Maryam · Makki · ayah 42 of 98

Maryam 19:42

إِذْ قَالَ لِأَبِيهِ يَـٰٓأَبَتِ لِمَ تَعْبُدُ مَا لَا يَسْمَعُ وَلَا يُبْصِرُ وَلَا يُغْنِى عَنكَ شَيْـًٔا

“[Mention] when he said to his father, "O my father, why do you worship that which does not hear and does not see and will not benefit you at all?”

Saheeh International

Essence

Ibrahim opens with 'O my father' and a question: why worship what cannot hear you, see you, or help you at all?

A reflection

He began with 'my father', and with a question

The popular picture of Ibrahim is the young man with an axe in the temple. Bold, defiant, contemptuous of idols. That Ibrahim exists. But this surah introduces a different one, and the difference is in the first two words.

Yā abati: O my father. One spiritual writer notices what Ibrahim did not do. He did not call his father by his name. He began with the bond itself, the word that shows respect. Then he did not command. He did not say 'do not worship'. He asked: lima taʿbud, why do you worship?

A question leaves the other person their dignity. It invites them to examine their own reasons rather than defend themselves against yours. A command, however true, closes the door.

One classical commentator steps back to see the whole conversation. Ibrahim makes four appeals in the next four ayat. Each one opens with 'yā abati', to draw his father close and soften him. The commentator marvels at how he ordered his words: with courtesy, gentleness, kindness, softness and beautiful manners, though his father's error was enormous.

Now hear it as the Makkans did. They kept idols in and around the Kaaba. They revered Ibrahim as their ancestor. And here is that ancestor, speaking to his own idol-worshipping father, with tenderness. The question was asked of Azar. It landed on every listener who had an idol at home.

The content of the question is devastating. The tone is a son's. That combination is what makes this conversation the model it became.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.