Ibrahim (AS) Travels to Egypt

After Haran, the three believers settled in Greater Syria, in Palestine. They stayed there and preached for some years, however eventually there was a drought and so they decided to emigrate once again. Ibrahim (AS) told Lut (AS) to go and settle in a place known as Sodom. Meanwhile, he and Sarah decided to head towards Egypt.

In Egypt there was a wicked king who used to steal people’s wives. If he saw a beautiful married woman, he would order that the husband be killed and then take the woman as his wife. When Ibrahim (AS) and Sarah passed through the land, someone told the king about Ibrahim (AS) and the beautiful woman that was with him. So the king summoned the two of them to his palace.

He began to ask Ibrahim (AS) about the two of them. Ibrahim (AS) realised that this king was evil, and so instead of telling him that Sarah was his wife, he said that she was his sister. This was not a lie, as Sarah was his sister in Islam, but of course the way that the king understood it was that she was his blood sister. So now the king did not have to kill Ibrahim (AS), as he thought that Sarah was single and so he could just take her.

So the king took Sarah and brought her into his bedroom. When he was about to touch her, Sarah made du’a to Allah and immediately the king’s arm froze. He could not move, and he realised that this was because Sarah was protected by her Lord. Even though he claimed to be a god himself, he knew that he didn’t actually have any power and so he told Sarah, ‘Pray to your Lord to free me and I’ll release you.’ So Sarah did this. But the king then tried to touch her again and again he became frozen. So he said the same thing to Sarah and she made du’a once more and he was released. He tried one more time and the same thing happened. When he was freed for the third time, he called to his guard to take Sarah away because he realised he would never be able to touch her. He also gave her a few gifts and a young woman named Hajar to be her maid, before returning her to Ibrahim (AS).

The three of them remained in Egypt for a number of years, spreading the message of Allah. Ibrahim (AS) became very wealthy in that time, owning lots of animals, until the people there became jealous of him. So Ibrahim (AS) decided that it was time to leave, and they returned back to Palestine.