60:4Al-Mumtahana

Verily there is for you a good example read iswa or uswa in both instances meaning qudwa in the person of Abraham in terms of his sayings and deeds and those who were with him of believers when they said to their people ‘We are indeed innocent of you bura’ā’ is the plural of barī’ similar in form to zarīf ‘charming’ and of what you worship besides God. We repudiate you we disavow you and between us and you there has arisen enmity and hate forever wa’l-baghdā’u abadan pronounce both hamzas fully or replace the second one with a wāw until you come to believe in God alone’ except for Abraham’s saying to his father ‘I shall ask forgiveness for you — this statement is excepted from ‘a good example’ so it is not right for you to follow his example in this respect by asking forgiveness for disbelievers. As for his saying but I cannot avail you anything against God’ — that is either against His chastisement or to secure for you of His reward — he Abraham is using it to intimate to his father that he can do nothing for him other than to ask forgiveness for him which saying is itself based on that former statement albeit excepted from it in terms of what is meant by it even if on the face of it it would seem to be semantically part of the good example to be followed Say ‘Who can avail you anything against God’ Q. 4811; his Abraham’s plea of forgiveness for him was before it became evident to him that he his father was an enemy of God as mentioned in sūrat Barā’a Q. 9114. ‘Our Lord in You we put our trust and to You we turn penitently and to You is the journeying these are the words of the Friend of God Abraham and those who were with him in other words they were saying