42. Ash-Shura (Consultation)

Mecca Period 53

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

لِلَّهِ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَاء...

42: 49. To Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth. He creates what He wills (and plans).

C4595. Verses 49-50 deal, in their ordinary meaning, with Allah's creative power replete with knowledge and continued purpose, contrasted with man's instincts and groping after knowledge.

The mystery of sex and parenthood is referred to in a new fight. With reference to children, a parent is often spoken of as the "author" of their being. The growth of population and the proportion of males and females in it have various sociological and psychological implications; yet how little do parents really know about them?

If advancing knowledge threw light on what may be called the mechanical aspects of the question, the profounder problems touched by it are beyond the reach of man. Yet they are not governed by chance.

Allah has a meaning and purpose in all things, and His power is complete to carry out His purpose.

...يَهَبُ لِمَنْ يَشَاء إِنَاثًا وَيَهَبُ لِمَن يَشَاء الذُّكُورَ ﴿٤٩﴾

He bestows (children) male or female according to His Will (and Plan).

أَوْ يُزَوِّجُهُمْ ذُكْرَانًا وَإِنَاثًا وَيَجْعَلُ مَن يَشَاء عَقِيمًا...

42: 50. Or He bestows both males and females, and He leaves barren whom He will:

C4596. To parents themselves it is a mystery why a male or female child is given at any birth, or how the balance of the two sexes is made up in a family or in large groups of mankind, or why in some cases the womb is barren and the would be parents are denied the joys and responsibilities of parenthood.

But each individual human soul is precious in the Plan of Allah, and all these variations, besides their reactions on parents and on society, have a purpose to fulfil in the large Plan of Allah.

...إِنَّهُ عَلِيمٌ قَدِيرٌ ﴿٥٠﴾

for He is Full of knowledge and power.

Asad’s Version:

42:49 God's alone is the dominion over the heavens and the earth. He creates whatever He wills: He bestows the gift of female offspring on whomever He wills, and the gift of male offspring on whomever He wills;

(42:50) or He gives both male and female [to whomever He wills], and causes to be barren whomever He wills: for, verily, He is all-knowing, infinite in His power. 51

[[Asad’s note - 51 The purport of this passage is a re-affirmation of the fact that whatever happens to man is an outcome of God's unfathomable will: a fact which is illustrated in the sequence by the most common, recurrent phenomenon in man's life - the unpredictability of male or female births, as well as of barrenness: and so, too, God's bestowal of worldly happiness and unhappiness cannot be measured or predicted in terms of what man may regard as his "due". ]]