The Quran Verse
Surah 29:24
But the answer of his [Abraham's] people was not except that they said, 'Kill him or burn him.' But Allah saved him from the fire. Indeed in that are signs for a people who believe.
The Relevant Source Text (Jewish Folklore)
Midrash Rabbah (Genesis 38:13):
This 5th-century Jewish commentary tells a story where Nimrod throws Abraham into a "fiery furnace" because Abraham refused to worship idols. Abraham emerges unscathed.
This story is entirely absent from the Hebrew Bible. The Bible states Abraham simply left "Ur of the Chaldeans."
The Error of Translation:
Scholars believe this legend arose from a linguistic mistake. In Hebrew, Ur means "city," but it also means "fire." Later Jewish storytellers misinterpreted "God brought Abraham out of the Ur (city) of the Chaldeans" as "God brought Abraham out of the fire of the Chaldeans."
The Quran adopts this translation error and the resulting folklore as a literal historical event. To the critic, this proves the Quranic author was listening to contemporary Jewish "Sunday school" stories rather than receiving an accurate historical record from a divine source.