'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful'

Tafsir of Surah Az-Zukhruf

This surah is Meccan, by consensus of the people of knowledge.

His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿Ha-Mim﴾ ﴿By the clear Book﴾ ﴿Indeed, We have made it an Arabic Qur'an so that you may understand﴾ ﴿And indeed, it is in the Mother of the Book with Us, exalted and wise﴾ ﴿So, should We turn away from you the reminder because you are a transgressing people?﴾ ﴿And how many a prophet We sent among the former peoples﴾ ﴿And no prophet came to them except that they were ridiculing him﴾ ﴿So We destroyed those who were stronger than them in power, and the example of the former peoples has passed﴾ ﴿And if you were to ask them who created the heavens and the earth, they would surely say, 'They were created by the Exalted in Might, the Knowing'﴾

The discussion of the letters has preceded in the beginnings of the surahs. And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿'By the clear Book'﴾ is a genitive construction with the waw of oath. And ﴿'the clear'﴾ may be derived from 'abana', which means 'to appear', so it does not require an object. It may also be derived from 'bana', in which case an object is necessary, which could be: 'the clear guidance' or 'the law' or something similar.

And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿Indeed, We have made it﴾ means: We have named it and made it. This is a statement upon which the oath has been placed, and the pronoun in ﴿'We have made it'﴾ refers back to: 'the Book'. And ﴿'Arabic'﴾ means: in your language, so that you have no excuse left. And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿so that you may﴾ is a hope according to the belief of humans, meaning: if the perceiver among humans sees this action from Us, he hopes to understand the words and comprehend.

And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿And indeed, it﴾ is a conjunction to His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿Indeed, We have made it﴾, and this second statement is also under the oath. And ﴿'the Mother of the Book'﴾ refers to the Preserved Tablet, and this is an honor for the Qur'an and an elevation. The interpreters have differed on how it is in 'the Mother of the Book'. Qatadah, Ikrimah, As-Suddi, and Atiyyah ibn Sa'id said: The Qur'an in its entirety is inscribed there, and it is there that Gabriel, blessings and peace be upon him, descends, and there it is exalted and wise. The majority of the people said: It is only mentioned in the Preserved Tablet, along with its rank and status of exaltation and wisdom. The majority of the people read: ﴿'in the Mother of the Book'﴾ with a pronounced hamzah, while Yusuf, the governor of Iraq, and Isa ibn Umar read it with a broken hamzah.

And His saying, exalted is He: "Shall we strike?" means: Shall we leave? The Arabs say: 'Aḍrabāt 'an kadhā' and 'ḍarabāt' if they turned away and left it. And "the reminder" is the call to Allah, exalted is He, and the reminder of His punishment and the warning of His retribution. Abu Salih said: "The reminder" here is the punishment itself. Mujahid and al-Dahhak said: "The reminder" is the Qur'an. And His saying, exalted is He: "A pardon" means its standing is like the standing of "the work of Allah" [An-Naml: 88]. It is possible that it means the pardon and forgiveness for sin. So it is as if He, exalted is He, is saying: Shall we leave your reminder and your warning as a pardon for you and forgiveness for your transgressions because you were, or because you were a people extravagant? This is not appropriate, and this is the saying of Ibn Abbas and Mujahid. It is possible that His saying, exalted is He: "A pardon" means: neglected, meaning we leave it to pass without you taking it with acceptance or reflection, nor being alerted to it. This meaning is similar to the saying of the poet:

The breeze passes by the dweller of the thicket, And my heart aches that its gusts should blow.

Meaning: It passes neglected. So it is as if this meaning is: Shall we leave you aimless? This is the view of Qatadah and others. And from the wording is the saying of Kuthayyir:

Pardoned, so you do not meet except with a miserly one, So whoever grows weary of that connection, it wearies him.

And al-Samit ibn Amr and al-Sudusi read: "Ṣufḥan" with a damm on the ṣād.

And Nafi', Hamzah, and al-Kisai read: "If you were" with a kasra on the alif, which is a response that indicates what has preceded regarding its answer. And the rest, al-A'raj, and Qatadah read: "That you were" with a fatḥ on the alif, meaning: because you were. And in the reading of Ibn Mas'ud: "When you were." And "extravagance" in the verse is disbelief and far deviation in the worship of others besides Allah, exalted is He, and associating partners with Him.

And His saying, exalted is He: "And how many messengers have We sent among the former peoples"—the verses are a consolation for Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, and mentioning him is an example for him and a warning for them, threatening that what befell those who were stronger than them would befall them. And "the former peoples" are the past nations, like the people of Noah, 'Aad, Thamud, and others. And the pronoun in His saying, exalted is He: "They used to mock him" appears to be general, but what is meant is specific to those who mocked, otherwise there were among the former peoples those who did not mock. And the pronoun in "from them" refers back to Quraysh. And His saying, exalted is He: "And the example of the former peoples has passed" means: Their affair has preceded and their way has become a lesson throughout time.

And His saying, exalted is He: "And if you ask them"—the verse begins a proof against Quraysh that necessitates contradiction in their matter, as they acknowledge that the Creator who brought them and the heavens and the earth into existence is Allah, exalted is He, and yet they worship idols and call them their gods. The expected response from Quraysh would be: "Allah created them." So when He, exalted is He, mentioned the meaning, the expression about Allah came with "the Exalted, the All-Knowing" to prepare for what He later enumerated of His attributes, which He began to inform about and cut off from the speech that He related about Quraysh.