Az-Zukhruf · Makki · ayah 21 of 89

Az-Zukhruf 43:21

أَمْ ءَاتَيْنَـٰهُمْ كِتَـٰبًا مِّن قَبْلِهِۦ فَهُم بِهِۦ مُسْتَمْسِكُونَ

“Or have We given them a book before it [i.e., the Qur’ān] to which they are adhering?”

Saheeh International

Essence

Asked whether Allah had given them an earlier book to cling to, the Makkans had nothing in their hands but their fathers' habits.

A reflection

Nothing to hold; then 'hold fast'

Fa-hum bihi mustamsikūn: so they are holding fast to it? The answer, the shortest commentary says, is that this did not happen. There was no earlier book commanding the worship of anything besides Allah, and so nothing for them to grip.

The same verb returns later in this very surah, in a very different voice. Allah tells the Prophet ﷺ: so hold fast to what has been revealed to you; you are on a straight path (43:43). Fa-stamsik.

Read the two side by side. The Makkans are asked whether they have a book to hold fast to, and they do not. The Messenger is told to hold fast to the Book he has been given. One side is gripping air. The other is commanded to grip revelation.

The root of istamsaka is holding and withholding. A bangle made of horn was called masak, because it grips the wrist. Well-diggers spoke of reaching musaka: hard ground that holds firm without needing a lining. The lexicons give this picture plainly, and it is established. One commentary adds that the form here is intensive: not merely holding, but holding tight.

Everyone holds tight to something. The question this surah poses is what. Habits inherited from parents, opinions absorbed from the crowd, preferences dressed as principles: all of these can be gripped hard. None of them is musaka. They are soft ground that gives way when you lean on them.

The surah offers one thing firm enough to hold with both hands: what Allah has revealed. It does not ask you to grip loosely. It asks you to grip the right thing, and then never let go.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.