The Ranks (Al-Saffat)
Verses 88-101 GROUP_1172 37.88-101
88
فَنَظَرَ نَظْرَةً فِي النُّجُومِ
He looked up at the stars.
89
فَقَالَ إِنِّي سَقِيمٌ
And said, ‘I am sick,’
90
فَتَوَلَّوْا عَنْهُ مُدْبِرِينَ
so they turned their backs on him and went off.
91
فَرَاغَ إِلَى آلِهَتِهِمْ فَقَالَ أَلَا تَأْكُلُونَ
He turned to their gods and said, ‘Do you not eat?
92
مَا لَكُمْ لَا تَنطِقُونَ
What is the matter with you that you do not speak?’
93
فَرَاغَ عَلَيْهِمْ ضَرْبًا بِالْيَمِينِ
then he turned on them, striking them down with his right hand.
94
فَأَقْبَلُوا إِلَيْهِ يَزِفُّونَ
His people came rushing towards him,
95
قَالَ أَتَعْبُدُونَ مَا تَنْحِتُونَ
but he said, ‘How can you worship things you carve with your own hands,
96
وَاللَّهُ خَلَقَكُمْ وَمَا تَعْمَلُونَ
when it is God who has created you and all your handiwork?’
97
قَالُوا ابْنُوا لَهُ بُنْيَانًا فَأَلْقُوهُ فِي الْجَحِيمِ
They said, ‘Build a pyre for him and throw him into the blaze!’
98
فَأَرَادُوا بِهِ كَيْدًا فَجَعَلْنَاهُمُ الْأَسْفَلِينَ
They wanted to harm him, but We humiliated them all.
99
وَقَالَ إِنِّي ذَاهِبٌ إِلَى رَبِّي سَيَهْدِينِ
He said, ‘I will go to my Lord: He is sure to guide me.
100
رَبِّ هَبْ لِي مِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ
Lord, grant me a righteous son.’
101
فَبَشَّرْنَاهُ بِغُلَامٍ حَلِيمٍ
We gave him the good news that he would have a patient, forbearing son.
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Commentary
(a) The people of Abraham’s community were perhaps going out of town to participate in some festival. Members of his household invited him to accompany them, but he managed somehow to excuse himself. When all the people had left, he entered the temple during the night and broke the deities kept there. It is important to note here that Abraham did so after continuous logical persuasion had failed to yield any result. When his people did not realise or accept the falsity of the deities by means of rational pleadings, by breaking the deities Abraham demonstrated that they were just a sham. Had they been genuine deities, they would have saved themselves from being smashed. This infuriated the people of Abraham’s community so much that they decided to kill him and throw him into a fire. But God saved him from it. Thereafter, he left his native place, Mesopotamia (now called Iraq). At that time, he prayed, ‘O, God ! Bless me with a pious and righteous offspring so that, by teaching and training, I may make him a believer and a Muslim who, after me, will continue to perform the mission of preaching the oneness of God.’