"And when Ibrahim said: My Lord, Make this city (Makkah) a Place of Security and Provide its People with Fruits..."

125 And when We made the House a pilgrimage for men and a (place of) security, and: Appoint for yourselves a place of prayer on the standing-place of Ibrahim. And We enjoined Ibrahim and Ismail saying: Purify My House for those who visit (it) and those who abide (in it) for devotion and those who bow down (and) those who prostrate themselves. 126 And when Ibrahim said: My Lord, make this city (Makkah) a place of security and provide its people with fruits such of them as believe in Allah and the last day. He said: And whoever disbelieves, I will grant him enjoyment for a short while, then I will drive him to the chastisement of the fire; and it is an evil destination. 127 And when Ibrahim and Ismail raised the foundations of the House: Our Lord! accept from us; surely Thou art the Hearing, the Knowing: 128 Our Lord! and make us both submissive to Thee and ( raise) from our offspring a nation submitting to Thee, and show us our ways of devotion and turn to us ( mercifully), surely Thou art the Oft-returning (to mercy), the Merciful. 129 Our Lord! and raise up in them a Messenger from among them who shall recite to them Thy communications and teach them the Book and the wisdom, and purify them; surely Thou art the Mighty, the Wise. 130 And who forsakes the religion of Ibrahim but he who makes himself a fool, and most certainly We chose him in this world, and in the hereafter he is most surely among the righteous. 131 When his Lord said to him, Be a Muslim, he said: I submit myself to the Lord of the worlds. 132 And the same did Ibrahim enjoin on his sons and (so did) Yaqoub. O my sons! surely Allah has chosen for you (this) faith, therefore die not unless you are Muslims. 133 Nay! were you witnesses when death visited Yaqoub, when he said to his sons: What will you serve after me? They said: We will serve your god and the god of your fathers, Ibrahim and Ismail and Ishaq, one Allah only, and to Him do we submit.

[Surah Al-Baqarah]

Photograph : Ibn Hanif