وَٱذْكُرْ فِى ٱلْكِتَٰبِ إِبْرَٰهِيمَ إِنَّهُۥ كَانَ صِدِّيقًا نَّبِيًّا · إِذْ قَالَ لِأَبِيهِ يَٰٓأَبَتِ لِمَ تَعْبُدُ مَا لَا يَسْمَعُ وَلَا يُبْصِرُ وَلَا يُغْنِى عَنكَ شَيْـًٔا
"Mention Abraham in the Book too… When he said to his father: 'Father dear! Why do you serve what does not hear, does not see, and is of no use to you at all?'"
| Verse | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 42 | Lima taʿbudu mā lā yasmaʿu wa lā yubṣir — a question |
| 43 | Innī qad jāʾanī mina'l-ʿilmi mā lam yaʾtika — a statement of knowledge |
| 44 | Lā taʿbudi'sh-shayṭān — a prohibition |
| 45 | Innī akhāfu an yamassaka ʿadhābun — fear |
All four open with yā abati — and this is the pattern of the diminutive, of affection (the same pattern was treated for yā bunayya in Luqmān 31/13). The two sūras give the father-son conversation in the same pattern — one from father to son, the other from son to father.
I record this as my own reading: the order of Abraham's sentences is also striking — it begins with a question, continues with knowledge, goes on with a prohibition, and ends with fear. And in none of them is there an accusation.
إِنِّى قَدْ جَآءَنِى مِنَ ٱلْعِلْمِ مَا لَمْ يَأْتِكَ — "there has come to me knowledge that has not come to you."
The fineness of the sentence is worth recording: jāʾanī — "it came to me". The knowledge is thus named not as something he produced but as something that reached him. The same line was treated in al-Aḥqāf 46/9 (in attabiʿu illā mā yūḥā ilayy).
قَالَ أَرَاغِبٌ أَنتَ عَنْ ءَالِهَتِى يَٰٓإِبْرَٰهِيمُ لَئِن لَّمْ تَنتَهِ لَأَرْجُمَنَّكَ وَٱهْجُرْنِى مَلِيًّا
"'Are you turning away from my gods, O Abraham? If you do not desist I shall surely stone you. Keep away from me for a long while!'"
And the form of address changes too: Abraham was saying yā abati (father dear); the father says yā Ibrāhīm. This is a difference that can be verified from the text.
قَالَ سَلَٰمٌ عَلَيْكَ سَأَسْتَغْفِرُ لَكَ رَبِّىٓ … وَأَعْتَزِلُكُمْ وَمَا تَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ
The same attitude was treated in al-Qaṣaṣ 28/55 and al-Furqān 25/63 (salāmun ʿalaykum lā nabtaghi'l-jāhilīn / qālū salāmā). In all three places the separation is sealed with a greeting of peace. I rely on that treatment.
I record this as my own reading: the one expelled departs saying that he will pray for the one who expels him. And the act of parting (aʿtazilukum) is given not as a response to the threat but as his own decision.