Tafsir of Al-An'am 6:74

{آزر}: The name of the father of Abraham, peace be upon him. In history books, his name in Syriac is Tāriḥ. It is more likely that the form {آزر} is a fāʿil pattern, like Tāriḥ, ʿĀbar, ʿĀzar, Shālikh, Fāligh, and similar names from their language. It is an appositive (ʿaṭf bayān) for "his father." It has been recited as {آزرُ} with a ḍamma as a vocative. It is also said that {آزر} is the name of an idol, and he may have been nicknamed by it because he was devoted to its worship, just as the son of Qays was nicknamed "al-Ruqayyāt" because of the women he used to compose poetry about. In the poetry of some moderns: I am called by names as nicknames among their tribes, As if the names remained after my own names. Or, it may mean "the worshiper of Āzar," where the possessor (muḍāf) is omitted and the possessed (muḍāf ilayh) takes its place. It has been recited as {أَأَزَرُ} (with an interrogative hamza, a fatḥa or kasra, a silent zāy, and a tanwin-marked rāʾ), meaning "Do you worship Āzar?" as a denial. Then he said: {تَتَّخِذُ أَصْنَامًا آلِهَةً} to confirm and establish that, which falls under the ruling of denial because it acts as an explanation for it.

{فَلَمَّا جَنَّ عَلَيْهِ الَّيْلُ}: Conjoined to "Abraham said to his father." The statement {وَكَذَلِكَ نُرِي إِبْرَاهِيمَ} is a parenthetical sentence between the conjunction and the conjoined. The meaning is: Just as we defined and enlightened him, we show Abraham and enlighten him regarding the dominion (malakūt) of the heavens and the earth—meaning Lordship and Divinity—and we grant him success in knowing them, guide him through what we have expanded his breast for, strengthened his vision, and guided him to the path of reasoning. {وَلِيَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُوقِنِينَ}: We did that.

{وَنُرِي}: A narrative of a past state. His father and his people used to worship idols, the sun, the moon, and the stars. He wanted to alert them to the error in their religion, guide them to the path of reflection and reasoning, and inform them that correct reasoning leads to the fact that none of them can be a god, due to the evidence of their created nature (ḥudūth). There is a Creator behind them who brought them into existence, a Maker who fashioned them, and a Disposer who managed their rising, setting, movement, and all their states.

{هَذَا رَبِّي}: The speech of one who is fair to his opponent despite knowing they are in the wrong; he narrates their statement as it is, without being biased toward his own doctrine, because that is more inviting to the truth and safer from contention. Then, after narrating it, he turns against it to invalidate it with proof.

{لَا أُحِبُّ الْآفِلِينَ}: I do not love the worship of lords who change from one state to another, who move from one place to another, and who are hidden by a veil, for these are attributes of physical bodies.

{بَازِغًا}: Beginning to rise.

{لَئِن لَّمْ يَهْدِنِي رَبِّي}: An alert to his people that whoever takes the moon as a god—which is like the star in its setting—is astray, and that guidance to the truth is by the success and grace of God.

{هَذَا أَكْبَرُ}: Also from the method of using fairness with his opponents.

{إِنِّي بَرِيءٌ مِّمَّا تُشْرِكُونَ}: From the physical bodies that you make partners to their Creator.

{إِنِّي وَجَّهْتُ وَجْهِيَ لِلَّذِي فَطَرَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ}: That is, to the One to whom these created things point, and that He is their Originator and Creator. It is said: This was his reflection and reasoning within himself, which God then narrated. The first view is more apparent due to his saying: {لَئِن لَّمْ يَهْدِنِي رَبِّي} and his saying: {قَالَ يَا قَوْمِ إِنِّي بَرِيءٌ مِّمَّا تُشْرِكُونَ}.

If you ask: Why did he argue against them using the "setting" (afūl) rather than the "rising" (buzūgh), when both are a transition from one state to another? I say: Arguing with the "setting" is more apparent, because it is a transition accompanied by concealment and veiling.

If you ask: What is the reason for the masculine gender in his saying {هَذَا رَبِّي} while the reference is to the sun? I say: He made the subject (mubtadaʾ) like the predicate (khabar) because they both refer to the same thing, like their saying: "What has your need come?" and "Who was your mother?" and {لَمْ تَكُن فِتْنَتُهُمْ إِلَّا أَن قَالُوا}. Choosing this method was necessary to protect the Lord from the suspicion of femininity. Do you not see that they said regarding the attribute of God {عَلَّام} and did not say {عَلَّامَة}, even though ʿallāma is more emphatic, to avoid the feminine marker?

It has been recited as {تُرِي إِبْرَاهِيمَ مَلَكُوتَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ} with a tāʾ and the malakūt in the nominative case. Its meaning is: You show him the proofs of Lordship.