Was Azar the father of Abraham or his uncle, and is it necessary that the fathers of prophets not be disbelievers?

Azar is the name of Prophet Ibrahim’s (peace be upon him) father, as Allah Almighty named him in His Book, and it is not the name of an idol. Al-Tabari favored the view that Azar is his father's name based on Allah Almighty's revelation of it, and that the statement that his name was Tarah does not contradict this, as he might have had two names or one was a nickname. In any case, Ibrahim’s father died as a disbeliever, as is evident from Allah Almighty’s saying: (And Abraham’s prayer for forgiveness for his father was only because of a promise he had made to him. But when it became clear to him that he was an enemy of Allah, he disassociated himself from him) and the Hadith narrated by Al-Bukhari, which mentions that Ibrahim will meet his father on the Day of Resurrection and it will be said to him: "Indeed, I have forbidden Paradise to the disbelievers," and this does not diminish Ibrahim's status.