وَ لَقَدْ And verily اٰتَیْنَاۤ We gave اِبْرٰهِیْمَ Ibrahim رُشْدَهٗ his guidance مِنْ before قَبْلُ before وَ كُنَّا and We were بِهٖ about him عٰلِمِیْنَۚ Well-Knowing اِذْ When قَالَ he said لِاَبِیْهِ to his father وَ قَوْمِهٖ and his people مَا What هٰذِهِ (are) these التَّمَاثِیْلُ [the] statues الَّتِیْۤ which اَنْتُمْ you لَهَا to it عٰكِفُوْنَ (are) devoted قَالُوْا They said وَجَدْنَاۤ We found اٰبَآءَنَا our forefathers لَهَا of them عٰبِدِیْنَ worshippers قَالَ He said لَقَدْ Verily كُنْتُمْ you are اَنْتُمْ [you] وَ اٰبَآؤُكُمْ and your forefathers فِیْ (were) in ضَلٰلٍ an error مُّبِیْنٍ manifest قَالُوْۤا They said اَجِئْتَنَا Have you come to us بِالْحَقِّ with the truth اَمْ or اَنْتَ you مِنَ (are) of اللّٰعِبِیْنَ those who play قَالَ He said بَلْ Nay رَّبُّكُمْ your Lord رَبُّ (is the) Lord السَّمٰوٰتِ (of) the heavens وَ الْاَرْضِ and the earth الَّذِیْ the One Who فَطَرَهُنَّ ۖؗ created them وَ اَنَا and I am عَلٰی to ذٰلِكُمْ that مِّنَ of الشّٰهِدِیْنَ the witnesses وَ تَاللّٰهِ And by Allah لَاَكِیْدَنَّ surely I will plan اَصْنَامَكُمْ (against) your idols بَعْدَ after اَنْ [that] تُوَلُّوْا you go away مُدْبِرِیْنَ turning (your) backs 21. Al-Anbya Page 327 فَجَعَلَهُمْ So he made them جُذٰذًا (into) pieces اِلَّا except كَبِیْرًا a large (one) لَّهُمْ of them لَعَلَّهُمْ so that they may اِلَیْهِ to it یَرْجِعُوْنَ return قَالُوْا They said مَنْ Who فَعَلَ (has) done هٰذَا this بِاٰلِهَتِنَاۤ to our gods اِنَّهٗ Indeed he لَمِنَ (is) of الظّٰلِمِیْنَ the wrongdoers قَالُوْا They said سَمِعْنَا We heard فَتًی a youth یَّذْكُرُهُمْ mention them یُقَالُ he is called لَهٗۤ he is called اِبْرٰهِیْمُؕ Ibrahim قَالُوْا They said فَاْتُوْا Then bring بِهٖ him عَلٰۤی before اَعْیُنِ (the) eyes النَّاسِ (of) the people لَعَلَّهُمْ so that they may یَشْهَدُوْنَ bear witness قَالُوْۤا They said ءَاَنْتَ Have you فَعَلْتَ done هٰذَا this بِاٰلِهَتِنَا to our gods یٰۤاِبْرٰهِیْمُؕ O Ibrahim قَالَ He said بَلْ Nay فَعَلَهٗ ۖۗ (some doer) did it كَبِیْرُهُمْ Their chief هٰذَا (is) this فَسْـَٔلُوْهُمْ So ask them اِنْ if كَانُوْا they (can) یَنْطِقُوْنَ speak فَرَجَعُوْۤا So they returned اِلٰۤی to اَنْفُسِهِمْ themselves فَقَالُوْۤا and said اِنَّكُمْ Indeed you اَنْتُمُ [you] الظّٰلِمُوْنَۙ (are) the wrongdoers ثُمَّ Then نُكِسُوْا they were turned عَلٰی on رُءُوْسِهِمْ ۚ their heads لَقَدْ Verily عَلِمْتَ you know مَا not هٰۤؤُلَآءِ these یَنْطِقُوْنَ (can) speak! قَالَ He said اَفَتَعْبُدُوْنَ Then do you worship مِنْ besides دُوْنِ besides اللّٰهِ Allah مَا what لَا (does) not یَنْفَعُكُمْ benefit you شَیْـًٔا (in) anything وَّ لَا and not یَضُرُّكُمْؕ harms you اُفٍّ Uff لَّكُمْ to you وَ لِمَا and to what تَعْبُدُوْنَ you worship مِنْ besides دُوْنِ besides اللّٰهِ ؕ Allah اَفَلَا Then will not تَعْقِلُوْنَ you use reason قَالُوْا They said حَرِّقُوْهُ Burn him وَ انْصُرُوْۤا and support اٰلِهَتَكُمْ your gods اِنْ if كُنْتُمْ you are فٰعِلِیْنَ doers قُلْنَا We said یٰنَارُ O fire! كُوْنِیْ Be بَرْدًا cool[ness] وَّ سَلٰمًا and safe[ty] عَلٰۤی for اِبْرٰهِیْمَۙ Ibrahim وَ اَرَادُوْا And they intended بِهٖ for him كَیْدًا a plan فَجَعَلْنٰهُمُ but We made them الْاَخْسَرِیْنَۚ the greatest losers
(21:51) Surely We had bestowed wisdom upon Abraham even earlier, and We knew him well.53
(21:52) Recall,54 when he said to his father and his people: "What are these images to which you are devoutly clinging?"
(21:53) They answered: "We found our fathers worshipping them."
(21:54) He said: "Certainly you and your fathers have all been in manifest error."
(21:55) They said: "Are you expressing your true ideas before us or are you jesting?"55
(21:56) He said: "Nay, but your Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth which He created and to that I bear witness before you.
(21:57) By Allah, I shall certainly carry out my plan against your gods after you are gone."56
(21:58) Then he broke them all into pieces,57 sparing only the supreme one among them that they may possibly return to him.58
(21:59) (When they saw the idols in this state) they said: "Who has done this to our gods? Surely he is one of the wrong-doers."
(21:60) Some of them said: "We heard a youth called Abraham speak (ill) of them."
(21:61) The others said: "Bring him, then, before the eyes of the people that they may see (what will be done to him)."59
(21:62) (On Abraham's arrival) they said: "Abraham, are you he who has done this to our gods?"
(21:63) He answered: "Rather it was this supreme one who has done it. So ask them, if they can speak."60
(21:64) Thereupon they turned to their (inner) selves and said (to themselves): "Surely it is you who are the wrong-doers."
(21:65) Then their minds were turned upside down,61 and they said: "You know well that they do not speak."
(21:66) Abraham said: "Do you, then, worship beside Allah a thing that can neither benefit you nor hurt you?
(21:67) Fie upon you and upon all that you worship beside Allah. Do you have no sense?"
(21:68) They said: "Burn him, and come to the support of your gods, if you are going to do anything."
(21:69) We said: "O fire, become coolness and safety for Abraham."62
(21:70) They had sought to do evil to him, but We caused them to be the worst losers,
53. We have translated the Arabic word rushd as ‘discretion’, which signifies a person’s ability to distinguish between right and wrong, and to follow whatever is right and avoid whatever is wrong. Since this expression connotes both right conduct and wisdom, our translation covers both meanings.
Abraham owed his wisdom to God’s favor since it is God Who bestowed His wisdom upon him.
The words, meaning ‘We knew him well’, signifies that God’s favor was not arbitrary; He knew full well what kind of man Abraham was and so He lavished His favors on him in consideration of that merit.
Elsewhere, the Qur’an points out that God knows who is worthy of being entrusted with His message: ‘Allah knows best where to place His message’ (al-An‘am 6: 124).
Implicit in this statement is a subtle rejoinder to the hostile statements which the Quraysh were wont to make against the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him). They decried his designation as God’s Messenger, saying that there was nothing very special about him to justify such a position. This charge is refuted at several different places in the Qur’an, and in various ways. In the present verse only an implicit point is made with reference to Abraham’s selection as God’s Messenger. The same Kind of rejoinder as made against the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) could also have been made against Abraham when he, out of all the people living in Mesopotamia, was chosen as God’s Messenger. What the Qur’an says here is that God knew Abraham’s mettle well, so He chose him for this great favor to the exclusion of all others.
It is useful to study the following passages in the Qur’an dealing with * Abraham’s character and qualities: al-Baqarah 2: 124-41 and 258-60; al-An‘am 6: 74-84; al-Tawbah 9: 114; Hud 11: 69-76; Ibrahim 14: 35-41; al-Hijr 15: 51-8, and al-Nahl 16: 120-3.
54. Before trying to comprehend the full meaning of the event mentioned in the following verses one should recall that the Quraysh owed Abraham a great deal. The Ka‘bah, which gave them a singular pre-eminence in the whole of Arabia, was constructed by him. The prestige enjoyed by the Quraysh, therefore, was a direct result of their being Abraham’s offspring and as such custodians of the shrine constructed by him. If we consider the story of Abraham today, and in lands far removed from Arabia, it impresses us as an instructive historical event. However, in the times and milieu in which this story was narrated — sixth century Arabia — it had a much greater significance.
The Qur’anic account of Abraham dealt a severe blow at the very roots of the religion and the exclusivism, arrogance and vanity of the Quraysh.
55. Literally, it may be rendered as: ‘Are you expressing your true ideas before us, or are you jesting?’ The real thrust of the verse, however, is what we have conveyed by our own translation. The unbelievers were so convinced of the truth of their religion that they were not even prepared to take Abraham’s message seriously. Hence, they simply dismissed Abraham’s statement as a joke; they could not believe that the ideas which he expressed could really represent his inner convictions.
56. Abraham told the idolaters that if they were not prepared to heed ‘his arguments, he would make them observe how their gods were of no avail, how they were altogether helpless. Once their idols were proven powerless, the error in considering them to be gods and worshipping them would become fully evident. Abraham, however, did not spell out how he intended to demonstrate the helplessness of their idols.
57. Abraham was on the look-out for the right moment. Once he found there were no worshippers in the temple, nor any keepers to safeguard it, he entered it and demolished ali their idols.
58. The word ‘him’ in the statement ‘. . . that they may possibly return to him’ could, grammatically speaking, apply either to the Supreme Deity or to Abraham. If one considers it to relate to a supreme deity, then this statement amounts to a sarcastic remark about their polytheistic’ beliefs. For, if the unbelievers considered some object to be their supreme deity, they also had reason to assume the possibility that that same supreme deity, in a fit of rage, had struck down all those subordinate deities, reducing them to pieces. It was reasonable, therefore, to ask that supreme deity what had happened to the minor deities whilst under his very nose. Who had done all this? If it were the act of a miscreant, why had the supreme deity not prevented him from carrying out such an outrageous attack? The other alternative is to accept the second interpretation, namely that — ‘him’ is used here to refer to Abraham. In which case the verse would mean that if the idolaters suspected Abraham of being responsible for the demolition of their idols, they would ask him if this was so and this would provide him with an opportunity to explain his point of view.
59. This is exactly what Abraham wanted. He wanted to prove to the public at large rather than merely a small group of priests and worshippers in the temple that the idols, whom they considered to have the power to answer their prayers were instead absolutely powerless. He also wanted to demonstrate the priests’ true estimation of these idols as distinct from what they generally professed.
The priests committed the same mistake which had earlier been made by Pharaoh; Pharaoh, remember, had assembled the whole populace to watch the tournament between the Prophet Moses (peace be on him) and his magicians.
The Quraysh priests now, in a like manner, assembled the general public to bear witness to their interrogation of Abraham. As already noted, the tournament between Moses and the magicians had provided Moses with an opportunity to prove that what he put before them was a miracle and not the magic that they had supposed. Likewise, Abraham’s enemies enabled him to expose, right before everyone’s eyes, the deceitfulness and fraudulence of the priests.
60. The latter part of the verse indicates that Abraham’s statement in the earlier part of the verse, where he ascribes the demolition of their idols to the supreme deity, was not a lie. For in point of fact Abraham was not making a statement; he was merely presenting an argument that would enable his detractors to realize the truth of the matter. His statement had a clear purpose — to make his opponents recognize that their deities were absolutely powerless, that nothing could be expressed of them. Whenever a person makes a statement when trying to drive home his point, he cannot be called a liar even when his statement is objectively incorrect. For, he does not intend to spread something that is contrary to fact, so his audience believes what is incorrect to be true. The speaker’s purpose is quite evident both to him and to his audience — it is simply to establish a point.
Unfortunately, a report in the Hadith mentions that Abraham lied in his life three times. One of these instances is mentioned in this verse. The second relates to Abraham’s utterance that ‘he was sick’ (al-Saffat 37: 89), and the third to his statement that his wife was his sister. This last instance is not recorded in the Qur’an, but occurs in Genesis 12: 13.
Now, some people exhibit an exaggerated sense of their devotion to tradition of all kinds. They are so concerned to affirm the veracity of the transmitters of the traditions embodied in Muslim and al-Bukhari that they do not mind authenticating even those traditions whose contents cast a slur on the truthfulness of Prophets. There is, at the same time, another group of people who go to the other extreme. They exploit a few traditions, which are apparently inauthentic, such as that mentioned above, and indulge in gross generalization, branding all traditions as spurious. Because they can identify a few blatantly erroneous traditions in the collection of Hadith, such people’ would like the entire corpus of traditions to be cast aside. Such an approach, however, is altogether unjustified. For some defects in a few traditions does not necessarily discredit the entire collection of traditions.
At the same time, it is equally wrong to go so far with ‘traditions’ as to affirm even those traditions which imply a slur on a Prophet’s veracity. For even if a hadith is sound according to the criteria of the traditionists for example by means of testing the veracity of its narrators, this does not necessarily mean that it should be blindly accepted as authentic especially if it contains something that is intrinsically objectionable. The chain of narrators of a tradition may well be quite sound and yet the content of that tradition be incorrect; in the course of its transmission, for example, the content may have been incorrectly reported. When a tradition contains something which is intrinsically erroneous. it is obvious to any right-thinking person that such a tradition cannot be affirmed, despite the fact that it is supported by a sound chain of narrators. Hence it is not enough to merely look at the chain of transmission; it is also necessary to consider the content of the tradition. If there is anything wrong with the content, one is quite justified in not accepting that report as true.
As for that report which recounts Abraham’s three so-called lies, it is not only flawed because it ascribes lies to a Prophet, it should also be dismissed on the grounds that it mentions three events of doubtful authenticity.
So far as the first is concerned, and as we have explained earlier, it cannot be called a lie even by a person of very ordinary intellect. So why then would we believe that a Prophet such as Muhammad (peace be on him) would consider such a statement to be a lie? After all, Abraham only made the point to demonstrate to the idolaters the powerlessness of their false deities.
Let us turn to the second instance of ‘lying’ — Abraham’s statement that he was sick. In point of fact, this statement can only be considered contrary to fact if it is conclusively established that Abraham was perfectly healthy at that time; that he had no health complaints at all. Now, the Qur’an makes no mention of Abraham being perfectly healthy at that time. Nor is there any other authentic tradition except the present one which makes any statement about it at all.
As for the third ‘lie’ with which Abraham is charged, referring to his wife as his sister, this is so absurd that one cannot even seriously consider it. The event relates to the time when Abraham went to Egypt with his wife, Sarah.
According to the Bible, Abraham was then 75 years old and his wife a little over 65 years old. At such an advanced age' Abraham is supposed to have learned that the Egyptian Pharaoh would kill him in order to take his beautiful wife. He, therefore, told his wife that if the Egyptians forcibly took her to their Pharaoh, she was to refer to him as her brother, whilst he would introduce her as his sister; this so as to save his life. (See Genesis 12.) If in this report this third ‘lie’ is derived from an improbable and absurd report in the Bible — is it reasonable for a report that consists of such stuff to be ascribed to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) merely on the grounds that its chain of narrators is uninterrupted? It should also be emphasized here that those people who are so exaggeratedly obsessed with everything ‘traditional’ do no service to Hadith.
On the contrary their unreasonableness contributes to a highly negative reaction against Hadith and assists those extremists who go to the extent of dismissing the entire corpus of Hadith. (For further details see my Rasa’ il wa Masa’ il (Lahore, 1957), vol. 2, second edition, pp. 35-9 — Ed.)
61. The actual words are which mean that they were ‘turned upside down on their heads’. Some scholars have interpreted this to mean that they put their heads down out of a sense of shame. Such an interpretation, however, would not be consistent with the context of the statement. What this statement really means — and this is also borne out by the context — is that on hearing Abraham’s reply, they realized they had erred for they had taken powerless idols as their deities; idols that were too helpless even to tell others what had befallen them, let alone advise who was responsible for shattering them to pieces. Now, if they were so utterly helpless with regard to themselves, how could they possibly hope to come to the aid of their devotees? Even this realization, however, was soon replaced by a bigoted adherence to their original position. And adamancy, as we know, prevents people from thinking rationally.
62. Both the words of the verse and the context indicate that Abraham’s opponent’s did indeed carry out their threat. They prepared a pit of fire, and threw Abraham into it, but God commanded the fire to cool, thus preventing Abraham from suffering any harm.
This is doubtlessly a miracle narrated by the Qur’an. Nonetheless, there are still those people who are apologetic about such miracles, and who resort to far-fetched interpretations so as to explain them away. They would appear to believe that it is impossible for God to do anything which runs counter to the routine workings of the cosmic system. One may well, if such is their view, ask why they even bother to believe in God in the first. place.
It is also possible that many of those who resort to such far-fetched explanations do so because the ‘rationalists’ of our time deny all miracles. If this is the case, one is quite justified in asking why they feel it incumbent upon themselves to convince everybody of their views. One would be better advised to leave well alone those who are not prepared to believe in the Qur’an as it is. It is no use trying to mold the Qur’an according to the whims of such people when the Qur’an resists such attempts at virtually every step. How can such an effort be considered a healthy and justified means of propagating the Qur’an? (For further elaboration see al-‘Ankabut 29, n. 39.)