Sura-43 [Az Zukhruf Mecca 63]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s version:
أَمِ
اتَّخَذَ
مِمَّا يَخْلُقُ
بَنَاتٍ وَأَصْفَاكُم
بِالْبَنِينَ
﴿١٦﴾
43:16. What!
Has He taken Daughters out of what He Himself creates, and granted to you sons for choice?
C4621. To imagine goddesses (female gods) or mothers or daughters to Allah was particularly blasphemous in the mouths of people who held the female sex in contempt. Such were the pagan Arabs, and such (it is to be feared) are some of the moderns. They wince when a daughter is born to them and hanker after sons. With that mentality, how can they attribute daughters to Allah?
وَإِذَا
بُشِّرَ أَحَدُهُم
بِمَا ضَرَبَ
لِلرَّحْمَنِ
مَثَلًا ظَلَّ
وَجْهُهُ
مُسْوَدًّا
وَهُوَ كَظِيمٌ
﴿١٧﴾
43:17. When news is brought to one of them of (the birth of) what he sets up as a likeness to (Allah) Most Gracious, his face darkens, and he is filled with inward grief!
C4622. Cf. 16:57-59 and notes.
With scathing irony it is pointed out that what they hate and are ashamed of for themselves they attribute to Allah!
أَوَمَن
يُنَشَّأُ فِي
الْحِلْيَةِ
وَهُوَ فِي
الْخِصَامِ
غَيْرُ مُبِينٍ
﴿١٨﴾
43:18. Is then one brought up among trinkets, and unable to give a clear account in a dispute (to be associated with Allah)?
C4623. The softer sex is usually brought up among trinkets and ornaments, and, on account of the retiring modesty which for the sex is a virtue, is unable to stand up boldly in a fight and give clear indications of the will to win.
Is that sort of quality to be associated with Allah?
وَجَعَلُوا
الْمَلَائِكَةَ
الَّذِينَ هُمْ
عِبَادُ الرَّحْمَنِ
إِنَاثًا...
43:19. And they make into females angels who themselves serve Allah.
C4624. Angels for grace and purity may be compared to the most graceful and the purest forms we know. But it is wrong to attribute sex to them. They are servants and messengers of Allah and so far from being rivals seeking worship, are always engaged in devotion and service.
If any persons invent blasphemies about Allah, such blasphemies will form a big blot in their Book of Deeds, and they will be called to account for them.
...أَشَهِدُوا خَلْقَهُمْ...
Did they witness their creation?
سَتُكْتَبُ شَهَادَتُهُمْ وَيُسْأَلُونَ ﴿١٩﴾
Their evidence will be recorded, and they will be called to account!
وَقَالُوا
لَوْ شَاء الرَّحْمَنُ
مَا عَبَدْنَاهُم...
43:20. ("Ah!") they say,
"If it had been the Will of (Allah) Most Gracious, We should not have worshipped such (deities)!"
C4625. Worsted in argument they resort to a dishonest sarcasm. 'We worship these deities: if Allah does not wish us to do so, why does He not prevent us?'
In throwing the responsibility on Allah, they ignore the limited free-will on which their whole life is based. They are really playing with truth. They are arguing against their own knowledge. They have no authority in any scripture, and indeed they are so slippery that they hold fast to no scripture at all.
...مَّا لَهُم بِذَلِكَ مِنْ عِلْمٍ إِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا يَخْرُصُونَ ﴿٢٠﴾
of that they have no knowledge!
They Do nothing but lie!
C4626. Cf. 6:116.
أَمْ
آتَيْنَاهُمْ
كِتَابًا مِّن
قَبْلِهِ فَهُم
بِهِ مُسْتَمْسِكُونَ
﴿٢١﴾
43:21. What!
have We given them a Book before this, to which they are holding fast?
بَلْ
قَالُوا
إِنَّا وَجَدْنَا
آبَاءنَا عَلَى
أُمَّةٍ وَإِنَّا
عَلَى آثَارِهِم
مُّهْتَدُونَ
﴿٢٢﴾
43:22. Nay!
they say:
"We found our fathers following a certain religion, and We do guide ourselves by their footsteps."
C4627. Then comes the argument about ancestral custom, which was repudiated by Abraham (see verses 26-28 below).
Indeed a good reply to ancestral custom in the case of the Arabs was the example of Abraham, the True in Faith, for Abraham was the common ancestor of the Arabs and the Israelites.
Other versions:
43:16 Or [do you think], perchance, that out of all His creation He has chosen for Himself daughters, and favored you with sons?"
(43 : 1 7) For [thus it is:] if any of them is given the glad tiding of [the birth of] what he so readily attributes to the Most Gracious, 15 his face darkens, and he is filled with suppressed anger:
43:18) "What! [Am I to have a daughter -] one who is to be reared [only] for the sake of ornament?" 16 - and thereupon he finds himself torn by a vague inner conflict. 17
43:19 And [yet] they claim that the angels - who in themselves are but beings created by the Most Gracious 18 - are females: [but] did they witness their creation?
This false claim of theirs 19 will be recorded, and they will be called to account [for it on Judgment Day] !
43:20 Yet they say, "Had [not] the Most Gracious so willed, we would never have worshipped them!" [But] they cannot have any knowledge of [His having willed] such a thing: they do nothing but guess "
(43:21) Or have We, perchance, vouchsafed them, before this one, a revelation [to
the contrary,] to which they are still holding fast? 21
43:22 Nay, but they say, "Behold, We found our forefathers agreed on what to believe - and, verily, it is in their footsteps that we find our guidance!"
[[Asad’s notes -
14 It should be remembered that the people thus addressed were the pagan Arabs, who believed that some of their goddesses, as well as the angels, were "God's daughters". In view of the fact that those pre-Islamic Arabs regarded daughters as a mere liability and their birth as a disgrace, this verse is obviously ironical. (Cf. in this connection 16:57-59.)
1 5 Lit., "what he postulates as a likeness of [or "as likely for"] the Most Gracious" : i.e., female offspring, which implies a natural "likeness" to its progenitor.
16 I.e., one who, from the viewpoint of the pre-Islamic Arabs, would have no function other than "embellishing" a man's life.
17 Lit., "he finds himself in an invisible (ghayr mubin) conflict" - i.e., an inner conflict which he does not quite admit to his consciousness: Cf. 16:59 - "[he debates within himself:] Shall he keep this child despite the contempt [which he feels for it] - or shall he bury it in the dust?" (See also, in particular, the corresponding note 66.) ]]