Az-Zukhruf, "Ornaments of Gold," is the forty-third surah — 89 verses revealed in Mecca.1 It is the fourth of the Ha-Mim surahs, and its name comes from its judgment on wealth: gold ornaments and silver roofs are "not but the enjoyment of worldly life."
What it is about
The surah takes apart two habits of mind that kept the Meccans from the message: following their ancestors without question, and measuring a person by money and rank. "Indeed, we found our fathers upon a religion, and we are in their footsteps [rightly] guided," they said — as the affluent of every city had said before them.3 And they asked, "Why was this Quran not sent down upon a great man from [one of] the two cities?"4
Key themes
A prayer for every journey. God made ships and animals to carry people "that you may settle yourselves upon their backs and then remember the favor of your Lord... and say, 'Exalted is He who has subjected this to us, and we could not have [otherwise] subdued it. And indeed we, to our Lord, will [surely] return.'"2 The Prophet ﷺ said these words whenever he mounted his camel to set out on a journey.9
Abraham breaks with his father. Abraham told his father and people, "I am disassociated from that which you worship except for He who created me," and "made it a word remaining among his descendants."
Who distributes mercy? "Do they distribute the mercy of your Lord? It is We who have apportioned among them their livelihood." Were it not that everyone would become deniers, God would give the deniers houses with "ceilings and stairways of silver... and gold ornament. But all that is not but the enjoyment of worldly life. And the Hereafter with your Lord is for the righteous."
Pharaoh's contempt. "Does not the kingdom of Egypt belong to me, and these rivers flowing beneath me?... Or am I [not] better than this one who is insignificant and hardly makes himself clear? Then why have there not been placed upon him bracelets of gold?" His people obeyed him, and were drowned.5
Jesus. When the son of Mary was held up as an example, the Meccans laughed and argued. The surah answers: "He was not but a servant upon whom We bestowed favor." Jesus said, "Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him. This is a straight path" — and "he will be [a sign for] knowledge of the Hour."6
Friendship on the Last Day. "Close friends, that Day, will be enemies to each other, except for the righteous."7
The close. God is the only deity "in the heaven, and on the earth," and the Prophet ﷺ is told: "turn aside from them and say, 'Peace.' But they are going to know."8
Why it matters
Az-Zukhruf is the Quran's sharpest critique of judging truth by wealth, status or inherited custom — a critique that reaches from the Quraysh to Pharaoh and beyond. It gives Muslims the words of the traveler's prayer, reminds them that only friendships built on righteousness survive the Last Day, and contains one of the Quranic references to the role of Jesus before the Hour. To read Az-Zukhruf in Arabic with translations and recitation, open it on Quran.com.