1. Integration of Midrash:
The text recounts Abraham evaluating stars, the moon, and the sun as his lord. This does not appear in canonical Genesis, but mirrors Second Temple Jewish apocrypha like Jubilees and The Apocalypse of Abraham, which were written as homiletic tools.
2. Canonizing Folklore:
Polemically, absorbing these midrashic elements indicates reliance on 7th-century oral folklore. By presenting rabbinic teaching parables as literal history, the text canonizes human literary inventions as divine revelation.
3. The Onomastic Error:
The text names Abraham's father "Azar" (6:74), whereas the Hebrew Bible names him Terah. This likely stems from a confusion with Abraham's servant, Eliezer, confirming reliance on secondary oral reports
The Quran Verses
Surah 6:74-78:
And when Abraham said to his father Azar, "Do you take idols as deities? Indeed, I see you and your people to be in manifest error."
So when the night covered him, he saw a star. He said, "This is my lord." But when it set, he said, "I like not those that disappear."
And when he saw the moon rising, he said, "This is my lord." But when it set, he said, "If my Lord does not guide me, I will surely be among the people gone astray."
And when he saw the sun rising, he said, "This is my lord; this is greater." But when it set, he said, "O my people, indeed I am free from what you associate with Allah."
The Relevant Source Text (Jewish Apocrypha / Midrash)
The canonical book of Genesis NEVER records Abraham searching for God by worshiping stars, the moon, or the sun.
This narrative was invented by Jewish rabbis centuries later as a homiletic teaching tool (Haggadah) to explain logically how Abraham rejected his father's idolatry before God formally called him.
The author of the Quran heard these popular Jewish folktales in Arabia and mistakenly recorded them as literal, historical events revealed by the divine, canonizing human folklore as the Word of God.