The Quran

124

۞ وَإِذِ ابتَلىٰ إِبراهيمَ رَبُّهُ بِكَلِماتٍ فَأَتَمَّهُنَّ ۖ قالَ إِنّي جاعِلُكَ لِلنّاسِ إِمامًا ۖ قالَ وَمِن ذُرِّيَّتي ۖ قالَ لا يَنالُ عَهدِي الظّالِمينَ

Muhammad Asad

And [remember this:] when his Sustainer tried Abraham by [His] commandments and the latter fulfilled them,¹ He said: "Behold, I shall make thee a leader of men." Abraham asked: "And [wilt Thou make leaders] of my offspring as well?" [God] answered: "My covenant does not embrace the evildoers."²

The classical commentators have indulged in much speculation as to what these commandments (kalimat, lit., "words") were. Since, however, the Qur'an does not specify them, it must be presumed that what is meant here is simply Abraham's complete submission to whatever commandments he received from God.
This passage, read in conjunction with the two preceding verses, refutes the contention of the children of Israel that by virtue of their descent from Abraham, whom God made "a leader of men", they are "God's chosen people". The Qur'an makes it clear that the exalted status of Abraham was not something that would automatically confer a comparable status on his physical descendants, and certainly not on the sinners among them.