26 Preface وَإِذ قالَ إِبراهيمُ لِأَبيهِ وَقَومِهِ إِنَّني بَراءٌ مِمّا تَعبُدونَYusuf AliBehold! Abraham said1 to his father and his people: “I do indeed clear myself of what ye worship:The plea of ancestral ways is refuted by the example of Abraham, in two ways: (1) he gave up the ancestral cults followed by his father and his people, and followed the true Way, even at some sacrifice to himself; and (2) he was an ancestor of the Arabs, and if the Arabs stood on ancestral ways, why should they not follow their good ancestor Abraham, rather than their bad ancestors who fell into evil? See n. 4627 above. The incident in Abraham’s story referred to here will be found in 21:51-70.