So they kindled an extraordinarily huge fire and flung him into it. While he was in the very midst of the flames he said, “Allah is sufficient for me, and He is the best Guardian.” Thereupon Allah said to the fire, “O fire, be coolness and safety for Abraham” (21:69); it did him no harm at all (1).

They had contrived this plot against him in order to champion their idols and to implant in their own hearts—and in the hearts of their followers—submission and veneration for them. Yet their scheming recoiled upon them, and what they thought was a defense of their gods turned into an overwhelming victory (2) over them, witnessed by everyone present and absent, by all who were alive then and all who would come later.

In this way Allah’s intimate friend, Abraham, triumphed over both elite and commoner, ruler and subject alike. Even their king disputed with Abraham about his Lord, in arrogance and tyranny, “because Allah had granted him sovereignty” (2:258). Abraham said, “My Lord is the One who gives life and causes death.” The king replied, “I too give life and cause death.” Abraham then compelled him to pursue his claim to its logical conclusion, saying, “Allah brings the sun from the east; so bring it from the west.” The disbeliever was dumbfounded, and Allah does not guide a wrongdoing people (2:258).