The Prophet Ibrahim ( - Peace Be Upon Him) and the Idols

The Qur'an tells us that the prophets should be our role models, and Ibrahim () in particular is frequently mentioned. He was obedient to Allah, upright, and he did not worship any god but Allah. He turned away from those who worshipped idols, even from his own father. He was grateful to Allah for the blessings which were bestowed on him. He was rewarded with good in this world and he is among the righteous in the hereafter.

Ibrahim's () father, Azer, was a stone carver. He carved the images of the idols which his people worshipped. Ibrahim () grew up in an atmosphere of paganism, in which Allah was just one of many gods worshipped by his people. But Allah chose Ibrahim () to be His prophet. Ibrahim () saw a star when it rose and called upon it as his lord, but when it set he realized that it was powerless. He called upon the moon when it rose in the sky, but it too disappeared as it set. Then he decided to worship the sun when it rose, but even the sun with all its brilliance had to set each evening. It was at this point that Ibrahim () was ready to acknowledge the supremacy of the Creator of all the heavenly bodies, the Lord of all creation, and a being without equal and without partners. He tried unsuccessfully to persuade his father and his people to discard the useless idols and to submit themselves wholly to Allah. He promised his father that he would pray for forgiveness for him, and since he had promised, he did pray. But we are told in the Qur'an that we should shun pagans and we should not pray for them (Qur'an 9:113-114).

Ibrahim asked his people why they worshipped those idols which they themselves had made, instead of the true God who had created everything and everybody. The people answered that they worshipped the idols because their fathers had done so. One day, when no one was about, Ibrahim () took his right hand and smashed the idols to pieces, all except the biggest. The people came running, asking who had destroyed their gods. Ibrahim () pointed to the big god and said, "He did it. Why don't you ask them?" But of course those fragments of stone were not able to speak and the people knew in their hearts that the big stone could not have destroyed them. So Ibrahim () asked, "Why do you worship these powerless rocks instead of Allah who is all powerful?" Then the people were very angry and they seized Ibrahim () and threw him into a blazing fire. But Allah was with Ibrahim () and made the blaze feel cool to him. Ibrahim () emerged from the fire unharmed.

In Arabia at the time of the prophet Muhammad (), three religious groups claimed ancestry to the prophet Ibrahim (). They were the Christians, the Jews, and the pagan idol-worshippers. But the religion of Ibrahim () was none of these three. His religion was truly that of Islam, a total submission to the will of Allah. It is he who should serve as our role model, a man of unswerving faith in troubled times.

You can read about Ibrahim () as a role model and about his disputes over the idols in the following suras of the Qur'an: 2:130, 135, 258; 3:67; 6:74-83; 16:120-123; 19:41-50; 21:51-71; 26:70-82; 37:83-98; 60:4-6.