Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:131
When his Lord said to him, "Submit", he said "I have submitted [in Islam] to the Lord of the worlds."
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
إِذْ قَالَ لَهُ رَبُّهُ أَسْلِمْ ("When his Lord said to him: Submit")
The statement concerning the explanation of the words of the Exalted: إذْ قَالَ لَهُ رَبّه أَسْلِمْ ("When his Lord said to him: Submit"). The Exalted — praised be His remembrance — means by His words: إذْ قَالَ لَهُ رَبّه أَسْلِمْ ("When his Lord said to him: Submit"): when his Lord said to him: devote worship sincerely to Me alone, and bow down in obedience before Me. And we have already demonstrated in what preceded what the meaning of the word islām (submission) is in the language of the Arabs, so that it is superfluous to treat it again, ﷺ.
قَالَ أَسْلَمْتُ لِرَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ ("He said: I have submitted to the Lord of the worlds")
As for the meaning of His words: قَالَ أَسْلَمْت لِرَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ ("He said: I have submitted to the Lord of the worlds"), the Exalted — praised be His remembrance — means thereby: Ibrāhīm said, in answer to his Lord: I have submitted myself in obedience, and I have devoted worship sincerely to the Owner of all creatures and their Governor, and to none other.
If someone were to say: I already know that "إذْ" ("when") is a determination of time — what then is that for which it determines the time, and to what does it refer back? Then the answer is: it refers back to His words: وَلَقَدْ اصْطَفَيْنَاهُ فِي الدُّنْيَا ("And We have indeed chosen him in this world"). And the explanation of the words is: and We have indeed chosen him in this world, when his Lord said to him: submit, whereupon he said: I have submitted to the Lord of the worlds.
Thus He made the name "Allah" manifest in His words: إذْ قَالَ لَهُ رَبّه أَسْلِمْ ("When his Lord said to him: Submit"), by way of speaking about an absent one, while His remembrance had already proceeded by way of speaking about Himself — as Khifāf ibn Nudba said:
I say to him, while the lance commands his back: "Behold Khifāf, indeed, I am that man!"
If someone were to say to us: did Allah then invite Ibrāhīm to islām (submission)? Then he is answered: yes, He invited him to it. If he then says: and in what state did He invite him to it? Then the answer is: when he said: يَا قَوْم إنِّي بَرِيء مِمَّا تُشْرِكُونَ إنِّي وَجَّهْت وَجْهِي لِلَّذِي فَطَرَ السَّمَوَات وَالْأَرْض حَنِيفًا وَمَا أَنَا مِنْ الْمُشْرِكِينَ (6:78-79) ("O my people, indeed, I have nothing to do with that which you ascribe as partners. Indeed, I have turned my face to Him who created the heavens and the earth, as a ḥanīf, and I am not among the polytheists (mushrikīn)"). And that is the moment at which his Lord said to him: submit — after He had tested him with the stars, the moon, and the sun.
