وَ لَمَّا And when ضُرِبَ is presented ابْنُ (the) son مَرْیَمَ (of) Maryam مَثَلًا (as) an example اِذَا behold! قَوْمُكَ Your people مِنْهُ about it یَصِدُّوْنَ laughed aloud وَ قَالُوْۤا And they said ءَاٰلِهَتُنَا Are our gods خَیْرٌ better اَمْ or هُوَ ؕ he مَا Not ضَرَبُوْهُ they present it لَكَ to you اِلَّا except جَدَلًا ؕ (for) argument بَلْ Nay هُمْ they قَوْمٌ (are) a people خَصِمُوْنَ argumentative اِنْ Not هُوَ he اِلَّا (was) except عَبْدٌ a slave اَنْعَمْنَا We bestowed Our favor عَلَیْهِ on him وَ جَعَلْنٰهُ and We made him مَثَلًا an example لِّبَنِیْۤ for (the) Children of Israel اِسْرَآءِیْلَؕ for (the) Children of Israel وَ لَوْ And if نَشَآءُ We willed لَجَعَلْنَا surely We (could have) made مِنْكُمْ among you مَّلٰٓىِٕكَةً Angels فِی in الْاَرْضِ the earth یَخْلُفُوْنَ succeeding 43. Az-Zukhruf Page 494 وَ اِنَّهٗ And indeed it لَعِلْمٌ surely (is) a knowledge لِّلسَّاعَةِ of the Hour فَلَا So (do) not تَمْتَرُنَّ (be) doubtful بِهَا about it وَ اتَّبِعُوْنِ ؕ and follow Me هٰذَا This صِرَاطٌ (is the) Path مُّسْتَقِیْمٌ Straight وَ لَا And (let) not یَصُدَّنَّكُمُ avert you الشَّیْطٰنُ ۚ the Shaitaan اِنَّهٗ Indeed he لَكُمْ (is) for you عَدُوٌّ an enemy مُّبِیْنٌ clear وَ لَمَّا And when جَآءَ came عِیْسٰی Isa بِالْبَیِّنٰتِ with clear proofs قَالَ he said قَدْ Verily جِئْتُكُمْ I have come to you بِالْحِكْمَةِ with wisdom وَ لِاُبَیِّنَ and that I make clear لَكُمْ to you بَعْضَ some الَّذِیْ (of) that which تَخْتَلِفُوْنَ you differ فِیْهِ ۚ in it فَاتَّقُوا So fear اللّٰهَ Allah وَ اَطِیْعُوْنِ and obey me اِنَّ Indeed اللّٰهَ Allah هُوَ He رَبِّیْ (is) my Lord وَ رَبُّكُمْ and your Lord فَاعْبُدُوْهُ ؕ so worship Him هٰذَا This صِرَاطٌ (is) a Path مُّسْتَقِیْمٌ Straight فَاخْتَلَفَ But differed الْاَحْزَابُ the factions مِنْۢ from بَیْنِهِمْ ۚ among them فَوَیْلٌ so woe لِّلَّذِیْنَ to those who ظَلَمُوْا wronged مِنْ from عَذَابِ (the) punishment یَوْمٍ (of the) Day اَلِیْمٍ painful هَلْ Are یَنْظُرُوْنَ they waiting اِلَّا except السَّاعَةَ (for) the Hour اَنْ that تَاْتِیَهُمْ it should come on them بَغْتَةً suddenly وَّ هُمْ while they لَا (do) not یَشْعُرُوْنَ perceive اَلْاَخِلَّآءُ Friends یَوْمَىِٕذٍۭ that Day بَعْضُهُمْ some of them لِبَعْضٍ to others عَدُوٌّ (will be) enemies اِلَّا except الْمُتَّقِیْنَؕ۠ the righteous
(43:57) No sooner the example of the son of Mary was mentioned than, lo and behold, your people raised a clamour
(43:58) and said: “Who is better, our deities or he?”52 They said so only out of contentiousness. They are a disputatious people.
(43:59) He was no more than a servant (of Ours), one upon whom We bestowed Our favours and whom We made an example (of Our infinite power) for the Children of Israel.53
(43:60) If We had so willed We could have made some of you into angels54 to become your successors on earth.
(43:61) Verily he [i.e., Jesus) is a portent of the Hour.55 So be in no doubt concerning it and follow Me. This is the Straight Way.
(43:62) Let not Satan hinder you (from believing in the Hour),56 for surely he is your open enemy.
(43:63) When Jesus came with Clear Signs and said: “I have brought wisdom to you that I may make plain to you some of the things you differ about. So fear Allah and follow me.
(43:64) Allah is my Lord and your Lord; therefore, serve Him. That is the Straight Way.”57
(43:65) Then the factions fell apart among themselves.58 So woe to the wrong-doers from the chastisement of a grievous Day.
(43:66) Are they awaiting anything other than the Last Hour that it should suddenly come upon them without their even perceiving it?
(43:67) On that Day even bosom friends shall become enemies to one another, all except the God-fearing.59
52. It was said earlier in verse 45: ‘Ask all Our Messengers whom We sent before you whether We had appointed any deities beside the Merciful One to be worshipped’. As this point was made to the Makkans, ‘Abd Allah ibn Ziba‘ri posed the question: The Christians who regard Jesus, son of Mary, as God, do they worship him or not? If they do, what is wrong if the Makkans worship their own idols?’ On hearing this the crowd of unbelievers burst into laughter and, raising boisterous slogans and mockingly insisting for a satisfactory answer to this question if there was any.
(Zamakhshari, al-Kashshaf, comments on Surah al-Zukhruf 43: 57.) Here, the continuity of the revelation was not interrupted to answer the objections raised. However, after completing the issue at hand, attention was paid to the interlocutors’ objections.
It is pertinent to note that this incident has been variously reported in works of tafsir, and hence there are disagreements about the matter.
However, reflection over the content of the revelation and the relevant traditions about the incident convince us that the view we have expressed above is correct.
53. That the Prophet Jesus (peace be on him) was an example (of God’s infinite power) is a reference to Jesus’ birth without a father and the bestowal upon him of miracles which had not been bestowed upon anyone either before or after him. He would make a bird of clay, breathe into it and it would become a living bird. He would give sight to those born blind. He would cure lepers. He would even raise the dead back to life.
The purpose of what is said here is to emphasize that despite Jesus’ extraordinary birth and the miracles granted to him, it was wrong to consider him as anything other than God’s creature and servant. As for worshipping him, that is absolutely out of the question. He was no more than a servant of God upon whom He had bestowed extraordinary favors, making him an example of His infinite power. (For further details, see Al ‘Imran 3, nn. 42-4, Towards Understanding the Qur’an, vol. I, pp. 251-4; al-Nisa’ 4, n. 190, vol. IL, p. 105; al-Ma'idah 5, nn. 40, 46 and 125-6, vol. I, pp. 149, 152-3 and 203; Maryam 19, nn. 15-22, vol. V, pp. 152-7; al-Anbiya’ 21, nn. 88-90, vol. V, pp. 294-5; al-Mu’minun 23, n. 43, vol. VI, pp. 101-2.)
54. Alternatively, this can be translated as follows: ‘...make some of you give birth to angels.’
55. This may also be translated to mean that it is a source of knowledge about the Hour. This naturally raises the question about identifying the source. For al-Hasan al-Basri and Sa‘id ibn Jubayr, the reference is to the Qur’an. (Qurtubi, al-Jami’ li Ahkam al-Qur’an, comments on Surah al-Zukhruf 43: 61.) In other words, by studying the Qur’an one can learn about the Hour. However, this interpretation is not borne out by the context. The verse does not contain any clue or hint which would link it with the Qur’an.
As for other exegetes, they are unanimous in their view that the allusion here is to Jesus, son of Mary. (Tabari, Tafsir, comments on Surah al-Zukhruf 43: 61.) This fits in with the context. Yet one is still faced with the question as to the sense in which Jesus is to be taken as a portent of the Hour or as a means of knowing it. In the opinion of many exegetes, namely ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Abbas, ‘Ikrimah, Qatadah, Suddi, Dahhak, Abi al-‘Aliyah and Abu Malik, the reference is to the Second Coming of the Prophet Jesus (peace be on him), which is foretold in several ahadith. The verse, therefore, means that when Jesus reappears, this will indicate the approach of the Last Day. (Tabari, Tafsir, comments on Surah al-Zukhruf 43: 61.) It is, however, hard to agree with these scholars that the verse speaks of the Second Coming of the Prophet Jesus (peace be on him). Besides, this view is also not supported by the latter part of the verse. Jesus’ Second Coming may serve as the portent of the Last Day only for the people present at that time. It could not serve this purpose for the Makkan unbelievers. In view of this, the directive to them: ‘So be in no doubt concerning it’ does not say much.
We are, therefore, inclined to endorse the interpretation of those exegetes who are of the opinion that the reference here is to Jesus’ miraculous birth and his extraordinary miracle-making which stand out as proofs in support of the possibility of the Last Day. (Biqa’i, Nazm al- Durar, comments on Surah al-Zukhruf 43: 61.) What is being said here is that God, Who can cause the birth of a person without a father and Whose servant can breathe life into a bird of clay and revive the dead, can easily resurrect the Makkan unbelievers and, for that matter, all dead people.
56. Satan incites man to disbelieve in the Last Day.
57. Notwithstanding the Christians’ flawed concepts, the Prophet Jesus (peace be on him) never claimed to be God or His Son, nor did he ever ask people to worship him. His message was exactly the same as that of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) and all other Prophets.
(For further details, see Al ‘Imran 3, nn. 45-8, Towards Understanding the Qur’an, vol. I, pp. 254-6; al-Nisa’ 4, nn. 213 and 217-18, vol. I, pp. 116-17 and 119; al-Ma’idah 5, nn. 100 and 130, vol. I, pp. 180-1 and 206-7; Maryam 19, nn. 21-3, vol. V, pp. 156-8.)
58. Some, of those who opposed Jesus went to such extremes as to accuse him of being an illegitimate child and made concerted efforts towards his crucifixion. On the other hand, some of those whose faith in him exceeded all reasonable limits made him into God’s son. Jesus’ ‘godhead’ proved to be a highly complex issue which caused the Christians to split into countless sects. (For further details, see al-Nisa’ 4, nn. 211-16, Towards Understanding the Qur’an, vol. IL, pp. 116-19; al-Ma’idah 5, nn. 39-40, 101 and 130, vol. H, pp. 148-9, 181-5 and 206-7.)
59. Only those friendships that are rooted in Godliness and righteousness will remain intact in the Hereafter. All other friendships will turn into bitter hostility. Those who are presently cooperating in acts of wickedness and error will blame each other on the Day of Judgement so as to obtain their own exoneration. This point occurs recurrently in the Qur’an. Hence, one should think very carefully and then decide whom to make his friend in this life. In choosing friends one should give serious thought as to whose friendship will be truly beneficial or harmful.