The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 443
PT. 7 AL-AN'ĀM on which stands the belief and practice of idol-worship and the absurd ideas which give rise to idolatry. In the present verse Abraham is represented as arguing with his ☑ (father) on the subject of idolatry. This (father) is here named Āzar. Now we have to see in what relation this man stood to Abraham and what his true name was. Christian writers have criticized the Quran on the, ground that it calls Abraham's father by the name Āzar while his true name was Terah. It is true that in Gen. 11:26 Abraham's father is named Terah. But it is equally true that in Luke 3:34 Abraham is called the son of Thara and not Terah. The reader should note the change not only in the first consonant but also in the vowel that follows. The Talmud also gives CH. 6 only that of pronunciation; otherwise both forms, i. e. Āzar and Athar, are identical. Christians have, therefore, no reason to quarrel with the Quran for calling Abraham's father by the name Āzar. It may also be noted that Abraham's father is also called Zarah in the Talmud (Sale) and Zarah is approximately the same as Āzar. All this goes to prove not only that the Quran is not wrong on calling the father of Abraham by the name Āzar, but also that the Quranic version is much more reliable than that of the Bible. The next question we have to consider is that of the relationship in which Āzar stood to Abraham. In the Quran, he has been called Abraham's (ab), a word applied, as shown under Important Words, not only to father but also to uncle, grandfather, the name of Abraham's father as etc. who stand in the position of a Thara. Eusebius, the great Church father. From the Quran it appears that historian, who has been rightly styled Āzar, though called the (ab) of the Father of Ecclesiastical History, Abraham, was not really his father. In gives, in spite of Gen. 11:26 and 9:114 we are told that Abraham had Luke: 3:34, which could not be made a promise to Āzar, his (ab), unknown to him, Athar as the name to pray to God for his forgiveness, but of Abraham's father (Sale). This when he came to know that he was an clearly shows that even among the enemy of God, he abstained from Jews there existed no unanimity as to praying for him and was actually the name of Abraham's father. The forbidden to do so (see also 26:87 fact that Eusebius, followed neither where again Āzar is spoken as the ☑ Gen. 11:26, nor Luke 3:34 shows that of Abraham). Elsewhere, however, he had strong reasons to differ from the Quran itself records a prayer of these two well-known sources. The Abraham which he offered in the last correct form thus appears to be Athar, days of his life, after he had built the which later became changed into Ka'bah in company with his son, Thara or Terah. Now the form Ishmael. In this prayer, Abraham adopted by Eusebius is almost, if not prays for his father and is not exactly, the same as given by the forbidden to pray for him; but here Quran. If there is any difference, it is | Abraham does not use for him the 883