Editing Az-Zukhruf (section)

===Abraham===
Verses 20-80 of this surah introduce [[Abraham]] by way of a narrative of salvation history- a narrative that presents “excerpts of messages from the ‘book’ which, in turn, is clearly understood to be a corpus of literature apart from the rest of the known stories currently available through known tradition."<ref name="ReferenceC">Neuwirth, Angelika. "Structural, Linguistic and Literary Features." The Cambridge Companion to the Qurʼān. By Jane Dammen. McAuliffe. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2006. 106.</ref> Narratives of salvation history can be clearly identified by their distinct linguistic styles, new messages of imminent catastrophe, and their unique structure, which reflects that of a monotheistic liturgical service centered around the reading of the scriptures.<ref name="ReferenceC"/>

This salvation history introduces Abraham as having rejected the way his father and his people worshipped and embraced the truth of God. Those who rejected the message of God were consumed with “golden ornaments… mere enjoyments of this life” (43:35).<ref name=317MAS/> The disbelievers of the narrative pose the question, “why was this Qur’an not sent down to a powerful [wealthy] man, from either of the two cities?” (43:31).<ref name=317MAS/> The surah continues to affirm that God preferred to deliver His message to those who He taught Himself and who believed in Him, not to those who had material wealth. If wealth and power were of real value and the true reward, God would not have bestowed them upon the disbelievers and hypocrites. This narrative of salvation history also speaks of the rewards and punishments earned by the believers and disbelievers that God reserves for them in the “next life” (43:35),<ref>Haleem, M.A.S. Abdel. The Qur'an (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005) 317-318.</ref> referring to the Hereafter or the Judgment Day.