He Makes Us Look Stupid

As more people began to come into Islam, the Quraysh began to get worried. And it is very interesting what they said. They said about the Prophet (peace be upon him): he makes us look stupid. Because he was saying: do you worship pieces of wood and stone that cannot hear or speak or benefit you? And so that bothered them.

There is an interesting analogy in the Qurʾān with Ibrāhīm, where there are all these idols that his people worshipped. One night he goes in — he was only about twelve or thirteen — and he smashes all of the idols except for one of them, and he puts the axe in the big one. And then he leaves, and they come back and they find all their idols smashed. So they say: Ibrāhīm was talking about this. They go and get him, and they say: who did this? And he said: ask the big one. And they said: what do you think, that we are stupid? He cannot say anything. And he said: then why are you worshipping it?

And then there is a very interesting verse in the Qurʾān. It says that they became self-reflective:

Very interesting. They became self-reflective. Suddenly they said: he has got a point here. Now, this became troublesome for them, because at that point a window opens, and it can close very quickly. And somebody shouted: get rid of him! And then it becomes a mob scene. Let us not think about this — let us kill him.