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Ibrahim and Namrud
The following verses relate stories involving Ibrahim (Abraham) and unnamed people who witness Allah’s supernatural powers. These stories, as told, cannot be found anywhere else, however some elements thereof may be traced to Jewish Midrash or to the Bible.
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The purpose in these stories is to show that Allah can perform supernatural acts, whereas his rivals cannot.
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2:258 “Have you not considered him who disputed with Ibrahim about his Lord, because Allah had given him the kingdom? When Ibrahim said: My Lord is He who gives life and causes to die, he said: I give life and cause death. Ibrahim said: So surely Allah causes the sun to rise from the east, then make it rise from the west. Thus he who disbelieved was confounded. And Allah does not guide aright the unjust people.”
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Most scholars agree that “him” refers to Namrud, the Islamic version of biblical Nimrod. His name is not mentioned in the Quran, and by now, that should not surprise you.
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This is another example of a Jewish legend from the Midrash receiving divine authority. This is a legend about a theological discourse between Abraham and Nimrod, who according to the Bible (Genesis 10:8-12) was a mighty king and hunter in the land.
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But the only common thing between the Jewish legend (Midrash Rabbah Bereshit 38:13) and our verse is that Abraham and Nimrod were debating the subject of “who is the true god”. Nimrod is alluded to only once in the Quran, but for some reason he features frequently in Islamic tradition.
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At any rate, the account related in our verse is not biblical. In the Bible, Abraham and Nimrod never met.
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The Jewish legend says nothing about the making sun rise in the west. It tells us that Abraham annoyed Nimrod with questions regarding his belief, in a similar way that the Jews of Medina annoyed Muhammad.
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Nimrod, who worshipped Fire, gets angry and throws Abraham into the fire saying, ‘let’s see your god saving you from this’. God saves Abraham. The legend does not tell us how Nimrod took the defeat of his deity.
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The Man Who Died for One Hundred Years
2:259 “Or the like of him who passed by a town, and it had fallen down upon its roofs. He said, how will Allah give it life after its death? So Allah caused him to die for a hundred years and then raised him to life. He said: How long have you tarried? He said: I have tarried a day, or a part of a day. Said He: Nay! You have tarried a hundred years, and look at your food and drink: it is not spoiled, and look at your ass. And so that We may make you a sign to men. And look at the bones, how We set them together, then clothe them with flesh. So when it was shown to him, he said: I know that Allah has power over all things.”
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This passage is not biblical, and just like the Namrud verse, it cannot be traced in full to any Jewish or other tradition.
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The closest I could find is Midrash about a Jewish scholar who was reputed to be a miracle worker, who went into a seventy year sleep after asking an old man why he was planting a carob tree, knowing full well that he will not live another seventy years to see its fruits.
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The old man replies that he is planting for future generations, just like previous generations planted for him. The scholar then comes out of his seventy year slumber to witness the old man’s grandchildren enjoy the fruit of that tree.
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The reference to the bones is a repetition of 2:243. The fallen town mentioned in the beginning of the verse could be somehow connected with the dead people and their bones, but this whole verse is in a bit of a mess.
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Some commentators identify the one who passed by the town with the biblical Ezra or Nehemiah looking over the fallen Jerusalem.
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Ibrahim Asks Allah for Signs
2:260 “And when Ibrahim said, ‘my Lord, show me how you give life to the dead’, He said, ‘do you not believe?’ He said, ‘Yes, but that my heart may be at ease.’ He said, ‘Then take four of the birds, then train them to follow you, then place on every mountain a part of them, then call them, they will come to you in a hurry, and know that Allah is Mighty, Wise.’”
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There is a story in the Book of Genesis chapter 15, where God makes a covenant with Abraham using three heifers, three goats and three rams, a dove and a pigeon, to be sacrificed. The animals are each cut in two but the birds are not. At sundown, the fire consumes the sacrificed animals and the covenant is made.
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This is the closest that we can get to our verse, but as you can see, it is still pretty far. The covenant becomes a test of divine magical powers to prove, yet again, that Allah can do neat tricks. In contrast with Abraham, whose heart has always been as at ease with God, Quranic Ibrahim needs this magic trick to be convinced that Allah is the true god.
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While it is beyond doubt that these Quranic accounts are in complete disagreement with the Bible and any known Jewish tradition, and to those who believe in the Hebrew Bible they are, inasmuch as they relate to Abraham, a total fabrication, I cannot comment on their truthfulness or otherwise in regard to Ibrahim.
