46 Preface قالَ أَراغِبٌ أَنتَ عَن آلِهَتي يا إِبراهيمُ ۖ لَئِن لَم تَنتَهِ لَأَرجُمَنَّكَ ۖ وَاهجُرني مَلِيًّاYusuf Ali(The father) replied: “Dost thou hate my gods, O Abraham? If thou forbear not, I will indeed stone thee: Now get away from me for a good long while!”1Note the gentle persuasive tone of Abraham in his speeches in 19:42-45 (for we may suppose those sentences to sum up a long course of arguments) and in 19:47-48, contrasted with the brusque and repellent tone of the father’s reply in this verse. The one was the outcome of the true Light which had come to Abraham from God, as the other was the outcome of Pagan arrogance and the worship of brute force. The spiritual lesson from this episode of Abraham’s life may be stated in four propositions: (l) the pious son is dutiful to his father and wishes him well in all things, material and spiritual; (2) if the father refuses God’s Light, the son will do his utmost to bring such Light to the father; (3) having received the Light, the son will never renounce that Light, even if he has to forfeit his father’s love and renounce his home; (4) even if the father repels him and turns him out, his answer will be a soft answer, full of love and forgiveness on the one hand, but firmness on behalf of Truth on the other.