43. Surah Zukhruf(Gold)
Mecca 63 [89 verses]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَإِذْ
قَالَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ
لِأَبِيهِ
وَقَوْمِهِ
...
43: 26. Behold! Abraham said to his father and his people:
C4630. The plea of ancestral ways is refuted by the example of Abraham, in two ways:
- he gave up the ancestral cults followed by his father and people, and followed the true Way, even at some sacrifice to himself; and
- he was an ancestor of the Arabs, and if the Arabs stood on ancestral ways, why should they not follow their good ancestor Abraham, rather than their bad ancestors who fell into evil? See n. 4627 above.
The incident in Abraham's story referred to here will be found in 21:51-70.
... إِنَّنِي بَرَاء مِّمَّا تَعْبُدُونَ ﴿٢٦﴾
"I do indeed clear myself of what ye worship:
إِلَّا
الَّذِي
فَطَرَنِي
فَإِنَّهُ
سَيَهْدِينِ
﴿٢٧﴾
43: 27. "(I worship) only Him Who made me, and He will certainly guide me."
وَجَعَلَهَا
كَلِمَةً بَاقِيَةً
فِي عَقِبِهِ
لَعَلَّهُمْ
يَرْجِعُونَ
﴿٢٨﴾
43: 28. And he left it as a Word to endure among those who came after him, that they may turn back (to Allah).
C4631. A Word: i.e., the Gospel of Unity, viz.,: "I worship only Him who originated me", as in verse 27. This was his teaching, and this was his legacy to those who followed him. He hoped that they would keep it sacred, and uphold the standard of Unity.
Cf. 37:108-111.
بَلْ
مَتَّعْتُ
هَؤُلَاء وَآبَاءهُمْ
حَتَّى جَاءهُمُ
الْحَقُّ وَرَسُولٌ
مُّبِينٌ
﴿٢٩﴾
43: 29. Yea, I have given the good things of this life to these (men) and their fathers, until the Truth has come to them, and a Messenger making things clear.
C4632. Note the first person singular, as showing Allah's personal solicitude and care for the descendants of Abraham in both branches.
The context here refers to the prosperity enjoyed by Makkah and the Makkans until they rejected the truth of Islam when it was preached in their midst by a messenger whose Message was as clear as the light of the sun.
وَلَمَّا
جَاءهُمُ الْحَقُّ
قَالُوا هَذَا
سِحْرٌ وَإِنَّا
بِهِ كَافِرُونَ
﴿٣٠﴾
43: 30. But when the Truth came to them, they said:
"This is sorcery, and We do reject it."
C4633. When the pagan Makkans could not understand the wonderful power and authority with which the holy Prophet preached, they called his God given influence sorcery!
Asad’s Version:
43:26 AND WHEN Abraham spoke to his father and his people, [he had this very truth in mind: 25 ] "Verily, far be it from me to worship what you worship!
(43:27) None [do I worship] but Him who has brought me into being: and, behold, it is He who will guide me!"
(43:28) And he uttered this as a word destined to endure among those who would come after him, so that they might [always] return [to it].
43:29 Now [as for those who did come after him,] I allowed them - as [I had allowed) their forebears - to enjoy their lives freely until the truth should come unto them through an apostle who would make all things clear: 26
(43:30) but now that the truth has come to them, they say, "All this is mere spellbinding " eloquence - and, behold, we deny that there is any truth in it!"
[[Asad’s notes - 22 For this rendering of the term mutraf (derived from the verb tarafa), see note 1 47 on 1 1 : 1 1 6.
23 Commenting on this passage, Razi says: "Had there been in the Qur'an nothing but these verses, they would have sufficed to show the falsity of the principle postulating [a Muslim's] blind, unquestioning adoption of [another person's] religious opinions (ibtal al-qawl bi't-taqlid): for, God has made it clear [in these verses] that those deniers of the truth had not arrived at their convictions by way of reason, and neither on the clear authority of a revealed text, but solely by blindly adopting the opinions of their forebears and predecessors; and all this God has mentioned in terms of blame
and sharp disparagement. "
24 Whereas in some of the readings of the Qur'an the opening word of this verse is vocalized as an imperative, qui ("say"), the reading of Hafs ibn Sulayman al-Asadi - on which this translation is based - gives the pronounciation qala ("lie said" or, since it is a repeated occurrence, "he would
25 Namely, the inadmissibility of blindly accepting the religious views sanctioned by mere ancestral tradition and thus prevalent in one's environment, and regarding them as valid even though they may conflict with one's reason andlor divine revelation. Abraham's search after truth is mentioned
several times in the Qur'an, and particularly in 6:74 if. and 21:51 ff.
26 I.e., God did not impose on them any moral obligations before making the meaning of right and wrong clear to them through a revealed message. Primarily, this is an allusion to the pagan contemporaries of the Prophet, and to the prosperity which they had been allowed to enjoy for a long time (cf 21 :44); in its wider sense, however, this passage implies that God would never call people to task for any wrong they may have done so long as they have not been clearly shown howto discriminate between good and evil (cf. 6:131-132).
27 See note 12 on 74:24, where this connotation of sihr appears for the first time in the course of Qur'anic revelation. ]]