Surah 17. Al-Israa, Ayah 40
| أَفَأَصْفَاكُمْ رَبُّكُمْ بِالْبَنِينَ وَاتَّخَذَ مِنَ الْمَلَائِكَةِ إِنَاثًا ۚ إِنَّكُمْ لَتَقُولُونَ قَوْلًا عَظِيمًا |
| Transliteration | : | 'a- fa- as.faa -kum rabb -kum bi- al- banen wa- ittakhadha min al- malaa'ikah 'inaath(an) 'inna -kum la- taqolon qawl(an) caz.em(an) |
| Pickthall | : | Hath your Lord then distinguished you (O men of Mecca) by giving you sons, and hath chosen for Himself females from among the angels? Lo! verily ye speak an awful word! |
| Asad | : | HAS, THEN, your Sustainer distinguished you by [giving you] sons, and taken unto Himself daughters in the guise of angels?49 Verily, you are uttering a dreadful saying! |
| Malik | : | What! Has your Rabb preferred to give you sons and adopted angels as daughters for Himself? Certainly you are uttering a monstrous statement. |
| Yusuf Ali | : | Has then your Lord (O Pagans!) preferred for you sons and taken for Himself daughters among the angels? Truly ye utter a most dreadful saying! 2226 |
Note - 49Lit., "and taken unto Himself, out of the angels,
females": an allusion to the pre-Islamic Arabian belief
that the angels - conceived of as a kind of female
sub-deities - were God's "daughters", and this despite
the pagan Arabs' contempt for female offspring (cf. {16:
57-59} and the corresponding notes). In its wider
implication, this rhetorical question is meant to bring
out the absurdity of the supposition that God's divinity
could be projected into, or shared by, any other being
(cf. {6 :100-101}).
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Note - 2226Cf. xvi. 57-59. Insistence on true worship means also
exclusion of false worship or worship derogatory to
Allah. In circles where daughters were despised and even
their lives had to be protected by special legislation,
what could have been dreadful than ascribing daughters to
Allah?
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Lit., "and taken unto Himself, out of the angels, females": an allusion to the pre-Islamic Arabian belief that the angels - conceived of as a kind of female sub-deities - were God's "daughters", and this despite the pagan Arabs' contempt for female offspring (cf. {16: 57-59} and the corresponding notes). In its wider implication, this rhetorical question is meant to bring out the absurdity of the supposition that God's divinity could be projected into, or shared by, any other being (cf. {6 :100-101}). |
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Cf. xvi. 57-59. Insistence on true worship means also exclusion of false worship or worship derogatory to Allah. In circles where daughters were despised and even their lives had to be protected by special legislation, what could have been dreadful than ascribing daughters to Allah? |
