His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿They said, 'Who has done this to our gods? Indeed, he is among the wrongdoers.'﴾ ﴿They said, 'We heard a young man mentioning them; it is said that his name is Ibrahim.'﴾ ﴿They said, 'Then bring him before the eyes of the people, perhaps they will testify.'﴾ ﴿They said, 'Did you do this to our gods, O Ibrahim?'﴾ ﴿He said, 'Rather, it was this chief of theirs; ask them if they can speak.'﴾

The meaning: They turned away from their festival and saw what had happened to their gods, and they were astonished by that. At that time, they said: ﴿Who has done this?﴾ in the manner of inquiry and denial. The second 'they said' refers to the weak people who heard Ibrahim, peace be upon him, when he said: ﴿And by Allah, I will surely plan against your idols.﴾ [Al-Anbiya: 57]. There is a difference among the people regarding the reason for raising his saying: 'Ibrahim.' One group said: It is raised by the implication of calling, as if they meant: the one who is called when he is addressed: O Ibrahim. Another group said: Its raising is due to the implied beginning, its meaning being: He is Ibrahim.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: The first is more likely. And the scholar Abu al-Hajjaj al-Ishbili, the knowledgeable, said: It is raised due to negligence.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: When he saw that the reasons for raising did not clarify the meaning they intended, he went to raise it without anything, just as the bare and the detached can be raised without the initiating factors.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: The view with me is that it is a verb whose doer is not named, on the condition that 'Ibrahim' is not indicative of the person, but rather the utterance of it indicates the construction of this word. This is like saying: 'Zayd is of the weight of Fa'l,' or 'Zayd consists of three letters.' Thus, it does not indicate the person but indicates by its utterance the essence of the word itself. And according to this method, you would say: 'I said Ibrahim,' and it would be a valid verb placed in the position of a saying and speech, so it would not be difficult after that to build the action in it for the verb.

'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' And His saying: ﴿upon the eyes of the people﴾ means: in a gathering and in the presence of the public. And His saying: "they witness" it is possible that it is meant by it the testimony against him, meaning by his action or by his words: ﴿I will surely plan against your idols﴾ [Al-Anbiya: 57]. And it is possible that it is meant by it the witnessing, meaning: they witness his punishment or his victory leading to his punishment. The meaning is: Then Ibrahim, peace be upon him, came when he was brought forth and they said to him: Did you do this to the gods? He said to them: Rather, it was done by their chief, this one, as a means of arguing against them. That is, he feared that he would worship alone while the smaller ones worship alongside him, so he did this to them for that reason. And a group, which is the majority, said: This statement was said by Ibrahim, peace be upon him, because it is a lie concerning Allah that leads to the disgrace of a disbelieving people. And the authentic hadith necessitates that, which is the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "Ibrahim did not lie except three lies: his saying: 'Indeed, I am sick' and his saying: 'Rather, it was done by their chief, this one,' and his saying to the king: 'She is my sister.'" Then he addressed the place of their disgrace by his saying: ﴿He said: Rather, it was done by their chief﴾ as a means of stopping them. The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And a group went to deny the lie concerning these statements. And a group said: The meaning of the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "Ibrahim did not lie except three lies..." means he did not say words whose apparent meaning is a lie, or resembles a lie. And they went to interpret these statements, so they interpreted this verse to mean that he intended to attribute the action of the chief to the utterance of the others, as if he said: Rather, he is the doer if these speak, and he did not assert the news that the chief did this. And in the speech, there is precedence - according to this interpretation - in his saying: "So ask them." And Al-Farra' went to another direction by saying: His saying "he did it" is not from the action, (p-178) but rather it is: "So perhaps he did it" in the sense of expectation, the lam was omitted, according to their saying: "Perhaps he" meaning "maybe he." Then the lam was softened. The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And this is an over-exertion.