[al-Furqan, Mecca 47]

26:69 AND CONVEY unto them 37 the story of Abraham -(26:70) [how it was] when he asked his father and his people, "What is it that you worship?"

(26:71) They answered: "We worship idols, and we remain ever devoted to them." (26:72) Said he: 'Do [you really think that] they hear you when you invoke them, (26:73) or benefit you or do you harm?"

26:74 They exclaimed: "But we found our fore-fathers doing the same!" 38 (26:75) Said [Abraham]: "Have you, then, ever considered what it is that you have been worshipping - (26:76) you and those ancient forebears of yours? (26:77) "Now [as for me, I know that,] verily, these [false deities] are my enemies, [and that none is my helper] save the Sustainer of all the worlds,

(26:78) who has created me and is the One who guides me, (26:79) and is the One who gives me to eat and to drink, (26:80) and when I fall ill, is the One who restores me to health, (26:81) and who will cause me to die and then will bring me back to life - (26:82) and who, I hope, will forgive me my faults on Judgment Day!

Ali’s version

not so the Lord and Cherisher of the Worlds;

الَّذِي خَلَقَنِي فَهُوَ يَهْدِينِ ﴿٧٨﴾

78. "Who created me, and it is He Who guides me;

وَالَّذِي هُوَ يُطْعِمُنِي وَيَسْقِينِ ﴿٧٩﴾

79. "Who gives me food and drink,

وَإِذَا مَرِضْتُ فَهُوَ يَشْفِينِ ﴿٨٠﴾

80. "And when I am ill, it is He Who cures me;

وَالَّذِي يُمِيتُنِي ثُمَّ يُحْيِينِ ﴿٨١﴾

81. "Who will cause me to die, and then to live (again);

وَالَّذِي أَطْمَعُ أَن يَغْفِرَ لِي خَطِيئَتِي يَوْمَ الدِّينِ ﴿٨٢﴾

82. "And Who, I hope, will forgive me my faults on the Day of Judgment...

[[ Asad’s notes -

37 I.e., to the kind of people spoken of in verses 3-8 of this surah.

38 The particle bal at the beginning of the sentence expresses astonishment. Thus, evading a direct answer to Abraham's criticism of idol-worship, his people merely stress its antiquity, forgetting -

as Zamakhshari points out - that "ancient usage and precedence in time are no proof of [a concept's] soundness". Razi, for his part, states that the above verse represents "one of the strongest [Qur'anic] indications of the immorality (fasad) inherent in [the principle of] taqlid", i.e., the blind, unquestioning adoption of religious concepts or practices on the basis of one's uncritical faith in no more than the "authority" of a scholar or religious leader. ]]