Azar (Abraham's father)

Azar is the commonly accepted name of Abraham's father. The verse in question (Qur'an 6:74) has Abraham say to his father "Azar": "Dost thou take idols as gods?", and so Azar is taken as a proper name in apposition to "father". Some commentators, aware that the father's name was Terah, explained Azar as an exclamation of disgust, an abusive epithet, or the name of an idol. The majority held that it is the name of Abraham's father, either a second name for Terah, as Israel was for Jacob, or a title. It is in any case recognised as a foreign word and listed among the mu'arrabat of the Qur'an. ¹

There is little doubt that it is a deformation of the Hebrew Eleazar, the name of Abraham's faithful servant in the Genesis story, which, as the story came to Muhammad, was mistaken for the name of his father. ¹