Az-Zukhruf

• 1-3 Quran is in Arabic and it is preserved by God in the Master Record • 4-7 Former nations, like the Quraish, rejected the prophets • 8-14 Idolaters acknowledge God to be creator, yet worship the creature • 15-18 The Arabs hate female offspring, and yet attribute such to God • 19-24 Idolaters vainly excuse their unbelief by saying they will follow the religion of their fathers • 25-27 Abraham rejected the idolatry of his fathers • 28-29 God prospered the idolatrous Quraish until a prophet came, and now they reject him • 30-31 The unbelievers rebuked for saying they would have received the Quran from some great man • 32-34 Poverty only permitted to save men from idolatry • 35-38 Devils are constituted the companions of infidels, who lead them to destruction • 39-44 Muhammad exhorted to remain steadfast in faith notwithstanding the unbelief of his countrymen • 45-56 Moses rejected with contempt by Pharaoh and the Egyptians, who were drowned • 57-58 The Arab idolaters justified their idolatry by reference to the Christian worship of Jesus • 59-64 But Jesus did not say he was a god, but was a servant and a prophet of God • 65-67 Unbelievers warned of approaching judgment • 68-73 The joys of Paradise reserved for believers and their wives • 74-78 The damned shall vainly seek relief in annihilation • 79-80 Angels record the secret plottings of infidels • 81-82 If God had a son, Muhammad would be the first to worship him • 83-87 God knoweth the folly of idolaters • 88-89 Muhammad commanded to turn aside from the unbelieving Quraish ==Themes==

Affirmation of the revelation The surah begins with a strong affirmation of the revelation. Verses 2-4 emphasize the Scripture as being “clear” and “truly exalted and authoritative.” Exaltation of God and divinity of the Quran 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” (84). This creates a parallel between the first and third sections of the surah as it also exalts God as “the Almighty, the All Knowing” (9), In the Ornaments of Gold, verses 57 through 89 declare the imminent Judgment Day. “This Quran is knowledge for the Hour: do not doubt it, Follow Me for this is the right path” (61). Angels as daughters Another main theme addressed throughout this surah 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". The angels are merely servants of God and the surah denounces the disbelievers who argue otherwise just to challenge believers. ==Textual notes==

Jesus as the Word of God Verse 60 reads “if it had been Our will, We could have made you angels, succeeding one another one earth.” and 22 as well. This subtle reinterpretation suggests that the Qur'an is the ‘mother’ of and therefore superior to all of the books revelation. It suggests that the Quran is more reliable and possesses more truth than the Torah and the Gospels and it suggests that the Quran should be revered above all revelations that came before it. One interpretation is that this represents a pronounced declaration of the truth and certainty of the revelation and implies that the Quran is not to be worshipped as divine only orally, but also as it is ascribed on the tablets or written on the pages of the Quran. This interpretation suggests that the Quran is a heavenly book, not a human book. The way it was written is to be revered as the true word of God. Another interpretation of this verse is that the Quran is a unique phenomenon in human history that exists beyond the mundane sphere as the eternal and immutable word of God. Through this interpretation, the Quran is considered an earthly book whose history is intimately linked human life and the history of humanity. It is regarded as “a glorious Qurʿān [preserved] in a well-guarded tablet” (21–22) The inclusion of verse 43:70 indicates that this surah was revealed in the later Meccan period at which point there existed an emphasis on family. At the time of this surah's revelation, there was less of a concern convincing Meccan pagans to convert and more of a concern developing a law-abiding community centered upon worshipping God's will. Additionally, inscriptional evidence has been verified there were monotheists in Palmyra and the Yemen who regarded God as ar-Rahmn but there is no evidence that the name was known in Mecca. ==Biblical references==

Abraham Verses 20-80 of this surah introduce Abraham by way of a narrative of salvation history- a narrative that presents “excerpts of messages from the ‘book’ which, in turn, is clearly understood to be a corpus of literature apart from the rest of the known stories currently available through known tradition." Narratives of salvation history can be clearly identified by their distinct linguistic styles, new messages of imminent catastrophe, and their unique structure, which reflects that of a monotheistic liturgical service centered around the reading of the scriptures. referring to the Hereafter or the Judgment Day. Moses Another narrative of salvation history is marked by lines 46-80 which introduce Moses as a messenger and servant of God bearing no “gold bracelets” (43:53) and possessing no verifiable power and who attempts to enlighten the Pharaoh and the Kingdom of Egypt to the right path to God. Neither the people nor the Pharaoh were persuaded by a poor and powerless Moses and as they rejected God, they were punished and drowned and made into a lesson for following disbelievers. This narrative of salvation history reveals that worldly gains are not proof of a righteous or unrighteous life and that wealth is more often blinding and harmful than it is helpful. The narrative suggests that these riches are bestowed upon humanity as a test for which they will ultimately be questioned for come Judgment Day. This is structured very similarly to a lesson as one would hear in a monotheistic liturgical service and additionally addresses the coming of the Hour (43:63), or the Judgment Day. ==References==