﴿ قَالُوا۟ مَن فَعَلَ هَٰذَا بِـَٔالِهَتِنَآ إِنَّهُۥ لَمِنَ ٱلظَّٰلِمِينَ ﴾

“[When they saw what had happened,] they said: “Who has done this to our gods? Verily, one of the worst wrongdoers is he!””

The next day when the people entered the temple and saw their deities broken to pieces, they were shocked. They eventually discovered that it was the handiwork of a young man who had deviated from their ancestral religion and spoken against it. While demolishing the deities, Abraham had purposely spared the tallest one. When he was called by the people and enquiries were made of him, he pointed out that the big deity was still there, untouched and intact, and that people might put their questions to it. He said that if the big deity was god, then let it explain how the other deities had come to this pass. Although Abraham did not answer their questions directly, it was his indirect statement that sufficed to convey his message effectively. This shows that sometimes indirect speech is more effective than direct speech.