Surah Az-Zukhruf

Ayahs

89

Revelation Place

Mecca

Name

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."