Divine Planning

~ 9 ~ His wife told him that they were leading their lives in a very bad state. Life was full of hardship. As Abraham took his leave he asked her to convey his regards to Ishmael and to ask him to change the doorsill of his home. When Ishmael returned and heard the message from his wife, he realized that the visitor must have been his father and that his message symbolically implied that he should divorce his present wife and marry another woman of the Jurhum tribe. To Abraham that woman was not worthy of mothering the generation under preparation. After some time, the Prophet Abraham again visited Makkah. This time too Ishmael was away, but his wife was at home. When Abraham asked her how things were going on, she thanked God for everything and talked of contentment, saying that life fared well for them. When he left, Abraham asked her to convey his regards to Ishmael and to give him the message that he should keep the doorsill of his house. On his return, Ishmael received the message of his father and rightly understood its symbolism: that this woman was capable of leading a life in accordance with the