At this time idolatry was commonly practised by all. Nimrod and his servants Terah and his whole house worshipped images of wood and stone. Terah had not only twelve idols of the twelve months which he adored, but he manufactured images and sold them.
One day, when Terah was absent, and Abraham was left to manage the shop, he thought the time had come when he must make his protest against idolatry. This he did as follows. Every purchaser who came, was asked by Abraham his age; if he answered fifty or sixty years old, Abraham exclaimed, “Woe to a man of such an age who adores the work of one day!” and the purchaser withdrew in shame.
Another version of the incident is more full.
A strong, lusty fellow came one day to buy an idol, the strongest that there was. As he was going away with it, Abraham called after him, “How old are you?”
“Oh, you fool!” said Abraham, “to adore a god younger than yourself.”
“Why, you were born seventy years ago, and this god was made only yesterday.”
Hearing this, the buyer threw the idol away.
Shortly after, an old woman brought a dish of meal to set before the idols. Abraham took it, and then with a stick smashed all the gods except the biggest, into whose hands he placed the stick.
Terah, who was returning home, heard the noise of blows, and quickened his pace. When he entered, his gods were in pieces.
He accused Abraham angrily; but Abraham said, “My father, a woman brought this dish of meal for the gods: they all wanted to have it, and the strongest knocked the heads off the rest, lest they should eat it all.” And this, say the Mussulmans, was the _first_ lie that Abraham told, but it was not a lie, but a justifiable falsehood.
Terah said this could not be true, for the images were of wood and stone.
“Let thine ear hear what thy mouth hath spoken,” said Abraham, and then he exhorted his father against idolatry.
Terah complained to Nimrod, who sent for Abraham, and he said to him, “Wilt thou not worship these idols? Well, then, adore fire.”
“Why not water which quenches fire?” asked Abraham.
_Nimrod._--“Very well; then worship water.”
_Abraham._--“Why not the clouds which swallow the water?”
_Abraham._--“Rather let me adore wind which blows the clouds about.”