Thus, when Abraham—peace be upon him—silenced his people in argument and demonstrated to them through decisive proofs and compelling evidence that Allah alone is truly worthy of worship, and that what they worshipped besides Him were merely idols with no power to bring their worshippers any benefit or ward off any harm, he said: “Do you then worship besides Allah that which can neither benefit you in the least nor harm you? Shame on you and on what you worship besides Allah! Do you not understand?” 1

When the people had been silenced and had no argument with which to counter him, they resorted to force and said: “Burn him and defend your gods, if you are going to act.” 2 Their words demonstrated that they were utterly bereft of proof and argument, as well as the extreme foolishness and baseness of their thinking. How could they worship beings they themselves acknowledged needed their support? They then kindled a tremendous fire and cast Allah’s prophet Abraham—peace be upon him—into it, intending to kill him in the most gruesome manner. When he was cast into the fire, he—peace be upon him—said: “Allah is sufficient for us, and He is the best Disposer of affairs.” Allah then came to the aid of His close friend and said to the fire: “Be cool and safe for Abraham.” 3 And so it was cool and safe for him: no harm befell him, nor did he suffer any injury in it.

Muhammad—peace and blessings be upon him—also said these words when they said: “The people have gathered against you, so fear them.” 4 This occurred after what had happened at Uhud. News reached the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—and his Companions that Abū Sufyān and the polytheists with him had resolved to launch another attack against them. The Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—therefore set out with a group of his Companions until he reached Hamrā al-Asad, about three miles from Medina. Allah cast terror into Abū Sufyān’s heart when the news reached him,