In the Qur’an, Prophet Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian. He was
hanifan, a meaningless word which Muslim scholars claim to mean a Muslim in Qur’an 3:67: 67Abraham was not a Jew nor a Nasranyan (Christian), but he was hanifan, a Muslim…. In Qur’an 2:132-133, Abraham advised his sons and Jacob: 132… “O my sons, surely Allah has chosen the religion for you, so do not die except you are Muslims.” 133…They said, “We will serve your god …and to him we are Muslims.”
There are many errors about Abraham found in the Qur’an. In Qur’an 6:74:
And when Abraham said to his father Azar, “Do you take asnam (idols) for gods?”
Genesis 11:31-32 states Abraham’s father was Terah, not Azar. In Qur’an 6:74-83, we also read that Terah and his family were idol worshipers; and after rejecting his father’s idols, Abraham worshiped a star, the moon, and the sun before he worshiped Allah.
A conversation took place between Abraham and his father in Qur’an 19:41-48:
41And remember in the book Abraham, surely he was a friend, a prophet. 42When he said to his father, “O my father, why do you serve that which neither hears nor sees nor profits you anything? 43O my father, surely indeed, some knowledge came to me which has not come to you. So follow me; I will guide you to a straight way. 44O my father, do not serve Satan;…45…surely I fear lest a torment from the merciful touches you,…” 46He said, “Are you forsaking my gods, O Abraham? If you do not stop that, I will stone you, and depart from me for a long time!” 47He said, “Peace be on you. I will ask forgiveness for you from my lord,… 48And I will separate from you and what you call on rather than Allah…”
Here Abraham tried to correct his father about worshiping false gods, told his father that he had more knowledge than he, desired to lead his father to the straight way, and advised his father that if he continued to worship Satan, he would be tormented by Allah. Abraham’s father replied that if Abraham left his gods, he would stone Abraham and leave him. That is a strange statement because if he stoned Abraham, Abraham would be dead. How could Abraham’s father then leave his son? So Abraham said to him, “Peace to you,” and he would seek forgiveness for him. Then Abraham left his father and his gods.
Verse 41 began with, “And remember in the book…” as if Mohammed is reminded by Allah as to how the story is written in the Bible. According to Genesis 11:27-32, this conversation did not occur between Abraham and his father. They lived in Ur and left to go to the land of Canaan. In Haran, Abraham’s father, Terah, died. There was no worship of idols or anything like the words of the Qur’an. Mohammed confused Abraham’s story with Gideon’s story from Judges 6:22-32. It was Gideon, not Abraham, who destroyed the altar of his father.
In Qur’an 21:68-70, Abraham was thrown into the fire because he had destroyed the idols.
68They said, “Burn him, and help your gods if you were doing.” 69We said, “O fire, be cold, and peace on Abraham.” 70And they sought to lay a plot against him,…
Once again, Mohammed confused Abraham with other biblical people. It was Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who were thrown into the fiery furnace, not Abraham (Daniel 3:16-30).
As usual, Muslim scholars tried to help Allah by adding information. According to Ibn Kathir, when some women became sick, they pledged to their gods that if they were healed, they would carry branches to the fire of Abraham. Thus the fire became so large that it was unlike anything ever seen before. Abraham was put into a catapult and thrown into the fire.
According to Ibn Asakir, Akramah said Abraham’s mother asked if his lord would spare her from the heat if she came to him. He said, “Yes.” So she did and no harm came to her from the fire. She hugged and kissed him and then left.
Bukhari said Mohammed stated that all the animals were putting the fire out except the salamanders which he commanded the Muslims to kill because the salamanders were breathing on the fire to accelerate it. Much more has been written about Abraham’s fire, but no Muslim scholar explained what took place after Abraham was put into the fire.
The Qur’an’s Abraham is a fairytale and has nothing to do with the Abraham of the Bible. We encourage you to read the true account of Abraham beginning with Genesis 11. To learn more about the false Abraham of Islam, go to our website and get a copy of
Exposing the Truth about the Qur’an, The Revelation of Error, Volume 1. You can read the entire story in Chapter 7. www.thestraightway.org