Tafsir of Az-Zukhruf 43:1

Classification: Meccan. Muqātil said: Except for the verse, "And ask those of Our messengers whom We sent before you" [43:45].

Length: Eighty-nine verses.

Chronology: Revealed after al-Shūrā.

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

[43:1] Ḥā-Mīm.

[43:2] By the clear Book.

[43:3] Indeed, We have made it an Arabic Qur’an that you might understand.

[43:4] And indeed it is, in the Mother of the Book [the Preserved Tablet] with Us, surely exalted and full of wisdom.

Ḥā-Mīm

He swears by the "Manifest Book," which is the Qur’an. He makes His saying: “Indeed, We have made it an Arabic Qur’an” the response to the oath. This is among the excellent and ingenious oaths, due to the harmony between the oath and that which is sworn upon, as they both belong to the same category. Its parallel is the saying of Abū Tammām: “And your teeth—they are [like] fresh, white spathes.”

{The Manifest}: Clear to those upon whom it was sent down, because it is in their language and according to their styles of speech. It is also said: It is that which is clear to those who contemplate it. It is also said: The "Manifest" is that which clarifies the paths of guidance from the paths of misguidance, and clarifies what the nation needs in matters of religion.

{We have made it}: Meaning, We have rendered it, taking two objects. Or, it may mean "We have created it," taking one object, as in His saying: “And He created the darkness and the light” (Al-Anʿām: 1). And {an Arabic Qur’an} is a state (ḥāl).

Perhaps "making" (jaʿl) is a metaphor for "will," to observe its meaning and the meaning of hope—that is: We created it Arabic, not non-Arabic, with the intent that the Arabs might understand it, and so that they would not say: "Why were its verses not detailed?"

It is recited as {Umm al-Kitāb} (The Mother of the Book), with a kasra, which is the Preserved Tablet (al-Lawḥ), as in His saying: “But it is a glorious Qur’an, in a Preserved Tablet” (Al-Burūj: 21-22). It is called the "Mother of the Book" because it is the origin in which the books are established, and from which they are copied and transcribed.

{Exalted}: High in status among the books, because it is a miracle among them.

{Wise}: Possessing profound wisdom. That is: Its status with Us is the status of a book possessing these two attributes, and it is established in the Mother of the Book in this manner.