al-Ṣāffāt 37:149-157

Fa'staftihim a-li-rabbika'l-banātu wa lahumu'l-banūn · Am khalaqna'l-malāʾikata ināthan wa hum shāhidūn · Alā innahum min ifkihim la-yaqūlūn · Walada'llāhu wa innahum la-kādhibūn · Aṣṭafa'l-banāti ʿala'l-banīn · Mā lakum kayfa taḥkumūn · A-fa-lā tadhakkarūn · Am lakum sulṭānun mubīn · Fa'tū bi-kitābikum in kuntum ṣādiqīn

"Now ask them for their opinion: are the daughters your Lord's and the sons theirs? Or did We create the angels female while they were witnesses? Take note! Out of their fabrication they say, 'God has begotten' — and they are certainly liars. — Has He chosen daughters over sons? What is the matter with you, how do you judge? Will you not reflect? Or have you a plain warrant? Bring your book, then, if you are truthful."

It was analysed in the eleventh verse, and the table of the two occurrences was given there. I do not repeat it.

The note here: the verb opens another block. In the eleventh verse creation was asked about; here, attribution. Both are a "which of the two" question, and both ask for an opinion, not for information.

And the analysis of this verse was made in detail at al-Najm 53/21-22 (a-lakumu'dh-dhakaru wa lahu'l-unthā · tilka idhan qismatun ḍīzā), and the structure of the proof, the catching of the addressee by his own admission, and the point about taqdīm were analysed there. I do not repeat it and I rely on that treatment.

The most important note there holds here unchanged, and it must be repeated:

The verse does not accept that a daughter is of less worth; it uses the addressee's own admission against him. This is a technique the Qurʾān often uses: to speak by the other side's own measure.

In the section on al-Takwīr 81/8-9 (wa idha'l-mawʾūdatu suʾilat · bi-ayyi dhanbin qutilat) this social background was treated in detail — the notes about the position of the girl child in that society, the verse al-Naḥl 16/58-59, and the extent of the practice were given there. I rely on that treatment and do not repeat it.

What is to be added here is the difference of word order between al-Najm and al-Ṣāffāt — and this is a textual datum:

Two differences are worth noting:

One — the order is reversed. In al-Najm the addressee's portion is named first, then God's. In al-Ṣāffāt God's portion first. As my own reading: in al-Ṣāffāt the address is to the Prophet (li-rabbika — "your Lord"), in al-Najm directly to those addressed (lakum — "yours"). The order changes according to the direction of address.

Two — the choice of words differs. Al-Najm says dhakar/unthā (male/female) — biological; al-Ṣāffāt says banāt/banūn (daughters/sons) — kinship. In al-Ṣāffāt the matter is set up as the attribution of offspring, in al-Najm as a portion of sex.

And the sentence of judgement differs too in al-Ṣāffāt: al-Najm gives a quality (qismatun ḍīzā — an unjust division); al-Ṣāffāt asks a question (kayfa taḥkumūn — how do you judge?). Al-Najm states the judgement, that is; al-Ṣāffāt makes the judgement be asked for. This is consistent with the sūra's method of istiftāʾ (asking for an opinion).

And this verse questions the source of knowledge of the claim.

Shāhid — root ش-ه-د: to be present at an event, to see with one's eye. Shahāda — a report resting on witnessing. The root was treated at Qāf 50/21, 37.

A point of word order: wa hum shāhidūn is a circumstantial clause — "were they present when We created the angels female?"

The question sets up this logic: to be able to say how a thing was created one must have witnessed that moment. And they are not witnesses.

The Qurʾān sets up the same proof elsewhere too: mā ashhadtuhum khalqa's-samāwāti wa'l-arḍi wa lā khalqa anfusihim (al-Kahf 18/51).

And at al-Najm 53/27-28 the same claim was handled in the same way: wa mā lahum bihi min ʿilm, in yattabiʿūna illa'ẓ-ẓann. There the name of the proof is the absence of knowledge, here the absence of witnessing. The two sūras show the same gap with two different words.

Alā — in Arabic the particle of drawing attention: "take note, know well that".

And a point of word order is worth noting: the sentence is divided between two verses, and the verse ends exactly where the quotation is to begin.

The words to be said, that is, have been thrown to the other side of the verse boundary. And at the moment they are said the judgement upon them is given in the same verse: wa innahum la-kādhibūn.

I record this as my own reading: the claim is only two words (walada'llāh) and is not left standing alone — it is refuted within the same verse. The sūra does not allow this sentence to stand on its own.

Ifk was analysed in the section on the eighty-sixth verse. And as was recorded there: ifk is not "a lie" but "speech that has turned the truth about".

And the link between the two occurrences must be recorded — this is a textual datum:

The question Abraham put to his people returns as a judgement upon those the sūra addresses. Sixty-five verses lie between the two.

Walada — root و-ل-د: to beget. And the choice of the verb is sharp: not ittakhadha waladan ("He took a child") but walada ("He begot"). The Qurʾān uses both expressions. The form here is rawer and more direct.

Kādhibūn — root ك-ذ-ب. And this is the third use of this root in the sūra: tukadhdhibūn (21), kadhdhabūhu (127), kādhibūn (152).

Iṣṭafā — root ص-ف-و, Form VIII: to select the best, the purest part of a thing. Ṣafwa — the essence of a thing, its part free of dregs. In the Qurʾān: inna'llāha'ṣṭafā Ādama wa Nūḥan (Āl ʿImrān 3/33).

A point of word order and of pronunciation: the hamza at the head is the interrogative hamza and has merged with the connecting hamza of the verb iṣṭafā. The reading is therefore a-iṣṭafā → aṣṭafā. This is a regular merging in Arabic.

And the choice of the verb carries the proof — as my own reading: iṣṭifāʾ is to select the better of two things. The question is this: "if He chose one of the two sexes, did He choose the one you count of less worth?"

The verse, that is, again uses the addressee's own measure. This is the same technique recorded in al-Najm.

Mā lakum — for the third and last time in the sūra (25, 92, 154). The table was given in the section on the twenty-fifth verse.

Taḥkumūn — root ح-ك-م. And the original sense of the root was analysed at al-Qalam 68/36: to bridle, to rein in. Ḥakama — he put the bit into the horse's mouth. A "judgement", then, is to set a thing in its place instead of leaving it loose.

And the same sentence had occurred at al-Qalam 68/36: mā lakum kayfa taḥkumūn. The same sentence, two sūras. This is a countable fact.

I record this as my own reading: the question is not "why do you judge thus?" but "how do you judge?" — that is, what is questioned is not the ground of the judgement but the authority to judge. And the following verses will ask this openly: where is your evidence?

Tadhakkarūn — root ذ-ك-ر, Form V: to remember of oneself, to think and draw a lesson.

And the root for the fourth time in the sūra. In the third verse dhikrā (what is carried), in the thirteenth lā yadhkurūn (what is not taken), here a-fa-lā tadhakkarūn (what is asked for), in the hundred and sixty-eighth dhikran mina'l-awwalīn (what they asked for and rejected). It was given in a table in the section on the structure.

And a note of word order: the verse is very short — three words. One of the shortest verses of the sūra. A short pause set in the middle of a long interrogation.

Sulṭān was analysed in the section on the thirtieth verse: an argument, a proof; and the power of rule. The root was treated at al-Najm 53/23 as well (mā anzala'llāhu bihā min sulṭān) — and there the same word was used about the same claim.

Kitāb — root ك-ت-ب: to write. And the demand is concrete: fa'tū bi-kitābikum — "bring your book".

I record this as my own reading: the verse does not say "bring a proof" but "bring your book". Not a spoken claim, that is, but a written document is asked for. And this has to do with the nature of the claim: the ground of one who judges about an unseen realm can only be an announcement.

And a similar demand was treated at al-Aḥqāf 46/4 (iʾtūnī bi-kitābin min qabli hādhā aw athāratin min ʿilm). I rely on that treatment.

In kuntum ṣādiqīn — "if you are truthful". It is the common closing of the Qurʾān's sentences of challenge.