The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 180
CH. 21 R. 5. AL-ANBIYA' PT. 17 وَلَقَدْ أَتَيْنَا إِبْرَاهِيمَ رُشْدَهُ مِنْ قَبْلُ And before this We gave. 52 وَكُنَّا بِهِ عَلِمِينَ Abraham his guidance and We knew him well. 2392 إذْ قَالَ لِاَبِيْهِ وَقَوْمِهِ مَا هَذِهِ التَّمَاثِيلُ When he said to his father. 53 الَّتِي أَنْتُمْ لَهَا عَكِفُونَ and his people, 'What are these images to which you are so devoted?'2392A "6:75; 19:43; 26:71. outstanding distinction. Being Mubarak, the Quran combines in itself all kinds of excellences. It is full of blessings which will continue to be bestowed upon its followers and which never decrease or diminish. There is no good which it does not possess in abundance and in which it does not excel other Holy Scriptures. Mankind will continue to benefit from its teaching till the end of time. This is not the case with other Scriptures. They are defunct. All life has departed from them. The very languages in which they revealed are dead. But the Quran is a living Book. It shall live so long as mankind lasts and will continue to were give light to a world groping in darkness. 2392. Commentary: (his guidance) means, the guidance which befitted his station as a great Prophet of God. The clause, "We knew him well" means, "We were fully conversant with his excellent inborn qualities i. e. We knew his real worth or We knew that he was eminently fit to be entrusted with the great and noble duties of a Prophet. " 2392A. Important Words: تمثال images) is the plural of) تماثيل which means, an image (Aqrab). See also 2:18; 2:107; 6:39; 13:7 & 14:46. The particle (what) here denotes contempt and derision and not a question. Commentary: Everyone has his own style of speech. Abraham too had his peculiar way of talking. While talking to idol- worshippers he generally made use of irony. In the present verse he appears to be asking a question while in reality he is speaking contemptuously of the gods of his people. This special style of Abraham is also apparent from 6:77,78,79. In the present verse he seems to say to his people: "How useless and futile these images are which you worship!" While Abraham used to talk in ironical language, Jesus would talk in metaphors. Several of his sayings quoted in the Quran have been misunderstood because they have been taken literally. 2094 In the expression ↳ (lit. to which) the letter is used to denote respect and reverence and also to express emphasis. The word is not