when they returned they found the idols smashed to pieces. They cried, “Who has done this to our gods?” Some answered, “We heard a youth mentioning them—he is called Abraham.” The exchange that followed between them and Abraham unfolded, and he said, “Rather, it was this, their greatest one, that did it; so ask them, if they can speak!” Of course, that idol had done nothing; it was Abraham, peace be upon him, who had broken them. He made the statement only to challenge those who worship idols. Outwardly these appear to be three lies, yet in truth—and in light of his prophetic interpretation—they were not lies at all. Even so, out of the depth of his piety and modesty before Allah, he will deem it a sin and say, “Myself! Myself! Myself! Go to someone else—go to Moses.”

So they go to Moses and recount his virtues: that Allah spoke to him directly and singled him out above all people with His messages and His speech. Moses, however, will remember a sin and excuse himself. He will recall that he once took a life before receiving permission to do so—the Copt who had been fighting a man from the Children of Israel, while Moses himself was from the Children of Israel and the Copt was of Pharaoh’s folk: “The man from his own people called on him for help against his enemy, so Moses struck him and put an end to him” (Q 28:15). He had not been commanded to kill him, and he sees this as an obstacle that prevents him from interceding for humanity. Therefore he will say, “Myself! Myself! Myself! Go to someone else—go to Jesus.”

They then come to Jesus and recall the favor Allah bestowed upon him: that He breathed into him of His spirit, that he is His word which He cast to Mary, a spirit from Him—for Jesus was created without a father.