said, "Wait. You said you'd tell us who you are." He said, "Nahnu min ma." Nahnu min ma. Which translates to we're from water. From water, meaning Allah created us from water. They understood it to mean some obscure village in Iraq. That's what they thought. Right? So, this is an example of tawriya. Now, in the Arabic language, in the language of Quraysh, you would refer to this misdirection as kadhib. Because it's not exactly what the listener was expecting to hear. That's the wrong context, even if it's right in another context. It's a misdirection. And so, Ibrahim says, "Okay, inni kadhabtu thalath kidhbat." Now, for a regular Muslim, a regular person, is this haram? Well, the scholars differ on this. The majority of the scholars say misdirection is only haram if you are to swear on it. If you're taking an oath, or or you are testifying as a witness, then it is categorically haram to use misdirection, tawriya. However, outside of that, it is makruh. It is disliked that a person practices this for a number of reasons. and that is for us, but for a messenger, for a prophet of Allah, no. This is not something that is necessarily acceptable. It's not really becoming. And so, that's the reason that Ibrahim mentions it here and counts it as one of his mistakes. And so, Ibrahim alayhis salaam says, "Wa inni kuntu kadhabtu thalatha kadhabat. Nafsi nafsi nafsi. Idhhabu ila ghayri. Idhhabu ila Musa." So, he will say, "I am worried about myself right now. I am focused on my own self. I can't take on anyone else's anxiety or problems." And so, he will say, "Go to someone else, go to Musa. Right? Go to Musa. So we will stop there and continue this tomorrow Saturday night or tomorrow night in sha Allah. As-salamu alaykum and you are welcome and may Allah be with you and may Allah be with you and may Allah be with you and may Allah be with you and may Allah be with you and may Allah.