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Az Zukhruf

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Classification
  
Meccan

No. of Rukus
  
7

Position
  
Juzʼ 25

No. of verses
  
89

Az-Zukhruf

Other names
  
Luxury, The Embellishment, Ornaments, Gold

Sūrat az-Zukhruf (Arabic: سورة الزخرف‎‎, "Ornaments of Gold, Luxury") is the 43rd sura, or chapter, of the Qur'an, the central religious text of Islam. It contains 89 ayat, or verses.

Contents

Overview and contents

Ornaments of Gold, or Surat Az-Zukhruf, is the 43rd sura of the Qur'an containing a total of 89 verses. Named after the golden ornaments recognized in verse 35 and again in verse 53, this sura dates back to the Second Meccan Period before the Prophet Muhammad’s migration to Medina. According to the Nöldeke Chronology of suras, the Ornaments of Gold was the 61st sura revealed. The Standard Egyptian chronology, however, acknowledges this as the 63rd sura revealed. Regardless of the exact position in which this sura was revealed, it is clear that the sura was revealed during the Second Meccan Period, a time in which Muhammad and his followers were increasingly subject to opposition from the Quraysh tribe.

Consistent with all of the suras of the Qur’an, Ornaments of Gold begins with the basmala, or the standard verse ‘In the name of God, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy.’

Ornaments of Gold is a sura that acts as a reminder to believers that the goodness of God cannot be found within wealth and material power. The sura rejects the claim of disbelievers that prophets, leaders and worthy figures should be marked by their riches and thereby empowers them to refrain from temptations, indulgences and distractions. The sura warns disbelievers who succumb to the “mere enjoyments of this life” (43:17) of a terrible and tormented afterlife and it encourages believers to relish not in riches but in their faith and love of God. The sura also repeatedly addresses the fact that the angels are not God’s daughters but his faithful servants (43:19). The possibility of Jesus being the literal son of God is also rejected within the sura (43:63-64).Haleem, M.A.S. Abdel. The Qur'an (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005) 319.

Themes

Affirmation of the revelation

The sura begins with a strong affirmation of the revelation. Verses 2-4 emphasize the Scripture as being “clear” and “truly exalted and authoritative.” These verses present a pronounced declaration of the truth and certainty of the revelation and also include the first of the two times that the word “Qur’an” is specifically used throughout the sura. The word ‘qur’an’ is only used 70 times throughout the entirety of the Qur'an. ‘Qur’an’ is a verbal noun in Arabic meaning ‘to recite.’ As it appears in verse 3 and 31 of this sura, it is confirming the Qur'an as an oral revelation, the spoken word of God recited to Muhammad. The word ‘qur’an’ instead of, for example, the word ‘kitab’ (book), reveals not a written but a recited, spoken and oral nature of the Qur'an.

Exaltation of God and divinity of the Qur'an

The Ornaments of Gold ends with a flourish of praise and exaltations of God. “He who is God in heaven and God on Earth; He is the All Wise, the All Knowing” (43:84). This creates a parallel between the first and third sections of the sura as it also exalts God as “the Almighty, the All Knowing” (43:9), but also as it praises the words and knowledge of God as the ultimate truth.

Debate between the believers and disbelievers

The sura continues with a debate between the believers and the disbelievers. These debates, or “polemical utterances… against listeners who do not comply with the behavioral norms of the cult,” are an essential element in the structure of the suras of the Qur'an. In verses 5-19 there occurs a debate between the believers and the disbelievers in which the disbelievers are reprimanded for mocking the revelations and the prophets that have generously been sent down to them by God. These words are directed at the ungrateful and pretentious disbelievers, referred to as ‘insolent people’ (43:5).

Afterlife

The afterlife, the resurrection of the dead, and Judgement Day are topics of great importance throughout the Qur'an, and they received memorable treatment, particularly in the early Meccan suras." In the Ornaments of Gold, verses 57 through 89 declare the imminent Judgment Day. “This [Qur’an] is knowledge for the Hour: do not doubt it, Follow Me for this is the right path” (43:61). This section tells of an afterlife for the believers that is full “dishes and goblets of gold” (43:71), joy and a garden of bountiful fruit to eat (43:73). It affirms that believers and their spouses will “enter Paradise” (43:70). Disbelievers, on the other hand, “will suffer the torment of a grievous day” (43:65). This section can be identified as an eschatological prophecy, a common pattern throughout the suras of the Qur'an, including The Ornaments of Gold, that “juxtapose[s] the situation of the believers in the garden of paradise with that of the disbelievers or evildoers suffering in the tribulations of the fire of hell."

Angels as daughters

Another main theme addressed throughout this sura is the role of the angels as God’s servants and not God’s daughters. Verses 15-19 discuss the ungrateful disbelievers who consider the angels to be more than just servants of God. "The Meccan pagans considered the angels to be daughters of God, yet they were dismissive of their own daughters. As verses 15-19 reject any familial ties between God and the angels.

The theme of the angels as Gods servants arises again in verses 57-60. Here, the sura once again rejects the pagans who worship the angels as daughters of God and see them as superior to Jesus, whom they believed to be the Christian’s Son of God. The angels are merely servants of God and the sura denounces the disbelievers who argue otherwise just to challenge believers.

References

Az-Zukhruf Wikipedia