101 Preface فَبَشَّرناهُ بِغُلامٍ حَليمٍYusuf AliSo We gave him the good news1 of a boy ready to suffer and forbear.2This was in the fertile land of Syria and Palestine. The boy thus born was, according to Muslim tradition, the first-born son of Abraham, viz., Ismail. The name itself is from the root Sami'a, to hear, because God had heard Abraham’s prayer (verse 100). Abraham’s age when Ismail was born was 86 (Gen. 16:16). (R).The boy’s character was to be Ḥalīm, which I have translated “ready to suffer and forbear”. This title is also applied to Abraham (in 9:114 and 11:75). It refers to the patient way in which both father and son cheerfully offered to suffer any self-sacrifice in order to obey the Command of God. See next verse.