Atheist critics claim:
“The story of Prophet Ibrāhīm (عليه السلام) being saved from the fire is not found completely in one place in the Qur’an. Instead, it appears in parts across different sūrahs such as al-Baqarah, al-Anʿām, al-Anbiyāʾ, and Maryam. Books like Qiṣaṣ al-Anbiyāʾ and ʿArāʾis al-Majālis present the narrative in a continuous format. According to these critics, regardless of where it appears, the source of this story is the Jewish book Midrash Rabbah. Clair Tisdall, in his book, compared both accounts and, finding no difference, concluded that Muhammad (ﷺ) heard the story from the Jews and included it in the Qur’an.”
Furthermore, they refer to a verse in the Torah mentioning Prophet Ibrāhīm’s migration from Babylon, asserting that the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) allegedly heard this without knowledge and inserted it into the Qur’an. They also base their argument on historical linguistic inconsistencies, claiming that the Prophet (ﷺ), due to his “ignorance,” incorporated Jewish notions into his teachings.
The first and most crucial point is that all such claims are based on conjecture and assumptions. These are entirely baseless allegations. In reality, the critic’s knowledge is extremely limited, and their research relies heavily on Islamophobic websites like Answering Islam. These articles are aimed at misleading naive Muslims.
Another objection raised is that the Qur’an mentions the name of Prophet Ibrāhīm’s father as “Āzar”, while the Torah refers to him as “Terah,” and some Greek traditions call him “Āthur.” According to the critics, the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) might have heard this name during trade journeys to Syria and, due to “poor memory,” wrote it as Āzar.
To respond to this conjecture: accusing a man of the Prophet’s (ﷺ) intelligence of poor memory is absurd. His ability to recite and convey the entire Qur’an with perfect precision — something even his enemies acknowledged — is proof of his exceptional intellect.
George Sale, the first translator of the Qur’an into English, states that “Āzar” is indeed accurate, as this is the pronunciation found in Chaldean, Assyrian, and Persian languages. The name is associated with a fire deity and was considered a title of honor in ancient Mesopotamian civilization. Moreover, the Jewish Talmud records Ibrāhīm’s father’s name as “Zarah” or “Zerah,” which resembles “Āzar” more closely than “Terah,” contradicting the Bible.
This suggests that either:
(a) the different names refer to the same individual, or
(b) Āzar was his actual name.
It’s essential to note that the Bible was written around a thousand years after Prophet Ibrāhīm (عليه السلام). It was compiled by four different schools of thought across different periods, leading to numerous contradictions, such as a discrepancy of fifteen generations in Prophet ʿĪsā’s lineage.
The Christian historian Eusebius mentions the name Āthur, rejecting the Biblical version, which implies he gave greater weight to Talmudic traditions than the Torah. Therefore, blindly relying on the conflicting accounts of the Bible is unreasonable.
A common underlying assumption in such objections is that the earlier source must be the original truth. However, if the truth is one, then even if it is revealed later, it remains truth. The same applies to the Qur’anic account of Prophet Ibrāhīm and his father — the fact that it came after Jewish writings does not make it borrowed. Rather, it was revealed by Allah to Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) through divine revelation.
Surah al-ʿAnkabūt, Verse 12:
“And those who disbelieve say to the believers: ‘Follow our path, and we will bear your sins.’ But they will not bear anything of their sins. Indeed, they are liars.”
