Ibrahim and the Smashed Idols

A high open plain of Mesopotamian alluvial mud-brick city, the temple precinct on a rising platform, the river plain stretching to the horizon. The light is the early morning light after a night of festival; the city is quiet, the temple court empty.

A temple court of fired-brick walls in the Mesopotamian style, lined with niches for idols in graduated sizes. The dawn light enters at a low angle through the eastern entrance; the floor is paved with baked brick.

Across the temple court, idols toppled and broken, heads, limbs, shards of fired clay and painted stone. At the centre, the largest idol of the precinct still standing on its pedestal; the great axe of the high priest leaning against it. The Sunni qisas tradition (Ibn Kathir on Q 21:58, fa-ja'alahum judhadhan illa kabiran lahum) preserves Ibrahim's (peace be upon him) reply when accused: 'Rather, this great one did it, ask them, if they can speak!'

Priests arriving at the entrance in alarm, in long Mesopotamian linen tunics and ritual headcloths; they stop short at the sight of the smashed idols. Their faces are not depicted. The scene is the moment of discovery.

The Qur'anic narrative of Ibrahim (peace be upon him) and the idols is the foundational rejection of shirk in the prophetic tradition; the Sunni tafsir (al-Tabari, Ibn Kathir, al-Qurtubi) treats it as the pivot of the Ibrahimi mission. The breaking of the idols leads to the trial by fire, Q 21:69 qulna ya naru kuni bardan wa-salaman 'ala Ibrahim.

The light is the cool first light after dawn over the Mesopotamian plain. The dating is by anchor: the time of Ibrahim (peace be upon him), conventionally placed in the second millennium BCE in the Sunni qisas tradition; the precise dynasty is not fixed but a Mesopotamian context is consistent with the Sunni narrative.

The narrative is preserved in Q 21:51-67 (the principal Qur'anic passage), Q 6:74-83, Q 19:41-50, Q 37:83-98. The Sunni qisas: Ibn Kathir, Qisas al-Anbiya'; al-Tha'labi, 'Ara'is al-Majalis; al-Tabari's Tarikh opening volumes.

The Qur'an, Surat al-Anbiya' (Q 21:51-67) and parallels: The principal Qur'anic narrative of the smashed idols, including the famous reply at Q 21:63 and the divine command to the fire at Q 21:69. Parallel treatment at Q 6:74-83, Q 19:41-50, Q 37:83-98.

Ibn Kathir, Qisas al-Anbiya' (14th c.): Standard Sunni stories of the prophets. The chapter on Ibrahim (peace be upon him) preserves the narrative in detail.

al-Tha'labi, 'Ara'is al-Majalis fi Qisas al-Anbiya' (early 11th c.): Earlier Sunni qisas compilation.

al-Tabari, Jami' al-Bayan (early 10th c.) and Tarikh al-Rusul wa-al-Muluk: Standard Sunni tafsir and history; cross-references on the narrative and the Mesopotamian context.

Ibn Kathir, Tafsir al-Qur'an al-'Azim (14th c.): Standard Sunni tafsir; the exposition of Q 21 on Ibrahim (peace be upon him) and the idols.