An allusion to the impediment in speech from which Moses suffered (cf. 20:27-28 and the corresponding note 17), or perhaps to the contents of his message, which to Pharaoh appeared unconvincing.]

In ancient Egypt , golden armlets and necklaces were regarded as princely insignia (cf. Genesis xli, 42), or at least as evidence of high social dignity. This is apparently an echo of the pagan objection to Muhammad, mentioned in verse 31 above: "Why was not this Qur'an bestowed from on high on some great man of the two cities?" The same is the case with the subsequent reference to the "absence of angels".

Objecting to the Quranic condemnation of their idolatrous worship of angels - whom they describe here as "our deities" - the pagan Quraysh pointed to the parallel Christian worship of Jesus as "the son of God", and even as "God incarnate", and argued more or less thus: "The Qur'an states that Jesus was purely human - and yet the Christians, whom the same Qur'an describes as 'followers of earlier revelation' (ahl al-kitab), consider him divine. Hence, are we not rather justified in our worshipping angels, who are certainly superior to a mere human being?" The fallacy inherent in this "argument" is disposed of in the sequence.

Since the Qur'an condemns explicitly, and in many places, the deification of Jesus by the Christians, this unwarranted deification cannot be used as an argument in favour of the pagan worship of angels and, thus, against the Qur'an: in the words of Zamakhshari , such an argument amounts to "applying a false analogy to a false proposition" (qiyas batil bi-batil).

Implying not only that Jesus was not a supernatural being, but that the angels, too, are mere created beings finite in their existence - as indicated by the phrase "succeeding one another" - and, therefore, utterly removed from the status of divinity (Baydawi).

Aswirah = Armlets of gold, which were considered a sign of honor, stature and royalty in many civilizations

Verses 43:57-60: The idolaters in this instance are referring to angels being their gods, and claim that angels are better than Jesus who was a mortal human being according to the Qur'an. Furthermore, angels being devoid of free will are obviously sinless, whereas humans, endowed with free will, are accountable for their actions. These verses are refuting divinity of angels by stating that they succeed one another. Also being refuted is the Doctrine of Atonement whereby mere acceptance of Jesus as the 'Savior' is believed to render humans sinless like angels. But God willed the earth to be populated by the imperfect humans given the capacity to make their own choices

The word salaf (past, ancestors, predecessors) is currently used as a label by the radical Sunnis who reject sectarian jurisprudence, yet rely directly on hadith and sunna; they claim to be the followers of the prophet and his companions, whom they call salaf. The Salafi movement started with Ibn Taymiyya, a charismatic scholar who rejected some major tenets of orthodox teachings. Orthodox Sunni sects promote blindly following the fatwas or jurisprudence of a particular sect and discourage from interpreting and inferring directly from hadith. Ibn Taymiyya argued that every Muslim must have direct access to hadith books and learn their religion through studying them, rather than being bound by the views of earlier scholars. Though Salafis justifiably rejected many polytheistic teachings and rituals, such as sectarian jurisprudence, intercession and imploring shrines, they unfortunately indulged in fabricated hadith, and advocated a narrow (mis)understanding of the Quran, such as rejecting the use of metaphors. Since, they set hadith sources as partners with God in practicing Islam, they ended up with a religion that reflected a concoction of Arabic, Jewish and Christian culture from medieval times. The majority of salafis live in Saudi Arabia and they promote a Taliban-style tyrannical system that produces an ignorant, misogynistic and backward crowd who subject themselves to being herded like sheep by the moral police. As we noted in relation to the words hadith, sunna, and ijma, the word salaf too has negative connotations in the Quran. This is a miraculous prophecy of the Quran; major sects who abandoned the Quran by setting up various lists of "holy" idols and teachings as partners with God in His system, use labels and names that are convicted by the Quran. The word salaf in all its derivatives, occurs eight times (2:285; 4:22,23; 5:95; 8:38; 10:30; 69:24; 43:56), and in only one occurrence, here, is it used as a reference to a community of people who were ignorant, aggressive and oppressive. For the prophetic reference of the Quran regarding other sectarian labels, see: 33:38.