Overall meaning : Allah, Exalted and Sublime be He, says: We had bestowed right guidance upon Abraham before Moses and Aaron, and We knew him to be worthy of it. He said to his father and his people, ‘What are these images to which you are so devoted? How can you worship what you yourselves have made?’ They replied, ‘We found our fathers worshipping them, and so we are following their example.’ He said: ‘Then you and your fathers have clearly strayed far away from the truth for worshipping inanimate objects that do nether harm nor good.’ ‘Have you brought us the truth,’ they asked, ‘or are you only jesting?’ ‘Indeed,’ he said, ‘I have come to you with the truth. Your Lord to whom I call you to worship is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. It is He who has created them, and I bear witness to this truth, based on knowledge and conclusive evidence. I swear by Allah that I will devise a plan to destroy your idols after you have turned your backs and gone away.’
Abraham smashed all the idols into small pieces, except for the biggest of them, so that people would return to it and ask it about what had happened, and then realise its helplessness and come to their senses. Abraham’s people returned and, seeing that their idols were totally destroyed and humiliated, they asked one another, ‘Who has done this to our gods?! He must surely be an evil person for having the audacity to disrespect our gods that truly deserve to be revered and respected.’ Those who had heard Abraham swearing that he would destroy their idols said, ‘We heard a young man, called Abraham, speaking ill of them.’ Abraham’s people said to one another. ‘Bring Abraham in the sight of all the people to witness the punishment we will inflict on him.’