Tafseer of The Prophets · Al-Anbiyaa · 21:58
So he made them into fragments, except a large one among them, that they might return to it [and question].
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
His word فَجَعَلَهُمْ جُذَاذًا إِلَّا كَبِيرًا لَّهُمْ — the reciters differed over its reading. The general reciters of the cities, with the exception of Yaḥyā ibn Wathāb, al-Aʿmash and al-Kisāʾī, read it as فَجَعَلَهُمْ جُذَاذًا with the meaning of the plural of jadhīdh, as if by it they intended the plural of jadhīdh and judhādh, just as khafīf in the plural becomes khifāf, and karīm in the plural becomes kirām.
The preferred of the two readings, in our view, is the reading of those who read it as (judhādhan) with ḍamma upon the jīm, on account of the consensus of the reciters of the cities upon it, and that upon which they agree is the correct one. If it is read this way it is a verbal noun (maṣdar) like rufāt, futāt and duqāq, without a singular; as for the one who reads the jīm with kasra, it is the plural of jadhīdh — jadhīdh is faʿīl transposed from majdhūdh, like kasīr and hashīm; and majdhūdha means: broken into pieces.
And in the same manner as we have explained this, the people of interpretation spoke.
* Mention of who said that:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word فَجَعَلَهُمْ جُذَاذًا : he said: into dust and rubble.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: (judhādhan) like that which is cut off (al-ṣarīm).
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid: the same.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word فَجَعَلَهُمْ جُذَاذًا : that is to say: into pieces.
The occasion for the deed of Ibrāhīm, may the blessings of Allah be upon him, with the gods of his people was, as Mūsā related to us: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, that Ibrāhīm's father said to him: "O Ibrāhīm, we have a feast day — if you go there with us, our religion will surely please you." When it was the day of the feast and they set out for it, Ibrāhīm set out with them. But when he had traversed part of the way, he threw himself down and said: "I am sick" — that is to say: my foot hurts. They trod upon his feet while he lay thrown down. When they had departed he called out to those who had stayed behind, while the weakest of the people still remained behind: وَتَاللَّهِ لَأَكِيدَنَّ أَصْنَامَكُم بَعْدَ أَن تُوَلُّوا مُدْبِرِينَ — they heard that from him. Then Ibrāhīm returned to the house of the gods, and there they stood in a great hall, with a great idol at the end of the hall and beside it one somewhat smaller, each idol beside the one smaller than it, until they reached the door of the hall. And they had set down food for the gods and said: "When we return, the gods will have blessed our food and then we shall eat it." When Ibrāhīm looked at them and at the food that stood before them, he said: أَلَا تَأْكُلُونَ . When they did not answer him he said: مَا لَكُمْ لَا تَنطِقُونَ * فَرَاغَ عَلَيْهِمْ ضَرْبًا بِالْيَمِينِ . He took an iron axe and struck each idol on both its sides, then he hung the axe upon the neck of the greatest idol and departed. When the people returned to their food they looked at their gods and said: قَالُوا مَن فَعَلَ هَٰذَا بِآلِهَتِنَا إِنَّهُ لَمِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ * قَالُوا سَمِعْنَا فَتًى يَذْكُرُهُمْ يُقَالُ لَهُ إِبْرَاهِيمُ .
His word إِلَّا كَبِيرًا لَّهُمْ means: except the greatest of the gods — for Ibrāhīm had not broken that one, but had, as is related, hung the axe around it.
And in the same manner as we have explained this, the people of interpretation said.
* Mention of who said that:
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj: إِلَّا كَبِيرًا لَّهُمْ — he said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: except their greatest — the greatest of their gods. Ibn Jurayj said: Mujāhid said: Ibrāhīm placed the axe with which he had destroyed their idols leaning against the chest of their greatest one which he left behind.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: he said: Ibrāhīm placed the axe with which he had destroyed their idols leaning against the chest of their greatest one which he left behind.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, he said: he turned upon them as Allah, blessed and exalted, said: ضَرْبًا بِالْيَمِينِ — then he began to break them with an axe in his hand until, when the greatest idol alone remained, he bound the axe to its hand and left them thus. When his people returned they saw what he had done to their idols — it terrified them and struck them grievously, and they said: "Who has done this to our gods? He is surely among the wrongdoers!"
His word لَعَلَّهُمْ إِلَيْهِ يَرْجِعُونَ means: Ibrāhīm did that to their gods so that they might take a lesson and understand that when these gods could not ward off what Ibrāhīm did to them, they were all the more remote from warding it off from others who wished to do them harm — so that they would turn away from that to which they clung of its worship and would return to that to which he clung of his religion and the oneness of Allah, and the renunciation of the idols (al-awthān).
And in the same manner as we have explained this, the people of interpretation said.
* Mention of who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning لَعَلَّهُمْ إِلَيْهِ يَرْجِعُونَ : he said: he devised this plan against them so that they might come to their senses or to insight.