وَٱللَّهُ جَعَلَ لَكُم مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَٰجًا وَجَعَلَ لَكُم مِّنْ أَزْوَٰجِكُم بَنِينَ وَحَفَدَةً وَرَزَقَكُم مِّنَ ٱلطَّيِّبَٰتِ أَفَبِٱلْبَٰطِلِ يُؤْمِنُونَ وَبِنِعْمَتِ ٱللَّهِ هُمْ يَكْفُرُونَ
Wa'llāhu jaʿala lakum min anfusikum azwājan wa jaʿala lakum min azwājikum banīna wa ḥafadatan wa razaqakum mina'l-ṭayyibāt, a-fa-bi'l-bāṭili yuʾminūna wa bi-niʿmati'llāhi hum yakfurūn
"God made for you spouses of your own kind, and from your spouses He gave you sons and grandsons, and He provided you with wholesome things. Do they then believe in what is false and deny God's favour?"
The construction was treated at al-Rūm, 30/21 (an khalaqa lakum min anfusikum azwājan li-taskunū ilayhā), and the disagreement was tabulated there: "of the same kind, or of the same stock". I rely on that treatment.
The difference that belongs here must be recorded, and the two verses do not arrive at the same place:
| al-Rūm 30/21 | al-Naḥl 16/72 | |
|---|---|---|
| What follows | Li-taskunū ilayhā wa jaʿala baynakum mawaddatan wa raḥma | Wa jaʿala lakum min azwājikum banīna wa ḥafada |
| What it is tied to | The character of the relation — rest, love, mercy | The continuation of the line — children, grandchildren |
| The closing | La-āyātin li-qawmin yatafakkarūn | A-fa-bi'l-bāṭili yuʾminūn |
I record this as an observation: al-Rūm names the pairing by way of an inward state; al-Naḥl by way of a continuation. The two verses take hold of the same fact at two different points, and both are enumerated as favours.
The concrete sense of the root: to serve swiftly, to bustle about, to hurry to another's help. Ḥafada — he was quick in service.
| View | Who the ḥafada are | Ground |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grandchildren | That it comes after banīn; the order of the generations |
| 2 | Those who serve, helpers | The primary sense of the root — service performed at a run |
| 3 | Sons-in-law / a wife's earlier children | A usage transmitted by some lexicographers |
And the sense of the root lends the second view a certain appeal — but the first is the more established in point of word order. I give this as an observation, not as a preference.
| Verb | Its object |
|---|---|
| Yuʾminūn — to believe | Bi'l-bāṭil — in what is false |
| Yakfurūn — to deny | Bi-niʿmati'llāh — God's favour |
I record this as an observation about the word order: the two verbs have changed places. The verb of believing is turned towards what is empty, the verb of denying towards what is real. The sentence does not state this separately; it shows it by the arrangement.
بَٰطِل — root ب-ط-ل: to come to nothing, to be void, to vanish. The lexicographers record the root's sense of "what is not fixed, what cannot keep its footing".