52 Preface إِذ قالَ لِأَبيهِ وَقَومِهِ ما هٰذِهِ التَّماثيلُ الَّتي أَنتُم لَها عاكِفونَYusuf AliBehold! he said to his father and his people,1 “What are these images, to which ye are (so assiduously) devoted?”Reference is made to Abraham in many places. In 19:42-49 it was with reference to his relations to his father: the problem was how a righteous man should deal with his father, when his duty to his father conflicts with his duty to God. Here the problem is: how a righteous man should deal with evil and overcome it; how he should fight against evil, and if he is subjected to the fire of persecution, how his firmness draws God’s Mercy, and the very trouble he is placed in becomes his comfort and joy.