The Stars, the Moon and the Sun

The account, then, is that he saw the stars and thought that these might be God — or said that these might be God. And then, when they vanished: how can that be God? They vanished. Then he saw the moon, somewhat brighter and larger: this might be God, he says. And here too there is a lesson for all who listen. And at length he lifts his hands — not literally lifting them, but so the expression goes — and says: if Allah does not guide me… if my Lord does not guide me. He does not yet call Him Allah, perhaps because it is a step-by-step matter. One does not know Him yet. One knows Him as one's Lord, having worked out that there must be a single Creator of the earth, and that He is the One who cares for everything upon it. That is to say He is Rabb; and that is what Rabb means: the One who cares for. For when a man looks about the world and sees how it has been cared for, there must be a Murabbī, a Rabb. Hence it is rationally easier to conceive of a Lord and a Creator — a Caretaker, an Administrator — than of Allah; for though that is Allah, Allah is a most comprehensive notion, not to be worked out at once. In the end it all leads to Allah, to who Allah is; but the aspect, the attribute, is the Rabb, or the Khāliq, or the Qādir — the One who has power over everything, or the One who knows everything. That much may be worked out by reason.

So he says: if my Lord does not guide me, I shall be among those who are misled. Then he sees the sun in all its glory — to give it in a paraphrase, for ease: this must be my Lord; this is the greatest of them all. But when that too vanished — as it vanishes every day, from which one may tell that this seems to be a theological exercise — then he says innī wajjahtu. That is pure monotheism. This expression is among its highest:

It is called the duʿāʾ al-tawajjuh; some recite it at the beginning of the prayer, or before it. It is to say: I turn my face towards Him who created the heavens and the earth, cutting away from all lords but Him — ḥanīfan wa-mā ana min al-mushrikīn.

Then, in verse 80, his people disputed with him:

And his whole answer is given there. And then it is said wa-tilka ḥujjatunā: that is the evidence We gave — the understanding and the evidence We gave to Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him), in verse 83:

And We raise in degree whom We will.