43. Surah Zukhruf(Gold)
Mecca 63 [89 verses]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
حم
﴿١﴾
43: 1. Ha Mim.
C4604. These Abbreviated Letters are discussed in Introduction to Surah 40.
وَالْكِتَابِ
الْمُبِين ِ﴿٢﴾
43: 2. By the Book that makes things clear --
إِنَّا
جَعَلْنَاهُ
قُرْآنًا عَرَبِيًّا
لَّعَلَّكُمْ
تَعْقِلُونَ
﴿٣﴾
43: 3. We have made it a Qur'án in Arabic, that ye may be able to understand (and learn wisdom).
وَإِنَّهُ
فِي أُمِّ الْكِتَابِ
لَدَيْنَا
لَعَلِيٌّ
حَكِيمٌ
﴿٤﴾
43: 4. And verily, it is in the Mother of the Book, in Our Presence, high (in dignity), full of wisdom.
C4606. Cf. 3:7, n. 347: and 13:39, n. 1864.
The Mother of the Book, the Foundation of Revelation, the Preserved Tablet (Lauh Mahfuz. 85:22), is the core or essence of revelation, the original principle or fountain-head of Allah's Eternal and Universal Law. From this fountain-head are derived all streams of knowledge and wisdom, that flow through Time and feed the intelligence of created minds.
The Mother of the Book is in Allah's own Presence, and its dignity and wisdom are more than all we can think of in the spiritual world.
أَفَنَضْرِبُ
عَنكُمُ الذِّكْرَ
صَفْحًا أَن
كُنتُمْ قَوْمًا
مُّسْرِفِينَ
﴿٥﴾
43: 5. Shall We then take away the Message from you and repel (you), for that ye are a people transgressing beyond bounds?
C4607. In vouchsafing Revelation, what an inestimable Mercy has Allah conferred on mankind! Yet so many deluded souls are ungrateful, and ignore or oppose its teaching. If it were not for His attributes of Forgiveness and Forbearing He would be justified in withdrawing that Light, but He continues to shed it, that all who will may come and be blessed by it.
وَكَمْ
أَرْسَلْنَا
مِن نَّبِيٍّ
فِي الْأَوَّلِينَ
﴿٦﴾
43: 6. But how many were the prophets We sent amongst the peoples of old?
C4608. In spite of, or because of, man's obstinate and rebellious nature, Allah sent prophet after prophet to the peoples of old, but there was among them always a party that ridiculed them and treated Allah's Signs as naught.
وَمَا
يَأْتِيهِم
مِّن نَّبِيٍّ
إِلَّا كَانُوا
بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِؤُون
﴿٧﴾
43: 7. And never came there a prophet to them but they mocked him.
فَأَهْلَكْنَا
أَشَدَّ مِنْهُم
بَطْشًا وَمَضَى
مَثَلُ الْأَوَّلِينَ
﴿٨﴾
43: 8. So We destroyed (them) -- stronger in power than these -- and (thus) has passed on the Parable of the peoples of old.
C4609. The result of rebellion was destruction. And the pagan Makkan generation contemporary with the Prophet are reminded that the peoples of old who were destroyed were, many of them, more powerful than they, and that they, in disobeying Allah's Law, were inviting the same fate for themselves. The events of the past have become examples for the present and the future.
Asad’s Version:
43:1 Ha. Mim 1
CONSIDER this divine writ, clear in itself and clearly showing the truth: 2
(43:3) behold, We have caused it to be a discourse in the Arabic tongue, so that you might encompass it with your reason. 3
(43:4) And, verily, [originating as it does] in the source, with Us, of all
revelation, 4 it is indeed sublime, full of wisdom.
43:5 [O YOU who deny the truth!] Should We, perchance, withdraw this reminder from you
altogether, seeing that you are people bent on wasting your own selves? 5
43:6 And how many a prophet did We send to people of olden times!
(43:7) But never yet came a prophet to them without their deriding him –
(43:8) and so, [in the end,] We destroyed them [even though they were] of greater might than these: 6 and the [very] image of those people of old became a thing of the past.
1 See Appendix II.
2 Regarding this rendering of the term mubin, see note 2 on 12:1.
3 See note 3 on 12:3.
4 Cf. last clause of 13:39 - "with Him ('indahu) is the source (umm) of all revelation". The term umm (lit., "mother") has often the idiomatic connotation of "origin" or "source" (asi), and sometimes - as in 3 :7 - of "essence". In the present context, only the former meaning is applicable. See also note 1 1 on the last verse of surah 85.
5 For this rendering of the term musrif, see note 21 on the last sentence of 10:12. The above rhetorical question answers itself, of course, in the negative - implying that God never ceases to "remind" the sinner through His revelations, and always accepts repentance.
6 I.e., than the people addressed in verse 5 above.