Surat Az-Zukhruf Verse No. 21: Reading and listening
Translation of the verse 21 from Surah Az-Zukhruf : Number of verses 89 - - page 490 - Part 25.
﴾أَمۡ ءَاتَيۡنَٰهُمۡ كِتَٰبٗا مِّن قَبۡلِهِۦ فَهُم بِهِۦ مُسۡتَمۡسِكُونَ ﴿
[ الزخرف: 21]
Or have We given them any Book before this (the Quran), to which they are holding fast?
English - Sahih International
Or have We given them a book before the Qur'an to which they are adhering?
Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi
(43:21) Or did We bestow upon them a Book before on whose authority they are holding on (to angel-worship)? *21
Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi
*21) It means this: "These ignorant people think that whatever is happening in the world has the approval of Allah for it, because it is happening according to His will. This argument, however, is wrong. For it is not only shirk which is being committed in the world, but countless other crimes like stealing, robbery, murder, bribery, etc. also are taking place, which nobody likes. Then, can it be said by the same reasoning that all such acts are lawful and good only because Allah is letting them happen in His world, and when He allows them to happen, He must have approved of them also? The means of knowing what Allah likes and what He hates are not the events that are happening in the world, but the Book of Allah, which comes through His Messenger and in which Allah Himself states as to what beliefs, what deeds and what morals He likes and what He dislikes. If these people have a Book, which came before the Qur'an, and which tells that Allah has appointed the angels also as deities beside himself and that they should worship them also, they should cite it." (For further explanation, see Al-An'am: 107 112, 137, 148-149; AI-A'raf: 28; Yunus: 99; Hud: 118-119; Ar-Ra'd: 31; An-Nahl: 9, 35-36, 93; and E.N. 20 of Az-Zumar and E.N. 11 of Ash-Shura).
Source : Az-Zukhruf Verse 21: Or have We given them a book before the Qur'an to which they are adhering?