Tafseer of Those drawn up in Ranks · As-Saaffaat · 37:89
And said, "Indeed, I am [about to be] ill."
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.
And His words ( I am sick ): that is, stricken by the plague, or on account of an illness from which they used to flee whenever they heard of it. Ibrāhīm only wanted them to depart from him, so that he might accomplish his purpose with their idols.
There is disagreement concerning the manner in which Ibrāhīm said to his people ( I am sick ), while he was healthy. It has been related from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that he said: "Ibrāhīm did not lie except three times."
* Mention of who said that:
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Abū Usāma related to us, saying: Hishām related to me, on the authority of Muḥammad, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, that the Messenger of Allah said: "Ibrāhīm did not lie except for three lies, two of them for the sake of Allah: his words ( I am sick ) and his words 'No, this one, their biggest, did it,' and his words concerning Sāra: 'She is my sister.'"
Saʿīd ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: my father related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū al-Zinād related to me, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Aʿraj, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, who said: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Ibrāhīm never lied in anything except in three things" — then he mentioned something similar.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of al-Musayyab ibn Rāfiʿ, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, who said: "Ibrāhīm did not lie except three lies: his words ( I am sick ), and his words 'No, this one, their biggest, did it' — he said this only as an admonition — and his words when the king interrogated him, whereupon he said of Sāra 'my sister,' while she was his wife."
Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Ayyūb, on the authority of Muḥammad, who said: "Ibrāhīm did not lie except three lies, two of them for the sake of Allah and one for his own sake. As for the two: his words ( I am sick ) and his words 'No, this one, their biggest, did it,' and his account concerning Sāra" — and he mentioned her story and the story of the king.
And others said: the words ( I am sick ) are a statement in which there lies an equivocation (miʿrāḍ). Its meaning is that everyone who is at the threshold of death is sick, even if at the moment he said this he had no visible illness. But the report of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ contradicts this view, and the word of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is the truth, and none other.
