Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: “They said, ‘Build for him a structure and throw him into the Fire. So they plotted against him, but We made them the lower ones.’”

They said, meaning some of them said to others. This is the beginning of today’s lesson. Some of them said to others, “Build for him a structure.” If the command here is from the leaders, it is a genuine command. If it is from non-leaders, or from some leaders to others, it is a command of advice and commitment, not a command of compulsion. This is because a command of compulsion is only from the superior to the one below him. They said, “Build for him a structure.” The lam (for) here is not for ownership, but for causation, meaning build a structure for his sake. They built this structure in order to fill it with firewood and then light it against Ibrahim. So they built a structure for him and prepared the fire in the firewood, as some of them advised others. Then they said, “Throw him into the Fire.”