The Qur’an tells how honored messengers came to Prophet Abraham with peace and glad tidings. After Abraham welcomed them with a roasted calf, their refusal to eat caused him concern, but they reassured him and announced a learned son. His wife, amazed because she was old and barren and Abraham was also advanced in age, was given the glad tidings of Isaac and, after Isaac, Jacob. The messengers answered her wonder by reminding the household of Allah’s decree, wisdom, mercy, and blessing.
When Abraham noticed that their hands did not reach for the food, he became apprehensive. The visitors immediately reassured him: there was no need to fear. They were messengers carrying a divine mission, and with that reassurance came wonderful news for Abraham’s household. In Surah al-Hijr and Surah al-Dhariyat, the announcement is described as glad tidings of a learned son.
Surah Hud gives the family scene in even more detail. Abraham’s wife was standing nearby. The Qur’an says that she smiled, and then came the astonishing announcement: she was given glad tidings of Isaac, and after Isaac, Jacob. The promise therefore reached beyond the birth of one child; it opened a future in which another generation was already named in the glad tidings.
Her reaction makes the moment especially vivid. She wondered how she could bear a child when she was an old woman and her husband was also an old man. Surah al-Dhariyat portrays the same amazement with striking immediacy: she came forward in surprise, struck her face, and described herself as an old and barren woman. From the human point of view, the promise seemed extraordinary.
The messengers turned that surprise toward trust in Allah. They asked why she should be amazed at Allah’s decree and invoked His mercy and blessings upon the household. In another Qur’anic wording they said, in meaning, that this was exactly what her Lord had decreed, for He is the Wise and the Knowing. When Abraham himself expressed wonder because old age had reached him, the messengers told him that the glad tidings were true. Abraham replied that no one who knows his Lord’s mercy should despair of it.
The Qur’an later records the fulfillment in Abraham’s own words of gratitude: he praises Allah for granting him Ishmael and Isaac in old age and declares that his Lord truly hears supplication. Elsewhere the Qur’an states that Allah granted Abraham Isaac and Jacob and made them righteous. Thus the story moves beautifully from hospitality and momentary fear, to divine reassurance, to an extraordinary promise, and finally to gratitude for a blessing that came when ordinary expectations had grown faint.
Conclusion
The Qur’anic story presents the birth announcement as a sign of Allah’s mercy and power: despite old age and barrenness, Abraham’s household received the true glad tidings of Isaac and, beyond him, Jacob, and Abraham later praised Allah for the gift granted in his old age.
Sources
V3_SOURCE_METADATA_GAP: classical tafsir citation and verse-specific URL are present and source_verified=yes, but volume_page is blank. Task 1 must add edition-specific volume/page metadata where required by V3.
V3_SOURCE_METADATA_GAP: classical tafsir citation and verse-specific URL are present and source_verified=yes, but volume_page is blank. Task 1 must add edition-specific volume/page metadata where required by V3.
V3_SOURCE_METADATA_GAP: classical tafsir citation and verse-specific URL are present and source_verified=yes, but volume_page is blank. Task 1 must add edition-specific volume/page metadata where required by V3.
V3_SOURCE_METADATA_GAP: classical tafsir citation and verse-specific URL are present and source_verified=yes, but volume_page is blank. Task 1 must add edition-specific volume/page metadata where required by V3.
V3_SOURCE_METADATA_GAP: classical tafsir citation and verse-specific URL are present and source_verified=yes, but volume_page is blank. Task 1 must add edition-specific volume/page metadata where required by V3.
V3_SOURCE_METADATA_GAP: classical tafsir citation and verse-specific URL are present and source_verified=yes, but volume_page is blank. Task 1 must add edition-specific volume/page metadata where required by V3.
V3_SOURCE_METADATA_GAP: classical tafsir citation and verse-specific URL are present and source_verified=yes, but volume_page is blank. Task 1 must add edition-specific volume/page metadata where required by V3.
V3_SOURCE_METADATA_GAP: classical tafsir citation and verse-specific URL are present and source_verified=yes, but volume_page is blank. Task 1 must add edition-specific volume/page metadata where required by V3.
V3_SOURCE_METADATA_GAP: classical tafsir citation and verse-specific URL are present and source_verified=yes, but volume_page is blank. Task 1 must add edition-specific volume/page metadata where required by V3.
V3_SOURCE_METADATA_GAP: classical tafsir citation and verse-specific URL are present and source_verified=yes, but volume_page is blank. Task 1 must add edition-specific volume/page metadata where required by V3.
V3_SOURCE_METADATA_GAP: classical tafsir citation and verse-specific URL are present and source_verified=yes, but volume_page is blank. Task 1 must add edition-specific volume/page metadata where required by V3.
V3_SOURCE_METADATA_GAP: classical tafsir citation and verse-specific URL are present and source_verified=yes, but volume_page is blank. Task 1 must add edition-specific volume/page metadata where required by V3.
V3_SOURCE_METADATA_GAP: classical tafsir citation and verse-specific URL are present and source_verified=yes, but volume_page is blank. Task 1 must add edition-specific volume/page metadata where required by V3.
V3_SOURCE_METADATA_GAP: classical tafsir citation and verse-specific URL are present and source_verified=yes, but volume_page is blank. Task 1 must add edition-specific volume/page metadata where required by V3.
V3_SOURCE_METADATA_GAP: classical tafsir citation and verse-specific URL are present and source_verified=yes, but volume_page is blank. Task 1 must add edition-specific volume/page metadata where required by V3.
V3_SOURCE_METADATA_GAP: classical tafsir citation and verse-specific URL are present and source_verified=yes, but volume_page is blank. Task 1 must add edition-specific volume/page metadata where required by V3.
V3_SOURCE_METADATA_GAP: classical tafsir citation and verse-specific URL are present and source_verified=yes, but volume_page is blank. Task 1 must add edition-specific volume/page metadata where required by V3.
V3_SOURCE_METADATA_GAP: classical tafsir citation and verse-specific URL are present and source_verified=yes, but volume_page is blank. Task 1 must add edition-specific volume/page metadata where required by V3.
V3_SOURCE_METADATA_GAP: classical tafsir citation and verse-specific URL are present and source_verified=yes, but volume_page is blank. Task 1 must add edition-specific volume/page metadata where required by V3.
V3_SOURCE_METADATA_GAP: classical tafsir citation and verse-specific URL are present and source_verified=yes, but volume_page is blank. Task 1 must add edition-specific volume/page metadata where required by V3.
V3_SOURCE_METADATA_GAP: classical tafsir citation and verse-specific URL are present and source_verified=yes, but volume_page is blank. Task 1 must add edition-specific volume/page metadata where required by V3.
V3_SOURCE_METADATA_GAP: classical tafsir citation and verse-specific URL are present and source_verified=yes, but volume_page is blank. Task 1 must add edition-specific volume/page metadata where required by V3.