Surah 43. Az-Zukhruf

Or [do you think], perchance, that out of all His creation He has chosen for Himself daughters, and favoured you with sons?¹⁴

  - Mohammad Asad

It should be remembered that the people thus addressed were the pagan Arabs, who believed that some of their goddesses, as well as the angels, were "God's daughters". In view of the fact that those pre-Islamic Arabs regarded daughters as a mere liability and their birth as a disgrace, this verse is obviously ironical. (Cf. in this connection {16:57-59}.)

Would Allah choose daughters (pagan Arabs believed that angels were the daughters of Allah) for Himself out of what He Himself creates and gives you sons?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Or chooseth He daughters of all that He hath created, and honoureth He you with sons?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

For [thus it is:] if any of them is given the glad tiding of [the birth of] what he so readily attributes to the Most Gracious,¹⁵ his face darkens, and he is filled with suppressed anger:

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "what he postulates as a likeness of [or "as likely for"] the Most Gracious": i.e., female offspring, which implies a natural "likeness" to its progenitor.

Yet when a new born-girl - the gender that they ascribe to the Compassionate - is announced to one of them, his face darkens and he is filled with grief.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And if one of them hath tidings of that which he likeneth to the Beneficent One, his countenance becometh black and he is full of inward rage.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

"What! [Am I to have a daughter -] one who is to be reared [only] for the sake of ornament?"¹⁶ - and thereupon he finds himself torn by a vague inner conflict.¹⁷

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., one who, from the viewpoint of the pre-Islamic Arabs, would have no function other than "embellishing" a man's life.

Lit., "he finds himself in an invisible (ghayr mubin) conflict" - i.e., an inner conflict which he does not quite admit to his consciousness: cf. 16:59 - "he debates within himself:] Shall he keep this child despite the contempt [which he feels for it] - or shall he bury it in the dust?" (See also, in particular, the corresponding note [66].)

Do they ascribe to Allah, the female gender who is brought up among trinkets and is unable to make herself clear in disputation?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

(Liken they then to Allah) that which is bred up in outward show, and in dispute cannot make itself plain?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And [yet] they claim that the angels - who in themselves are but beings created by the Most Gracious¹⁸ - are females: [but] did they witness their creation? This false claim of theirs¹⁹ will be recorded, and they will be called to account [for it on Judgment Day]!

  - Mohammad Asad

Or: "who are but worshippers [or "creatures"] ('ibad ) of the Most Gracious" - in either case stressing their having been created and, hence, not being divine.

Lit., "their testimony", i.e., regarding the "sex" of the angels, who are spiritual in nature (Razi) and, therefore, sexless.

They regard the angels, who are themselves servants of the Compassionate, as female divinities. Did they witness their creation? They should know that their testimony shall be noted down and they shall be called to account for it.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And they make the angels, who are the slaves of the Beneficent, females. Did they witness their creation? Their testimony will be recorded and they will be questioned.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Yet they say, "Had [not] the Most Gracious so willed, we would never have worshipped them!" [But] they cannot have any knowledge of [His having willed] such a thing: they do nothing but guess.²⁰

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., they cannot have any "knowledge" of something that is devoid of all reality - because, far from having "willed" their sin, God had left it to their free will to make a moral choice between right and wrong. (See in this connection surah {6}, note [143].)

They say: "Had it been the will of the Compassionate, We should never have worshipped them." They have no knowledge about that; they are merely guessing.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And they say: If the Beneficent One had (so) willed, we should not have worshipped them. They have no knowledge whatsoever of that. They do but guess.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Or have We, perchance, vouchsafed them, before this one, a revelation [to the contrary,] to which they are still holding fast?²¹

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., a revelation which would allow man to worship other beings beside God, or to attribute "offspring" to Him: a rhetorical question implying its own negation.

Or have We given them a Book before this to which they hold authority for their angel-worshipping?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Or have We given them any Scripture before (this Qur'an) so that they are holding fast thereto?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Nay, but they say, "Behold, We found our forefathers agreed on what to believe - and, verily, it is in their footsteps that we find our guidance!"

  - Mohammad Asad

The only argument they have is to say: "We found our forefathers practicing this faith and we are walking in their footsteps."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Nay, for they say only: Lo! we found our fathers following a religion, and we are guided by their footprints.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And thus it is: whenever We sent, before thy time, a warner to any community, those of its people who had lost themselves entirely in the pursuit of pleasures²² would always say, "Behold, we found our forefathers agreed on what to believe - and, verily, it is but in their footsteps that we follow!"²³

  - Mohammad Asad

For this rendering of the term mutraf (derived from the verb tarafa), see note [147] on 11:116 .

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."

Even so, whenever We sent a Warner before you to forewarn a nation, its affluent people said: "We found our forefathers practicing this faith and surely we are going to follow their footsteps."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And even so We sent not a warner before thee (Muhammad) into any township but its luxurious ones said: Lo! we found our fathers following a religion, and we are following their footprints.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

[Whereupon each prophet] would say,²⁴ "Why, even though I bring you a guidance better than that which you found your forefathers believing in?" - [to which] the others would reply, "Behold, we deny that there is any truth in [what you claim to be] your messages!"

  - Mohammad Asad

Whereas in some of the readings of the Qur'an the opening word of this verse is vocalized as an imperative, qul ("say"), the reading of Hafs ibn Sulayman al-Asadi - on which this translation is based - gives the pronounciation qala ("he said" or, since it is a repeated occurrence, "he would say").

Each Warner asked: "What if I bring you better guidance than that which your forefathers practiced?" But they replied: "Well! We reject the faith with which you have been sent."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

(And the warner) said: What! Even though I bring you better guidance than that ye found your fathers following? They answered: Lo! in what ye bring we are disbelievers.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And so We inflicted Our retribution on them: and behold what happened in the end to those who gave the lie to the truth!

  - Mohammad Asad

Consequently, We inflicted Our retribution on them; then see what was the end of those who disbelieved?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

So We requited them. Then see the nature of the consequence for the rejecters!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

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!

  - Mohammad Asad

Namely, the inadmissibility of blindly accepting the religious views s anctioned 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 and/or divine revelation. Abraham's search after truth is mentioned several times in the Qur'an, and particularly in 6:74 ff. and 21:51 ff.

Behold! Ibrahim said to his father and his people: "I renounce the gods you worship,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And when Abraham said unto his father and his folk: Lo! I am innocent of what ye worship

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

None [do I worship] but Him who has brought me into being: and, behold, it is He who will guide me!"

  - Mohammad Asad

except Him Who created me, for He will surely guide me."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Save Him Who did create me, for He will surely guide me.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

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].

  - Mohammad Asad

And he left this statement as an abiding precept among his descendants, so that they should turn to it.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And he made It a word enduring among his seed, that haply they might return.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

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

  - Mohammad Asad

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 how to discriminate between good and evil (cf. {6:131-132}).

But they started worshipping others, and rather than punishing I kept on providing them and their forefathers the comfort of this life, until there came to them the truth and a Rasool to expound it clearly.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Nay, but I let these and their fathers enjoy life (only) till there should come unto them the Truth and a messenger making plain.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

but now that the truth has come to them, they say, "All this is mere spellbinding eloquence²⁷ - and, behold, we deny that there is any truth in it!"

  - Mohammad Asad

See note [12] on 74:24 , where this connotation of sihr appears for the first time in the course of Qur'anic revelation.

But now when the truth has came to them, they say: "This is magic and we do not believe it."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And now that the Truth hath come unto them they say: This is mere magic, and lo! we are disbelievers therein.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall