We gave unto Abraham his direction formerly, _before he had attained to manhood_; and We knew him _to be worthy of it_. When he said unto his father and his people, What are these images, to _the worship of_ which ye are devoted?—they answered, We found our fathers worshipping them, _and we have followed their example_. He said _unto them_, Verily ye and your fathers have been in a manifest error. They said, Hast thou come unto us with truth _in saying this_, or art thou of those who jest? He answered, Nay, your Lord (_the being who deserveth to be worshipped_) is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, who created them, _not after the similitude of anything pre-existing_; and I am of those who bear witness thereof. And, by God, I will assuredly devise a plot against your idols after ye shall have retired, turning your backs.—So, _after they had gone to their place of assembly, on a day when they held a festival_, he brake them in pieces _with an axe_, except the chief of them, _upon whose neck he hung the axe_; that they might return unto it (_namely, the chief_) _and see what he had done with the others_. They said, _after they had returned and seen what he had done_, Who hath done this unto our gods? Verily he is of the unjust.—_And some of them_ said, We heard a young man mention them _reproachfully_: he is called Abraham. They said, Then bring him before the eyes of the people, that they may bear witness _against him of his having done it_. They said _unto him, when he had been brought_, Hast thou done this unto our gods, O Abraham? He answered, Nay, this their chief did it: and ask ye them, if they [can] speak. And they returned unto themselves, _upon reflection_, and said _unto themselves_, Verily ye are the unjust, _in worshipping that which speaketh not_. Then they reverted to their obstinacy, _and said_, Verily thou knowest that these speak not: _then wherefore dost thou order us to ask them?_ He said, Do ye then worship, instead of God, that which doth not profit you at all, nor injure you _if ye worship it not_? Fy on you, and on that which ye worship instead of God! Do ye not then understand?—They said, Burn ye him, and avenge your gods, if ye will do _so_. _So they collected abundance of firewood for him, and set fire to it; and they bound Abraham, and put him into an engine, and cast him into the fire. But, saith God_, We said, O fire, be thou cold, and a security unto Abraham! _So nought of him was burned save his bonds: the heat of the fire ceased, but its light remained; and by God’s saying, Security,—Abraham was saved from dying, by reason of its cold._ And they intended against him a plot; but he caused them to be the sufferers.[212] And We delivered him and Lot, _the son of_ _his brother Haran, from El-´Eráḳ_, [bringing them] unto the land which we blessed for the peoples, _by the abundance of its rivers and trees, namely, Syria. Abraham took up his abode in Palestine, and Lot