Al-An'am · Makki · ayah 76 of 165

Al-An'am 6:76

فَلَمَّا جَنَّ عَلَيْهِ ٱلَّيْلُ رَءَا كَوْكَبًا ۖ قَالَ هَـٰذَا رَبِّى ۖ فَلَمَّآ أَفَلَ قَالَ لَآ أُحِبُّ ٱلْـَٔافِلِينَ

“So when the night covered him [with darkness], he saw a star. He said, "This is my lord."[322] But when it set, he said, "I like not those that set [i.e., disappear]."”

Saheeh International

Essence

Ibrahim's first verdict on the star is not 'that cannot be God' but 'I do not love what sets'.

A reflection

Did a prophet call a star his lord?

The objection is old and honest. Here is Ibrahim, a prophet, looking at a star and saying: this is my lord. Was he, for one night, an idol-worshipper?

The commentaries took the question seriously and divided. One early reading, carried from Ibn Abbas and preferred by one great commentator, sees a real personal search. Ibrahim was reasoning his way through, and the line 'if my Lord does not guide me' in the next ayah shows a man still seeking. Another view, which one major commentary calls the truth of the matter, holds that he was debating his people. He took up their claim in order to take it apart.

The second view has strong supports in the text. The ayah before has just said he was being shown the kingdom so that he would be certain. Before that, he had already told his father that idol-worship was clear error (6:74). One concise commentary adds two words to his sentence: this is my lord, in your claim.

Think of a geology teacher who holds up a glittering lump of rock. Suppose this is gold, she says to the class. Then let us test it like gold. She scratches it across a streak plate and it leaves a black line, not a gold one. Nobody leaves thinking she believed it was gold. They leave knowing how to tell.

What remains open is genuine: the commentators did not all agree. But neither reading has a prophet bowing to a star. One has a seeker refusing to settle on anything that sets. The other has a teacher letting his people watch their god disappear.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.