Tafseer of Ornaments of gold · Az-Zukhruf · 43:37
And indeed, the devils avert them from the way [of guidance] while they think that they are [rightly] guided
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.
And His statement: ( وَإِنَّهُمْ لَيَصُدُّونَهُمْ عَنِ السَّبِيلِ ) (And indeed, they avert them from the path) The Exalted, whose praise is mentioned, says: and indeed, the devils avert these ones who blindly turn away from the remembrance of Allah from the path of truth, and they make error attractive to them and make them detest faith in Allah and acting in obedience to Him. ( while they think that they are rightly guided ) He says: and the polytheists think, on account of the devils making the error in which they are beautiful to them, that they are upon the truth and the right. The Exalted, whose praise is mentioned, informs about them that they, concerning the polytheism (shirk) in which they are, are in doubt and without insight. And He, mighty is His praise, said: ( وَإِنَّهُمْ لَيَصُدُّونَهُمْ عَنِ السَّبِيلِ ) and brought their mention in the form of the plural, while before that only a single one had been mentioned, for He said: ( نُقَيِّضْ لَهُ شَيْطَانًا ) (for him We appoint a devil), because the devil, even though its wording is singular, is in meaning a plural.
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Footnotes:
(2) This verse is composed of two hemistichs from two different verses; the first half is from al-Ḥuṭayʾa, from a poem with which he praised Baghīḍ ibn ʿĀmir ibn Shammās ibn Laʾy ibn Anf al-Nāqa al-Tamīmī. And the second half is from a verse of ʿAbd ibn al-Ḥurr, from a poem he spoke when he was in the prison of Muṣʿab ibn al-Zubayr in Kūfa. The verse of al-Ḥuṭayʾa reads in full, as in (Khizānat al-adab al-kabīr of al-Baghdādī 3:662):
"When you come to him, peering toward the light of his fire, you find the best fire, and along with it the best fire-kindler."
And the verse of ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥurr reads in full, as in (al-Khizāna 3:663):
"When you come to us and knock at our door among our dwellings, you find abundant firewood and a blazing, flaring fire."
The author adduced the verse in connection with His statement, the Exalted: ( And whoever blindly turns away from the remembrance of the Most Merciful ). Abū ʿUbayda said in Majāz al-Qurʾān (folio 220): that is, his eye is darkened to it, as though a veil lay over it. And al-Farrāʾ said in Maʿānī al-Qurʾān (folio 295): he means: and whoever turns away from it. And whoever reads it ( wa-man yaʿsha ) with a fatḥa on the shīn, its meaning is: whoever is blind to it. And al-Qutaybī said (al-Lisān: ʿashiya): the meaning of His statement ( And whoever blindly turns away from the remembrance of the Most Merciful ) is: that his eyesight is darkened. He said: and this is the judgment of Abū ʿUbayda. Then he proceeded to refute the judgment of al-Farrāʾ and said: I have not seen anyone who permits: "ʿashawtu ʿan al-shayʾ" (I turned away from the thing). One only says: "taʿāyashtu ʿan al-shayʾ", that is: I feigned not to notice it, as though I did not see it. And likewise "taʿāmaytu". He said: and "ʿashawtu ilā al-nār" means: I found the way to it with weak eyesight. And al-Azharī said, refuting the words of Ibn Qutayba: al-Qutaybī neglected the place of what is correct and, by his neglect, raised an objection against al-Farrāʾ. The Arabs say: "ʿashawtu ilā al-nār aʿshū ʿashwan", that is: I directed myself toward it, rightly guided. And "ʿashawtu ʿanhā" means: I turned away from it. Thus they distinguish between "ilā" and "ʿan" when these are joined with the verb. End.
(3) The verse is by al-Aʿshā ibn Qays ibn Thaʿlaba, Maymūn ibn Qays (his dīwān, Cairo edition 95). The pronoun in "she saw" refers to a woman whom he mentioned from the beginning of the poem and whom he named Laylā. And "al-wāfidān" are the two eyes. And "uneven of build" means: that age and events have changed him from what she had known of him in freshness and strength. And "al-aʿshā" is the one who has a defect in his eyes, or it is the one who does not see at night, or it is the blind one. And this last is the most probable because of his word after it "ḍarīran" (sightless). Its verb is "ʿashiya yaʿshā ʿashan", like "ʿamiya yaʿmā" (to be blind). And that is something other than "ʿashā ilā al-shayʾ yaʿshū", which means: to look toward it and direct oneself to it; or "ʿashā ʿanhu yaʿshū ʿashan", which means: to turn away from it, as we have clarified in connection with the preceding evidentiary verse. End.
