Tafseer of Ornaments of gold · Az-Zukhruf · 43:24
[Each warner] said, "Even if I brought you better guidance than that [religion] upon which you found your fathers?" They said, "Indeed we, in that with which you were sent, are disbelievers."
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 the words of the Exalted: قَالَ أَوَلَوْ جِئْتُكُمْ بِأَهْدَى مِمَّا وَجَدْتُمْ عَلَيْهِ آبَاءَكُمْ قَالُوا إِنَّا بِمَا أُرْسِلْتُمْ بِهِ كَافِرُونَ (He said: Even if I bring you something that guides better than that upon which you found your fathers? They said: Verily, in that with which you have been sent we are disbelievers) (43:24).
The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says to His prophet Muḥammad — peace be upon him —: Say, O Muḥammad, to these polytheists (mushrikīn) of your people, who say "we found our fathers upon a way of belief and we follow in their footsteps": (أَوَلَوْ جِئْتُكُمْ) — even if I come to you, O you people, from your Lord (بِأَهْدَى) — with something that guides better to the path of truth, and that points you better to the way of right guidance, (مِمَّا وَجَدْتُمْ) — than that upon which you found your fathers of religion and religious community (milla)?
(قَالُوا إِنَّا بِمَا أُرْسِلْتُمْ بِهِ كَافِرُونَ) — He says: he said that to them, and they answered him by saying, as the communities before them said to their prophets when they denied their messengers: Verily, in that with which you have been sent, O you people, we are disbelievers — that is to say: denying and rejecting.
The reciters of the regions read this — except Abū Jaʿfar — as "qul a-wa-law jiʾtukum" with the "tāʾ". From Abū Jaʿfar the reciter it is transmitted that he read it "qul a-wa-law jiʾnākum" with the "nūn" and the "alif".
The reading is, in our view, that of the reciters of the regions, because of the consensus of the authoritative proof upon it.
