Az-Zukhruf Verse 31

And they exclaimed, “If only this Quran was revealed to a great man from ˹one of˺ the two cities!”[[ This refers to Mecca and Ṭâif, two cities in Arabia, around 100 km apart.]]

And they said, “Why was this Qur’an not sent down to a great man from one of the two towns?”

They say, 'Why was this Koran not sent down upon some man of moment in the two cities?'

and they said, ‘Why was this Quran not sent down to a distinguished man, from either of the two cities?’

And they say: wherefore hath not this Qur'an been revealed to a man of the two cities who was great.

Also, they say; "Why is not this Qur'an sent down to some leading man in either of the two (chief) cities?"

They say: “Why was this Qur'an not sent down upon some great man from the two (main) cities?”

They also said: "Why was this Qur'an not sent down to some great man of the two cities?"

And they said, “Why was the Qur’an not sent down upon some chieftain of these two great towns?” (The chiefs of Mecca and Taif).

And they said, ‘Why was not this Quran sent down to some great man from the two cities?’

They also say: "If only this Qur’an had been sent down on a man of leading position of the two (chief) cities!"

Moreover they said, `Why has not this Qur´ân been revealed to some man of importance from (either of) the two townships (- Makkah or Tâ´if, the two centres of social and political life).´

And they said: "If only this the Koran was descended on a great man from the two villages/urban cities."

And they said, “Why was the Qur’an not sent down upon some chieftain of these two great towns?” (The chiefs of Mecca and Taif).

And they say, "Why was not this Quran revealed to a man of importance in the two towns?"

And they say: "Why is not this Quran sent down to some great man of the two towns (Makkah and Ta'if)?"

And when the Truth came to them they said: This is enchantment, and surely we are disbelievers in it.

And they say: Why was not this Quran revealed to a man of importance in the two towns?

And they say: If only this Qur'an had been revealed to some great man of the two towns?

Then they said, "Why this Quran had not been revealed to a man from either of the two great towns".

They also said: 'Why was this Koran not sent down to a great man from the two Villages'

And they say: "Why is not this Qur'an sent down to some great man of the two towns"

They said, "Why was this Quran not sent down to one of the great men of the two cities?"

They also said, “If only this Quran was sent down to a man of importance from the two cities.”

And they said, `If only this Qur'n had been revealed to some great man from, the inhabitants of, the two towns!', in other words, from either of the two; such as al-Wald b. al-Mughra at Mecca or `Urwa b. Mas`d al-Thaqaf at T'if.

وَقَالُوا

And they say,

means, objecting to that which Allah has revealed to him,

لَوْلَا نُزِّلَ هَذَا الْقُرْانُ عَلَى رَجُلٍ مِّنَ الْقَرْيَتَيْنِ عَظِيمٍ



Why is not this Qur'an sent down to some great man of the two towns?

meaning, why was this Qur'an not revealed to some man who was great and prominent in their eyes, from the two towns, i.e., Makkah and At-Ta'if.

This was the view of Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, Ikrimah, Muhammad bin Ka`b Al-Qurazi, Qatadah, As-Suddi and Ibn Zayd.

Several scholars of Tafsir stated that by this, the Quraysh meant Al-Walid bin Al-Mughirah and Urwah bin Mas`ud Ath-Thaqafi.

The apparent meaning is that what they meant was a great man from either of the two towns.

Allah responded to their rejection by saying