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Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem
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Translators: Ahmed Ali ● Amatul Rahman Omar ● Daryabadi ● Faridul Haque ● Hamid S. Aziz ● Maulana Mohammad Ali ● Pickthall ● Sarwar ● Shakir ● Yusuf Ali
Recitation by Mishary Al-Alfasy
It is derived from the word zukhruf-an which occurs in verse 33 of this
Surah.
Period of Revelation
It could not be known
from any authentic tradition, but a study of its subject matter shows that this
Surah also was sent down in the same period in which the Surahs Al-Mumin, As-Sajdah
and Ash-Shura, were sent down. It appears that the revelation of this series of
the Surahs began when the disbelievers of Makkah were planning to put an end to
the Holy Prophet's life. Day and night they were holding consultations in their
assemblies as how to eliminate him, and even an attack on his life also had been
made as has been clearly referred to in vv. 79-80.
Theme and
Topics
In this Surah a forceful and severe criticism has been made
of the Quraish and the common Arabs creeds and superstitions of ignorance in
which they persisted, and their stubbornness has been exposed in a firm and
effective way, so that every member of the society, who was reasonable in some
degree, should be made to consider the evils in which the community was involved
and its tyrannical treatment of the person who was trying to redeem it.
The discourse starts in a way as if to say: "You, by means of your mischiefs,
want that the revelation of this Book should be stopped, but Allah has never
withheld the appointment of His Prophets and the revelation of His Books because
of the mischief of the people, but has destroyed the wicked people, who
obstructed the way of His guidance. The same He will do again. A little further
in vv. 41-43 and 79-80 the same thing has been reiterated. Though the people who
were plotting against his life are meant, the Holy Prophet has been addressed to
the effect: "whether you remain alive or not, We will certainly punish the
wicked," and the people themselves have been plainly warned to the effect: "If
you have decided to take an action against Our Prophet, We too will take a
decisive action."
Then, it has been told what is the reality of the
religion that the people are following so devotedly and what are the arguments
on whose strength they are resisting Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace and
Blessings).
They themselves admit that the Creator of the earth and
heavens and of themselves and their deities is only Allah. They also know and
admit that the blessings they are benefiting from, have been bestowed by Allah;
yet they insist on making others associates of Allah in His Godhead.
They
regard the servants as the children of Allah, and that too daughters, whom they
regard as disgraceful for themselves.
They believe that the angels are
goddesses; they have carved their images as females; they adorn them with female
dresses and ornaments, and call them daughters of Allah: they worship them and
invoke them for the fulfillment of their needs. How did they know that the
angels were female?
When they are rebuked for these superstitions, they
present the pretense of destiny and say :"Had Allah disapproved of these our
practices, we could not have worshiped these images, whereas the means of
finding out whether Allah had approved of something or not, are His Books and
not those things which are happening in the world according to His Will. For
under His Will not only idol worship but crimes like theft and adultery,
robbery. murder, etc. also are being committed. Can this argument be used to
justify as right and proper this commission of every crime and evil is the
world?
When it is asked: Have you any other authority, apart from this
wrong argument, for the polytheism of yours? They reply, "The same has been the
practice since the time of our forefathers." In other words, this in their
opinion is a strong enough argument for a creed's being right and true, whereas
the Prophet Abraham, descent from whom is the only basis of their pride and
distinction, had rejected the religion of his elders and left his home, and he
had discarded every such blind imitation of his forefathers, which did not have
the support of any rational argument. Then, if these people had to follow their
elders only, for this also they selected their most ignorant elders and
abandoned their most illustrious elders like the Prophets Abraham and Ishmael
(on whom be peace).
When they are asked: "Has ever a Prophet or a Book
sent down by God also given this teaching that others beside Allah too are
worthy of worship? they present this practice of the Christians as an argument
that they took Jesus son of Mary as son of God and worshiped him; whereas the
question was not this whether the community of a Prophet had committed shirk or
not, but this whether a Prophet had himself taught shirk. Jesus son of Mary had
never said that he was son of God and that the people should worship him. His
own was the same teaching which every other Prophet had given "My Lord as well
as your Lord is Allah: so worship Him alone."
They were disinclined to
believe in the Prophethood of the Holy Prophet because he was neither a rich man
nor a person of high worldly position and rank. They said "Had Allah willed to
appoint a prophet among us, He would have appointed one of the great men of' our
two cities (Makkah and Taif). On that very basis, Pharaoh also had looked down
upon the Prophet Moses and said: "If Allah, the King of the heavens, had to send
a messenger to me, the king of the earth, He would have sent him with bracelets
of gold and a company of angels in attendance. Where from has this mendicant
appeared I am superior to him, for the kingdom of Egypt belongs to me, and the
canals of the River Nile are flowing under my control. What is the status of
this man as against me? He has neither wealth nor authority."
Thus, after
criticizing each practice of ignorance of the disbelievers and rejecting it with
rational arguments, it has been pointed out: "Neither has God any offspring, nor
are there separate gods of the earth and heavens, nor is there any intercessor
who may be able to protect from His punishment those who adopt deviation
knowingly. Allah is far above this that He should have children. He alone is the
God of the whole Universe: all others are His servants and not associates in His
attributes and powers, and only such men can intercede with Him, who are
themselves followers of the Truth and they also can intercede only for those who
may have adopted obedience of the Truth in the world."