أَمْ ءَاتَيْنَـٰهُمْ كِتَـٰبًا مِّن قَبْلِهِۦ فَهُم بِهِۦ مُسْتَمْسِكُونَ 21
Translations
Or have We given them a book before it [i.e., the Qur’ān] to which they are adhering?
Transliteration
Am ātaynāhum kitāban min qablihī fahum bihī mustamsikūn
Tafsir (Explanation)
This ayah poses a rhetorical question to the disbelievers of Mecca, asking whether Allah had given them a Book (scripture) before the Qur'an that they are clinging to, which would justify their rejection of Muhammad's message. According to Ibn Kathir and Al-Tabari, this is a powerful argument that the pagans have no divine scripture to support their polytheistic practices and idol worship, whereas the Qur'an is a clear Book from Allah. The ayah emphasizes that the disbelievers' adherence to their ancestral traditions is baseless since they lack any revealed text to legitimize their beliefs.
Revelation Context
Surah Az-Zukhruf addresses the arguments of the Meccan polytheists who rejected the Qur'an and clung to their inherited customs and the religion of their forefathers. This ayah specifically confronts their unfounded resistance to monotheism by exposing the absence of any scriptural basis for their idol worship, placing it within the broader Meccan context of combating polytheism and establishing the uniqueness of the Qur'an.
Related Hadiths
Related to this theme is the hadith in Sahih Bukhari where the Prophet (ﷺ) said: 'I was sent to perfect good manners,' emphasizing that the Qur'an and Sunnah, not inherited customs, form the basis of Islamic practice. Additionally, the hadith about following the Qur'an and Sunnah ('I have left you two matters...') underscores the centrality of revealed scripture.
Themes
Key Lesson
This ayah teaches believers and non-believers alike that religious truth must be grounded in divine revelation rather than inherited customs or societal norms, encouraging critical thinking about one's faith and the importance of seeking guidance from authentic scriptural sources rather than blindly following tradition.