یٰعِبَادِ O My slaves! لَا No خَوْفٌ fear عَلَیْكُمُ on you الْیَوْمَ this Day وَ لَاۤ and not اَنْتُمْ you تَحْزَنُوْنَۚ will grieve اَلَّذِیْنَ Those who اٰمَنُوْا believed بِاٰیٰتِنَا in Our Verses وَ كَانُوْا and were مُسْلِمِیْنَۚ submissive اُدْخُلُوا Enter الْجَنَّةَ Paradise اَنْتُمْ you وَ اَزْوَاجُكُمْ and your spouses تُحْبَرُوْنَ delighted یُطَافُ Will be circulated عَلَیْهِمْ for them بِصِحَافٍ plates مِّنْ of ذَهَبٍ gold وَّ اَكْوَابٍ ۚ and cups وَ فِیْهَا And therein مَا (is) what تَشْتَهِیْهِ desires الْاَنْفُسُ the souls وَ تَلَذُّ and delights الْاَعْیُنُ ۚ the eyes وَ اَنْتُمْ and you فِیْهَا therein خٰلِدُوْنَۚ will abide forever وَ تِلْكَ And this الْجَنَّةُ (is) the Paradise الَّتِیْۤ which اُوْرِثْتُمُوْهَا you are made to inherit بِمَا for what كُنْتُمْ you used (to) تَعْمَلُوْنَ do لَكُمْ For you فِیْهَا therein فَاكِهَةٌ (are) fruits كَثِیْرَةٌ abundant مِّنْهَا from it تَاْكُلُوْنَ you will eat 43. Az-Zukhruf Page 495 اِنَّ Indeed الْمُجْرِمِیْنَ the criminals فِیْ (will be) in عَذَابِ (the) punishment جَهَنَّمَ (of) Hell خٰلِدُوْنَۚۖ abiding forever لَا Not یُفَتَّرُ will it subside عَنْهُمْ for them وَ هُمْ and they فِیْهِ in it مُبْلِسُوْنَۚ (will) despair وَ مَا And not ظَلَمْنٰهُمْ We wronged them وَ لٰكِنْ but كَانُوْا they were هُمُ themselves الظّٰلِمِیْنَ wrongdoers وَ نَادَوْا And they will call یٰمٰلِكُ O Malik! لِیَقْضِ Let put an end عَلَیْنَا to us رَبُّكَ ؕ your Lord قَالَ He (will) say اِنَّكُمْ Indeed you مّٰكِثُوْنَ (will) remain لَقَدْ Certainly جِئْنٰكُمْ We have brought you بِالْحَقِّ the truth وَ لٰكِنَّ but اَكْثَرَكُمْ most of you لِلْحَقِّ to the truth كٰرِهُوْنَ (are) averse اَمْ Or اَبْرَمُوْۤا have they determined اَمْرًا an affair فَاِنَّا Then indeed We مُبْرِمُوْنَۚ (are) determined اَمْ Or یَحْسَبُوْنَ (do) they think اَنَّا that We لَا (can) not نَسْمَعُ hear سِرَّهُمْ their secret(s) وَ نَجْوٰىهُمْ ؕ and their private counsel(s) بَلٰی Nay وَ رُسُلُنَا and Our Messengers لَدَیْهِمْ with them یَكْتُبُوْنَ are recording قُلْ Say اِنْ If كَانَ had لِلرَّحْمٰنِ the Most Gracious وَلَدٌ ۖۗ a son فَاَنَا Then I اَوَّلُ (would be the) first الْعٰبِدِیْنَ (of) the worshippers سُبْحٰنَ Glory be رَبِّ (to the) Lord السَّمٰوٰتِ (of) the heavens وَ الْاَرْضِ and the earth رَبِّ (the) Lord الْعَرْشِ (of) the Throne عَمَّا above what یَصِفُوْنَ they ascribe فَذَرْهُمْ So leave them یَخُوْضُوْا (to) converse vainly وَ یَلْعَبُوْا and play حَتّٰی until یُلٰقُوْا they meet یَوْمَهُمُ their Day الَّذِیْ which یُوْعَدُوْنَ they are promised وَ هُوَ And He الَّذِیْ (is) the One Who فِی (is) in السَّمَآءِ the heaven اِلٰهٌ God وَّ فِی and in الْاَرْضِ the earth اِلٰهٌ ؕ God وَ هُوَ And He الْحَكِیْمُ (is) the All-Wise الْعَلِیْمُ the All-Knower وَ تَبٰرَكَ And blessed is الَّذِیْ the One Who لَهٗ to Whom مُلْكُ (belongs the) dominion السَّمٰوٰتِ (of) the heavens وَ الْاَرْضِ and the earth وَ مَا and whatever بَیْنَهُمَا ۚ (is) between both of them وَ عِنْدَهٗ and with Him عِلْمُ (is the) knowledge السَّاعَةِ ۚ (of) the Hour وَ اِلَیْهِ and to Him تُرْجَعُوْنَ you will be returned وَ لَا And not یَمْلِكُ have power الَّذِیْنَ those whom یَدْعُوْنَ they invoke مِنْ besides Him دُوْنِهِ besides Him الشَّفَاعَةَ (for) the intercession اِلَّا except مَنْ who شَهِدَ testifies بِالْحَقِّ to the truth وَ هُمْ and they یَعْلَمُوْنَ know وَ لَىِٕنْ And if سَاَلْتَهُمْ you ask them مَّنْ who خَلَقَهُمْ created them لَیَقُوْلُنَّ they will certainly say اللّٰهُ Allah فَاَنّٰی Then how یُؤْفَكُوْنَۙ are they deluded وَ قِیْلِهٖ And his saying یٰرَبِّ O my Lord! اِنَّ Indeed هٰۤؤُلَآءِ these قَوْمٌ (are) a people لَّا (who do) not یُؤْمِنُوْنَۘ believe فَاصْفَحْ So turn away عَنْهُمْ from them وَ قُلْ and say سَلٰمٌ ؕ Peace فَسَوْفَ But soon یَعْلَمُوْنَ۠ they will know
(43:68) (It will be said to them): “My servants, today you have nothing to fear or regret,
(43:69) you who believed in Our Signs and had surrendered yourselves (to Us)!
(43:70) Enter Paradise joyfully, both you and your spouses.”60
(43:71) Platters and cups of gold shall be passed around them, and there shall be all that they might desire and all that their eyes might delight in. (They shall be told): “Herein shall you abide for ever.
(43:72) Such is the Paradise that you shall inherit by virtue of your good deeds in the life of the world.
(43:73) Herein you will have abundant fruits of which you will eat.”
(43:74) But the evil-doers shall abide in the torment of Hell.
(43:75) Never will their torment be lightened for them. They shall remain in utter despair.
(43:76) It is not We Who wronged them; rather, it is they who wronged themselves.
(43:77) They shall call out: “O Malik,61 let your Lord put an end to us.” He will reply: “You must stay on in it.
(43:78) We brought you the Truth; but to the truth most of you were averse.”62
(43:79) Have they contrived some scheme?63 If so, We too will contrive a scheme.
(43:80) Or do they think that We do not hear their secret talks and their whispering counsels? Yes, indeed We do and Our messengers [i.e., angels) are with them, writing.
(43:81) Say: “If the Merciful One had a son, I would have been the first one to worship him.”64
(43:82) Exalted be the Lord of the heavens and the earth, the Lord of the Throne, above what they attribute to Him.
(43:83) So leave them alone to indulge in their vanities and to frolic about until they encounter that Day of theirs against which they have been warned.
(43:84) He it is Who is God in the heavens and the earth. He is the Most Wise, the All-Knowing.65
(43:85) Blessed is He Who has dominion over the heavens and the earth and all that is between them.66 With Him is the knowledge of the Hour; and to Him you shall all be sent back.67
(43:86) Those whom they call upon, instead of Allah have no power of intercession, except such that testify to the truth based on knowledge.68
(43:87) If you were to ask them: “Who created them?” they will surely say: “Allah.”69 Whence are they, then, being led astray?
(43:88) We call to witness the cry of the Messenger: “O Lord, these are a people not wont to believe!”70
(43:89) Indulge them, (O Prophet), and say to them: “Peace to you.”71 For soon they shall come to know.
60. Azwaj is used to denote both wives and close companions and friends, This comprehensive word is deliberately employed here to convey both. meanings. In other words, true believers will be accompanied by believing wives and believing companions.
61. That is, the angel in charge of Hell.
62. The truth was clearly put before the unbelievers. However, they preferred falsehood. Why should they weep and cry when they are confronted in the Hereafter by the dire consequences of their wrong choices? It is likely that this observation is made by the angel in charge of Hell. Likewise, it is possible that the angel’s statement ends with: ‘You must stay on in it’ and what follows thereafter is an addition by God Himself. In the first case, the Hell-keeper’s statement is akin to a government officer’s use of ‘we’ whereby he means that the government did this or issued such and such order.
63. This refers to the conspiracies hatched by the Quraysh chiefs against the Prophet (peace be on him.)
64. The Prophet’s denial of anyone being God’s son and his refusal to worship those whom the misguided ones worshipped is not on account of any stubbornness on his part. His attitude is rather based on the fact that God has neither any son nor any daughter and that the notions people held in this regard were contrary to reality. Had it been otherwise, he would have been in the forefront of those who worship gods besides the One True God.
65. God is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, there being no separate gods of the heavens and the earth. God’s wisdom embraces the whole universe and His knowledge encompasses everything.
66. God is far too exalted to have any partner. All those who exist in the heavens and the earth, be they Prophets, saints, angels, jinns, spirits, stars or planets are all His creation and are bound in service and obedience to Him. It is simply impossible for them to possess any of God’s attributes or any of His powers or have any share in His Divinity.
67. Notwithstanding the unbelievers’ deification of a host of beings, they will have to confront the One True God after their deaths. Thereafter.
they will have to render their accounts in God's court of justice.
68. This observation encompasses several ideas: (1) Only those who testify to truth out of knowledge will be able to intercede. Those who are taken by men as gods will not be able to do so. As for those who are misguided, they will appear in the Hereafter as culprits.
(2) The ones who intercede will be able to do so only with regard to those who had consciously testified to the truth. They will not recommend anyone who had rejected the truth. They will not be authorized to do so even for those who uttered without thinking: ‘I testify that there is no god besides God,’ yet who kept serving and worshipping others than the One True God.
(3) Those who claim that their idols enjoy such power and authority that they will secure the deliverance of everyone, irrespective of their beliefs and deeds, are in gross error. No one enjoys such power. If anyone claims to have such absolute power of intercession, he should produce proof of the same. Since no one is authorized to do so, it is the height of ignorance and self-deception to entertain such a baseless notion.
The verse also lays down two important principles: (a) A testimony to truth without knowledge may be acceptable in this life. However, God does not admit it. Anyone who utters the Islamic creedal statement testifying to the Oneness of God and the Messenger ship of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him), will be considered a Muslim in this life unless he publicly indulges in acts of unbelief. However, God will reckon only those as true believers who consciously recognize the implications and pre-requisites of their faith and of Islam’s basic creedal statement. (b) Knowledge is central to evidence. Without knowledge, one’s testimony will not be admitted. This truth comes out from the Prophet's observation which he made while addressing a witness: ‘If you have witnessed this happening as you see the sun, you may go ahead with your testimony.
Otherwise, you should not’. (Jassas, Ahkam al-Qur’an, comments on Surah al-Zukhruf 43: 86.)
69. This verse is open to two meanings: (i) If the unbelievers are asked: who is their Creator, they say that God is their Creator. (ii) If they are asked: who is the Creator of their deities, they still say that the Creator of their deities is God.
70. This is one of the most difficult verses of the Qur’an since it involves a difficult question of syntax. This concerns the meaning of the wa preceding qilihi and its relationship with the preceding verses.
Though several opinions have been expressed, none seems to me fully satisfactory. (See Zamakhshari, al-Kashshaf, comments on Surah al-Zukhruf 43: 88). In my opinion, the soundest view is ‘that which is implicit in Shah ‘Abd al-Qadir’s translation of the verse. According to him, wa here is not used as a conjunctive but rather in the sense of an oath and is related to fa anna yu'fakun and the pronoun in the word qilihi refers to the Prophet (peace be on him).
This is also borne out by verse 88 of the surah. The Prophet (peace be on him) observes that the unbelievers refuse to believe. In light of the above, the verse means: ‘I swear by this statement of the Prophet (peace be on him): “O Lord, these are a people not wont to believe”’; that is, they are so deluded that although they acknowledge God alone to be the Creator of their deities, nonetheless they still insist on worshipping creatures other than the Creator.
The purpose of swearing by this saying of the Prophet (peace be on him) is to underscore those people’s attitude. It clearly shows that they are utterly stubborn and that their foolishness is evident from their own admission.
Such an obviously unreasonable attitude can only be adopted by those who have clearly decided not to believe. In other words, the Prophet's words about their strong disposition against belief are quite true.
71. The believers should not react to their opponents’ harsh words or the scornful and mocking statements by cursing them or hurling harsh words back at them. Instead, they should simply greet them with ‘peace’ and part from their company.