Holy Carp!

Muslim legend has it that the local Assyrian king, Nimrod (that's right), was mad because Abraham was kicking ass on some of the local pagan gods, so he captured him and tried to burn him to death on the biggest hill in Urfa. But God turned the fire into water, and the coals to fish (hence the fish above - if you catch them, supposedly you'll go blind).

Nimrod didn't give up though, and apparently he made a giant slingshot out of two pillars (below) and shot Abe over the edge. Naturally, he landed safely in a bed of roses - apparently they were thornless. I'm not sure if he just waved and walked away or not, but I'll try to figure out the rest of the story.

Another side mention of this dispute is from the 6th century Jewish Bereshith Rabba (Chapter 38, 13):

(...) He [Abraham] was given over to Nimrod. [Nimrod] told him: Worship the Fire! Abraham said to him: Shall I then worship the water, which puts out the fire? Nimrod told him: Worship the water! [Abraham] said to him: If so, shall I worship the cloud, which carries the water? [Nimrod] told him: Worship the cloud! [Abraham] said to him: If so, shall I worship the wind, which scatters the clouds? [Nimrod] said to him: Worship the wind! [Abraham] said to him: And shall we worship the human, who withstands the wind? Said [Nimrod] to him: You pile words upon words, I bow to none but the fire - in it shall I throw you, and let the God to whom you bow come and save you from it!
Haran [Abraham's brother] was standing there. He said [to himself]: what shall I do? If Abraham wins, I shall say: "I am of Abraham's [followers]," if Nimrod wins I shall say "I am of Nimrod's [followers]." When Abraham went into the furnace and survived, Haran was asked: "Whose [follower] are you?" and he answered: "I am Abraham's!" [Then] they took him [Haran] and threw him into the furnace, and his belly opened and he died and predeceased Terach, his father.

Tomorrow, I'm trying to visit a mountain with a gaggle of gigantic stone heads (and their bodies are lying on the ground next to them after being toppled by an earthquake) at Nemrut Dağı.