وَلَوْلَآ أَن يَكُونَ ٱلنَّاسُ أُمَّةً وَٰحِدَةً لَّجَعَلْنَا لِمَن يَكْفُرُ بِٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ لِبُيُوتِهِمْ سُقُفًا مِّن فِضَّةٍ وَمَعَارِجَ عَلَيْهَا يَظْهَرُونَ 33
Translations
And if it were not that the people would become one community [of disbelievers], We would have made for those who disbelieve in the Most Merciful - for their houses - ceilings and stairways of silver upon which to mount.
Transliteration
Wa law lā an yakūna an-nāsu ummatan wāḥidatan la-jaʿalnā li-man yakfuru bi-ar-Raḥmāni li-buyūtihim suqufan min fiḍḍatin wa-maʿārijaʿ ʿalayhā yaẓharūn
Tafsir (Explanation)
This ayah expresses a divine wisdom: if mankind were not prone to unity and cohesion in disbelief, Allah would have granted the rejecters of the Merciful (ar-Rahman) silver roofs and staircases for their houses in this life. The scholars, including Ibn Kathir and Al-Qurtubi, interpret this to mean that Allah withholds excessive worldly luxuries from the disbelievers in this world out of mercy—if He gave them complete material abundance, they would unite in their rejection of faith and become more entrenched in disbelief. This demonstrates Allah's wisdom in the distribution of worldly blessings, which are not necessarily signs of divine favor.
Revelation Context
This ayah is part of Surah Az-Zukhruf (The Ornaments of Gold), a Meccan chapter that addresses the Meccan polytheists' preoccupation with material wealth and worldly adornments as indicators of divine approval. The surah challenges the assumption that wealth and luxury are signs of spiritual superiority or truth, contextualizing this ayah within the broader theme of exposing the fallacy of equating material prosperity with righteousness.
Related Hadiths
The concept relates to the hadith in Sahih Muslim where the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, 'The greatest misfortune is poverty, and the worst blindness is heedlessness of the heart,' emphasizing that worldly deprivation can be a mercy. Additionally, Sunan At-Tirmidhi records that excessive wealth can be a trial (fitnah) for believers.
Themes
Key Lesson
Worldly wealth and material comfort are not indicators of truth or divine favor, and may actually be a test or trial. This teaches believers not to judge the validity of faith by outward material prosperity, and to recognize that apparent deprivation can be an act of divine mercy preventing individuals from becoming further entrenched in falsehood.