Tafseer of Ornaments of gold · Az-Zukhruf · 43:18
So is one brought up in ornaments while being during conflict unevident [attributed to Allah]?
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of His word, the Exalted: أَوَمَنْ يُنَشَّأُ فِي الْحِلْيَةِ وَهُوَ فِي الْخِصَامِ غَيْرُ مُبِينٍ ("Or one who is brought up amid ornaments and who is not clear in disputation?") (18).
He, exalted is His mention, says: or one who grows up amid ornaments and adorns himself with them, وَهُوَ فِي الْخِصَامِ ("and who in disputation") — He says: and who, in the dispute with the one who disputes with him, at the time of the disputation, is not clear, and the one who disputes with him overcomes by proof and argument on account of his incapacity and weakness — such have you made the portion of Allah out of His creation, and you have claimed that he is His share from among them. And in the expression there is something omitted, with the indication of what is mentioned of it being deemed sufficient, and that is what I have stated.
The scholars of explanation disagreed about what is intended by His word: أَوَمَنْ يُنَشَّأُ فِي الْحِلْيَةِ وَهُوَ فِي الْخِصَامِ غَيْرُ مُبِينٍ ("or one who is brought up amid ornaments and who is not clear in disputation?"). Some of them said: by this are intended the slave-girls (jawārī) and the women.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: أَوَمَنْ يُنَشَّأُ فِي الْحِلْيَةِ وَهُوَ فِي الْخِصَامِ غَيْرُ مُبِينٍ ("or one who is brought up amid ornaments and who is not clear in disputation?"); he said: he means the woman.
Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of ʿAlqama, on the authority of Marthad, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: silk and gold were permitted to women, and he recited أَوَمَنْ يُنَشَّأُ فِي الْحِلْيَةِ وَهُوَ فِي الْخِصَامِ غَيْرُ مُبِينٍ ("or one who is brought up amid ornaments and who is not clear in disputation?"); he said: he means the woman.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both of them — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: أَوَمَنْ يُنَشَّأُ فِي الْحِلْيَةِ وَهُوَ فِي الْخِصَامِ غَيْرُ مُبِينٍ ("or one who is brought up amid ornaments and who is not clear in disputation?"); he said: the slave-girls — you have made them a child for the All-Merciful; how do you judge?
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: أَوَمَنْ يُنَشَّأُ فِي الْحِلْيَةِ وَهُوَ فِي الْخِصَامِ غَيْرُ مُبِينٍ ("or one who is brought up amid ornaments and who is not clear in disputation?"); he said: the slave-girls — He thereby presents them as foolish, not clear on account of their weakness.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: أَوَمَنْ يُنَشَّأُ فِي الْحِلْيَةِ ("or one who is brought up amid ornaments"); he says: they attributed the daughters to Him, while when one of them was gladdened with the glad tidings of them (the birth of a daughter), his face would darken and he would be filled with suppressed grief. He said: and as for His word: وَهُوَ فِي الْخِصَامِ غَيْرُ مُبِينٍ ("and who is not clear in disputation"); he says: rarely does a woman speak and wish to speak with her argument, but that she utters the argument against herself.
Muḥammad related to us, saying: Aḥmad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: أَوَمَنْ يُنَشَّأُ فِي الْحِلْيَةِ وَهُوَ فِي الْخِصَامِ غَيْرُ مُبِينٍ ("or one who is brought up amid ornaments and who is not clear in disputation?"); he said: the women.
And others said: by this are intended their idols which they worshipped besides Allah.
* Mention of who said that:
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His word: أَوَمَنْ يُنَشَّأُ فِي الْحِلْيَةِ ("or one who is brought up amid ornaments") ... the verse; he said: these are their statues which they forge out of silver and gold and worship — it is they who have manufactured them, forged them out of that ornament, and then worshipped them. وَهُوَ فِي الْخِصَامِ غَيْرُ مُبِينٍ ("and who is not clear in disputation"); he said: it does not speak, and he recited فَإِذَا هُوَ خَصِيمٌ مُبِينٌ ("and behold, he is a manifest adversary").
And the more preferable of the two statements herein with respect to correctness is the statement of the one who said: by this are intended the slave-girls and the women, for this comes in connection with Allah's report concerning the fact that the polytheists ascribe to Him what they detest for themselves, namely the daughters, and concerning the meagreness of their knowledge of His right, and their ascription to Him of attributes and of niggardliness — while He is their creator, their owner, and their provider, and the one who favours them with the blessings which He enumerated at the beginning of this surah — with that with which they are not content for themselves. That the speech should follow upon something equivalent to that is more fitting and more preferable than that it should follow upon something of which no mention has been made.
The reciters disagreed about the reading of His word: أَوَمَنْ يُنَشَّأُ فِي الْحِلْيَةِ ("or one who is brought up amid ornaments"). Most of the reciters of Medina and Basra and some of the reciters of Mecca and Kufa read it "أوْ مَنْ يَنْشَأُ" with fatḥa on the yāʾ and without doubling, from nashaʾa yanshaʾu. And most of the reciters of Kufa read it يُنَشَّأُ with ḍamma on the yāʾ and doubling (tashdīd) of the shīn, from nashshaʾtuhu fa-huwa yunashshaʾu. And the correct view of the statement herein, according to us, is that one says: they are two readings both of which are well-known in the recitation of the regions, and which are close to each other in meaning, for the one brought up (al-munashshaʾ) by upbringing is one growing up (nāshiʾ), and the one growing up is one brought up (munshaʾ). With whichever of the two the reciter reads, he has read correctly. And it has already been mentioned that in the reading of ʿAbd Allāh it stands: "أوَ مَنْ لا يُنشَّأُ إلا فِي الحلْية" ("or one who is brought up only amid ornaments"). And in "man" there are various forms of inflection (iʿrāb): the nominative (rafʿ) as a new beginning (istiʾnāf), and the accusative (naṣb) by an implied "yajʿalūna" (they make), as though it were said: or one who is brought up amid ornaments, they make into daughters of Allah. And the accusative is also permissible therein by referring back (radd) to His word: "am ittakhadha mimmā yakhluqu banātin aw man yunashshaʾu fī al-ḥilya" (has He then taken daughters from what He creates, or one who is brought up amid ornaments?), with "man" being referred back to "daughters." And the genitive (khafḍ) by referring back to the "mā" in His word: وَإِذَا بُشِّرَ أَحَدُهُمْ بِمَا ضَرَبَ لِلرَّحْمَنِ مَثَلا ("and when one of them is given glad tidings of that which he attributes to the All-Merciful as a likeness").
