The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 186
CH. 21 mean to do anything. '2402 AL-ANBIYA' PT. 17 70. We said, 'O fire, be thousjque cold and a means of safety for Abraham! '2403 كُنتُمْ فَعِلِينَ ابرهيمة وَأَرَادُوا بِهِ كَيْدًا فَجَعَلْتُهُمُ الْأَخْسَرِينَ And they had sought to do. 71 evil to him, but We made them the worst losers. 2402. Commentary: recourse "37:99. Being unable to refute Abraham's argument, no course was left open to his idolatrous people but to have to persecuting and tormenting him and if possible to killing or burning him to death- indeed a very clear but mean confession of their discomfiture and defeat at Abraham's hands. Similarly did the opponents of the Holy Prophet plot against him. The Quran says: And remember the time when the disbelievers plotted against thee that they might imprison thee or kill thee or expel thee (8:31). Besides the verse under comment, at two other places in the Quran the plot against Abraham has been mentioned. In 29:25 we have: And the answer of his people was only that they said, 'slay him or burn him' and in 37:98 it is stated: they said, 'Build for him a structure and cast him into the fire. ' 2403. Commentary: In 29:25 we are told that Abraham's enemies sought to slay or burn him but God saved him from the fire, and in 37:98,99 we read that Abraham's enemies designed to build a structure for him and cast him into the fire but they failed in their evil design. The present verse however says, "O fire, be thou cool and a means of safety for Abraham. " How the fire became cool we are not told. Timely rain or a stormy hurricane might have extinguished it. In any event God did bring about circumstances which led to Abraham's deliverance. There is always an element of mystery in heavenly miracles and Abraham's having been saved from the fire was indeed a great miracle. This incident of Abraham's having been cast into the fire is credited not only by the Jews but also by the Eastern Christians; the 25th of the second Canun, or January, being set apart in the Syrian Calendar for the commemoration of Abraham's being cast into the fire. (Hyde, De Rel. Vet Pers. , p. 73). See also Mdr. Rabbah on Gen. Par. 17; Schalacheleth Hakabala, 2; Maimon de Idol. Ch. 1; and Jad Hachazakah, Vet, 6, who makes Abraham, in his 40th year, renounce star-worship, break images, escape the wrath of the king by a miracle, and preach that there is one 2100