“So he reduced them to fragments, except for the largest of them, so that they might return to it. (58) They said, ‘Who has done this to our gods? Indeed, he is surely one of the wrongdoers.’ (59) They said, ‘We heard a young man mentioning them, called Abraham.’ (60) They said, ‘Then bring him before the people’s eyes, so that they may bear witness.’ (61)

Regarding His saying, “So he reduced them to fragments”: Al-Kisa’i recited it as jidhādh, with an i-vowel on the jīm, meaning broken fragments and pieces. It is the plural of jadhīdh (shattered debris), just as khifāf is the plural of khafīf. The others recited it with a u-vowel on the jīm, like ḥuṭām (debris) and rufāt (crumbled remains).

“Except for the largest of them”: he did not break it, but placed the axe around its neck. It was also said that he tied it to its hand. There were seventy-two idols: some made of gold, some of silver, and others of iron, lead, brass, wood, and stone. The largest idol was made of gold and adorned with jewels; in its eyes were two glowing rubies.

Concerning His saying, “so that they might return to it,” it was said that this means: perhaps they would return to his religion and to that which he called them, once they realized the weakness and incapacity of the gods. It was also said: perhaps they would return to it and question it. Thus, when the people returned from their festival to the house of their gods and found their idols reduced to fragments, “they said, ‘Who has done this to our gods? Indeed, he is surely one of the wrongdoers,’” meaning, one of the criminals.

“They said”—that is, those who had heard Abraham say, “By Allah, I shall surely devise a plan against your idols”—“We heard a young man mentioning them”: that is, criticizing and reviling them, “called Abraham.” He is the one whom we believe did this. This news reached Nimrod the tyrant and the leading men of his people.

“They said, ‘Then bring him before the people’s eyes.’” Nimrod said: Bring him openly, in full view of the people, “so that they may bear witness” against him that he was the one who did it. They disliked seizing him without proof. This was said by Al-Hasan, Qatadah, and Al-Suddi. And