Wanadaynahu an ya ibraheem (surah Assaaffat: 104)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(37:104) We cried out: *62 'O Abraham,

Wa naadainaahu ai yaaaa Ibraheem

*62) One section of the grammarians says that here "and" has been use to mean "then"; thus, the sentence would be: "When the two had submitted themselves (to Allah) and Abraham had flung his son down on his brow, then We called out. . . " But another section of them says that here the answer to the word "when" has been omitted and left for the listener to fill; for it was better w leave such an indescribable thing to the imagination instead of expressing it in words. When Allah amight have seen that the old father who had got a son after long earnest prayers, has become ready to sacrifice him only for His pleasure and approval; and the son also had became ready to get slaughtered, His infinite Mercy might have been aroused at the sight, and the Master might have felt great love for the father and son. All this can only be imagined. No words would ever describe the scene adequately.