'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' His saying, the Exalted and Majestic: "Or do you have a house made of gold, or do you ascend into the sky? And we will never believe in your ascension until you bring down to us a book that we may read." Say, "Glorified is my Lord! Am I anything but a human being, a messenger?" And what has prevented the people from believing when guidance has come to them except that they said, "Has Allah sent a human being as a messenger?" Say, "If there were on the earth angels walking securely, We would have sent down to them from the heaven an angel as a messenger." The commentators said: "Zukhruf" refers to gold in this context, and "zukhraf" is what you adorn with, whether it is with gold or otherwise. Among it is: "Until when the earth has taken on its adornment" [Yunus: 24]. And in the recitation of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, it is "Or do you have a house made of gold?" And His saying: "In the sky" means: in the air, elevated. The Arabs call the air elevation "sama'" because it is in the realm of height. It is possible that they mean the known sky, which is the apparent meaning; because He informed them that the God of creation is in it, and that news of it comes to Him. And "tarqi" means: you ascend, and "ruqy" is the act of ascending. It is narrated that the one who said this statement is Abdullah ibn Abi Umayyah, for he said to the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him: 'We will not believe you until you bring us a book' - he meant here his book - 'from Allah, the Exalted and Majestic, to Abdullah ibn Abi Umayyah.' It has been narrated that their group requested this from him, so Allah, the Exalted, commanded him to say: "Glorified is my Lord," meaning: to declare Him free from coming with the angels in person, and from addressing you with a book as you wanted, and from my proposing these things to Him. Am I anything but a human being like you, sent to you with the Shari'ah? My duty is only to convey. Ibn Kathir and Ibn Amir read: "He said, 'Glorified is my Lord,'" meaning reporting about the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, that he glorified when they said this. And His saying, the Exalted and Majestic: "And what has prevented the people from believing..." This verse is in the sense of reproach and longing from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, as if he is saying, astonished by them: What has prevented the people from believing when guidance has come to them except this trivial excuse and the rejection that does not rely on evidence? The sending of human beings as messengers is neither unprecedented nor strange; through it understanding occurs and the ability to reflect is established. Just as if there were angels on the earth residing in it, "mutma'in" means: peaceful in it, residing, then the messenger to them would be from the angels, to facilitate understanding. However, if a human were sent to them, their nature would recoil from seeing him, and their eyes would not be able to bear him, nor would their hearts be able to endure him. Indeed, Allah has made their conditions consistent with their usual state.