Tafseer of Ornaments of gold · Az-Zukhruf · 43:53
Then why have there not been placed upon him bracelets of gold or come with him the angels in conjunction?"
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.
His word: ( Why then have no bracelets of gold been cast upon him? ) (43:53). He says: why then, if he is truthful that he is a messenger of the Lord of the worlds, have no bracelets of gold been cast upon Mūsā? The word aswira is the plural of siwār, and that is the bracelet (qulb) which one wears around the arm.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, he said: my father related to me, he said: my uncle related to me, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning his word ( bracelets of gold ): he says, namely armlets (aqliba) of gold.
Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda ( bracelets of gold ): that is, armlets of gold.
The reciters (qurrāʾ) differed in the recitation of this. The generality of the reciters of Medina, Basra and Kūfa read it: "Why then have no bracelets (asāwira) of gold been cast upon him?" And it is related from al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī that he read it ( aswira min dhahab ).
The correct of the two recitations herein is, in my opinion, that upon which the reciters of the cities rely, even though the other is correct in meaning.
The Arabic linguists differed about the singular of asāwira and aswira. Some of the grammarians of Basra said: aswira is the plural of iswār; and they said: asāwira is the plural of aswira; and they said: whoever reads it as asāwira, he intended asāwīr — and Allah knows best — making the hāʾ a substitute for the yāʾ, as in zanādiqa, where the hāʾ became a substitute for the yāʾ that is in zanādīq. Some of the grammarians of Kūfa said: whoever reads it as asāwira makes its singular iswār; and whoever reads it as aswira makes its singular siwār; and they said: asāwira may also be the plural of aswira, just as in the plural of asqiya one says asāqī, and in the plural of akruʿ akāriʿ. Another of them said: it has been said concerning the bracelet of the hand (siwār al-yad) that both aswār and iswār are permissible for it; he said: then according to this linguistic form it is permissible that asāwira be its plural. It is related from Abū ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAlāʾ that he used to say: the singular of asāwira is iswār; he said: and the confirmation of that lies in the recitation of Ubayy ibn Kaʿb: "Why then have no bracelets (asāwira) of gold been cast upon him?" If what has been related — that it is permissible to say iswār for the bracelet of the hand — is true, then there is no objection to forming its plural as asāwira. But I do not know whether that is correct from the Arabs with a transmission from them, because what is well-known in their speech of the meaning of iswār is: the man who shoots, the one skilled in archery among the men of the non-Arabs (ʿajam). As for that which is worn around the hand, its well-known name with them is siwār. If that is so, then the most fitting for asāwira is that it is the plural of aswira, in accordance with what has been said by the one whose statement we have mentioned about this.
His word: ( or that the angels would come with him, ranged in succession ) (43:53). He says: or why, if he is truthful, has the company of the angels not come with him, ranged in succession, joined one to another, following one another, bearing witness for him that he is a messenger from Allah to them. And in accordance with what we have said about this, the people of interpretation have spoken, with mutual difference in the wording of its interpretation. Some of them said: they walk together.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim, he said: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, he said: al-Ḥasan related to us, he said: Warqāʾ related to us — both — on the authority of Ibn [abī] Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning his word ( the angels ranged in succession ), he said: they walk together.
And others said: following one another.
* Mention of who said that:
Bishr related to us, he said: Zayd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda ( or that the angels would come with him, ranged in succession ): that is, following one another.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, the like of it.
And others said: one joined to another.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad related to us, he said: Aḥmad related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī ( or that the angels would come with him, ranged in succession ), he said: one joined to another.
