When Allah wants to make a leader out of someone
He makes them face an oppressive power or an oppressive authority.
And from there will rise a hero.
Ibrahim (Alaihi Assalam) had to face his next adversity.
The adversity of facing an oppressive power.
His people gathered him,
the priests came along because they were on the top level
and with their king who was possibly known as the name Namrood.
or from the town Namro in the ancient babylonian language.
The entire city of about 500,000 people as historians say
gathered every piece of wood, every piece of fuel that they can summon
from around their entire city of Babylon
and they put it into a huge ditch
and lit up the fire until historians say you could see
the fire from half a kilometer away.
The fire burnt as high as buildings on top of each other
and they brought Ibrahim (Alaihi Assalam).
They tied him up with ropes and put him into a catapult
because of the intensity of the flames.
And they gave him a chance
– Return and break away from your what they called false ideologies
but in fact he was on the right ideology.
The people began to scream: "Burn him, burn him!"
Following what the elites were saying.
As he was sitting there and lying helplessly in the catapult,
he turned around,
his family is not there,
his father's not there for him,
his friends, his people, he's truly alone.
He looked up into the sky and who does he have?
Allah Subhana Wa Ta'la.
He will never leave him alone.
And he said the famous words:
That strengthened him
because he had the support of a higher power above all this other false power.
They threw him into the fire,
Allah says in Quran:
"We immediately said O fire! Be cool and peaceful on Ibrahim."
Had Allah said – o fire be cool, He would have frozen him to death.
But Allah Subhana Wa Ta'la said: "Be cool and peaceful."
The only thing the fire burnt were the ropes
that were tying his wrists and ankles.
When the fire subsided and became extinguished,
Ibrahim (Aleihi salyam) walked out right in front of their eyes,
did you know brothers and sisters, that scientists today
have developed something called a "cold flame?"
They use it with the astronauts up in space.
So if humans can make something called a cold flame
that you can put your hands on it and not get burnt,
is it hard for Allah Subhana Wa Ta'la to make a fire that does not burn?
Truly He can.
Ibrahim (Aleihi salyam) was seen by some people walk out
but only one person believed in him he was his nephew the prophet Lot.
And some say a woman named Sara (Aleihi salyam)
who later on becomes his wife.
Everyone else disbelieved calling it magic and sorcery.
Who found out the most and was threatened by this,
he was none other than the king of Ur or the king of Babylon.
His name as i said was Namrood.
He found that what had happened to Ibrahim was going to threaten his kingdom
and this is what false power does when they feel threatened,
they have to bring that person if they have influence.
He thought that maybe the generations later will start talking about this
and think whatever he called for was probably the truth
and there probably is a god beyond the gods that we are controlling our people with.
He called him in to the court of the king.
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said:
"There are many forms of fighting and struggling in the cause of God
but the greatest and highest and most honorable form of fighting
and struggling for the cause of God
is to say a truthful word of justice before a tyrant and oppressive ruler."
In other words against an oppressive power.
Ibrahim (Aleihi salyam) faced this power,
in front of all of the viziars and the priests in that court of the king.
The king made an argument which was a flimsy one.
He asked him: "Who is this god that you worship other than the gods that we have?"
He said: "My God can bring life and death."
The king said: "Well that's easy, I can also bring life and death."
He ordered his soldiers to bring two prisoners in front of Ibrahim.
And then ordered to kill one of them and keep the other one alive.
He said: "See, I also caused life and death."
Of course Ibrahim did not mean that.
What the king was trying to do was just trick the weak minds
of the people around him, he even knew that this was a flimsy argument.
Ibrahim (Aleihi salyam) instead of spending time and wasting time on this flimsy argument,
he went and said: "Okay then,
if you think that you are a god like my God,
then I challenge you to do the following,
my Lord brings out the sun from where it rises,
why don't you bring it out from where it sits?
Since you equate yourself to the god."
At this point Allah says:
"The one who was ungrateful,
who disbelieved in God, he became dumbfounded."
At this point the king was said to not be able to handle this,
so what does a strong oppressive power do when they cannot convince
a person of influence and truth?
They exile him.
He said: "If you do not get out, your life here is going to be terrible."
Ibrahim (Aleihi salyam) understood this,
so he picked his family up and left the land altogether.
Ibrahim (Aleihi salyam) has to now deal with his new journey,
the journey of his relationship with his own family
which was now his wife and his nephew.