Abraham and the one who argued with him about his Lord

Sha'rawi reads the verse on the man who argued with Abraham about his Lord as showing that the arguer began the dispute, and that Abraham ended it with a visible sign ^{5 6}.

He declines to name him. He says that if naming him were necessary God would have named him. He reports that some exegetes said he was a king called Nimrud, but holds that naming is not required, because the vagueness covers every time and place ².

He reports that the man claimed to give life and death by sparing or killing prisoners. Abraham did not enter that sophistry, but said that God brings the sun from the east, and the one who disbelieved was confounded ^{6 4}. He holds that causing death is not the same as killing, which is a wound or the breaking of a body ^{3 7}.

The identification with Nimrud is an exegetes' view that Sha'rawi reports, and the sources of that view have not been checked. No academic or non-Sunni view has been checked.