Surah Al-An'aam (6) — Ayah 76

(Ayah 76 to 79) {فَلَمَّا جَنَّ عَلَيْهِ الَّيْلُ … :} The people of Ibrahim (peace be upon him) used to worship many deities, among them idols, the sun, the moon, and the stars, and even the king was considered their lord. Ibrahim (peace be upon him) presented such powerful arguments proving that none of these could be deities, for which they had no answer. He proved the idols could not be deities by breaking them. He spoke to the king in such a reasoned manner that in the end, he {’’ فَبُهِتَ الَّذِيْ كَفَر ‘‘} was left completely speechless. In the verses under commentary here, there is mention of his debate with his people regarding the sun, moon, and stars not being deities. Thus, one night Ibrahim (peace be upon him) saw a very bright star and said: "This is my Lord." Surely, the people must have been very pleased to hear this from Ibrahim (peace be upon him), but this was a great strategy to defeat the deniers of monotheism by encircling them. That is, Ibrahim (peace be upon him) accepted an impossible thing as a hypothesis, so that he could convince them in a way that would reach their hearts. So, when it set, Ibrahim (peace be upon him) said: "I do not love those that set." Then he called the moon his Lord, and when it too set, he said: "If my Lord does not guide me, I will surely be among the misguided." In this, there is an indication that the guidance I am upon is not my personal thought or reflection, nor is it my personal and individual call; it is the favor and grace of my Lord, and that is why I call towards Him alone. Then he saw the sun shining and said: "This is the greatest, so this is my Lord." The people must have hoped that at least he was ready to accept one of their deities, but when the sun set, he declared his disassociation from all their deities and announced the worship of the one true Lord who created the heavens and the earth, so the people began to argue and started to frighten him with the wrath of their gods. Ibrahim (peace be upon him) said: "I do not fear your partners; yes, if Allah wills to harm, He can do so."

Some people say that the birth and upbringing of Ibrahim (peace be upon him) took place inside a cave, so that the king would not kill him because of a dream he had. When he came out, he went through these stages of reflection to find his Lord and finally reached Allah, although in these verses it is clearly mentioned that all these things happened in the assembly of the people, with which Ibrahim (peace be upon him) left them speechless. Then see that Allah Himself said here: «وَ تِلْكَ حُجَّتُنَاۤ اٰتَيْنٰهَاۤ اِبْرٰهِيْمَ عَلٰى قَوْمِهٖ » [ الأنعام : ۸۳ ] "All these things We gave to Ibrahim as arguments against his people." And when, according to Allah's command, he explained to his people through this argument that the sun, moon, and stars could not be lords, they began to argue, which was proof of their being left speechless.