[462] The Patriarch of Prophets, Abraham, had no doubt whatsoever in his mind about God’s ability to resurrect the dead. This is what the Prophet (ﷺ) implied by saying: “We are more likely to doubt than Ibrāhīm” (al-Bukhārī: 4537, Muslim: 151), when he heard that people said Abraham doubted. Scholars are of the opinion that Abraham wanted to reach the highest rank of knowledge, the so-called ‘concrete certitude’ (ḥaqq al-yaqīn), which comes with actually seeing and living through an experience (cf. al-Wāḥidī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī, Ibn ʿĀshūr). Ibn al-Qayyim has it that: “Knowledge is of three ranks: firm knowledge (ʿilm al-yaqīn) which comes with receiving news: then, what is being told becomes evident to the sight and heart and knowledge becomes exact knowledge (ʿayn al-yaqīn), and when it is touched and felt it becomes concrete certitude (ḥaqq al-yaqīn) (Madārij al-Sālikīn, 1: 469). So Abraham, the beloved of God, knowing that God was likely to grant him his wish, wanted to actually see resurrection in action.
[463] In accordance with al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī citing many scholars.