Surah An-Nahl • Ayah 58
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Among the Behavior of the Idolators was vowing to Things that Allah had provided for Them to their godsAllah tells us about some of the heinous deeds of those who used to perform baseless worship of other gods besides Him, such as idols and statues, with no grounds for doing so. They gave their idols a share of that which Allah had provided for them, فَقَالُواْ هَـذَا لِلَّهِ بِزَعْمِهِمْ وَهَـذَا لِشُرَكَآئِنَا فَمَا كَانَ لِشُرَكَآئِهِمْ فَلاَ يَصِلُ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَمَا كَانَ لِلَّهِ فَهُوَ يَصِلُ إِلَى شُرَكَآئِهِمْ سَآءَ مَا يَحْكُمُونَ(They say: "This is for Allah," according to their claim, "and this is for our partners." But the share of their "partners" is not directed to Allah, while the share of Allah is directed to their "partners"! How evil is that with which they judge) (6:136) That is they assigned a share for their idols as well as Allah, but they gave preference to their gods over Him, so Allah swore by His Almighty Self to question them about these lies and fabrications. He will most certainly call them to account for it and give them the unrelenting punishment in the fire of Hell. So He says, تَاللَّهِ لَتُسْـَلُنَّ عَمَّا كُنْتُمْ تَفْتَرُونَ(By Allah, you shall certainly be questioned about (all) that you used to fabricate.) Then Allah tells us how they used to regard the angels, who are servants of the Most Merciful, as being female, and that they considered them to be Allah's daughters, and they worshipped them with Him. In all of the above, they made very serious errors. They attributed offspring to Him when He has no offspring, then they assigned Him the kind of offspring they regarded as inferior, namely daughters, which they did not even want for themselves, as He said: أَلَكُمُ الذَّكَرُ وَلَهُ الاٍّنثَى - تِلْكَ إِذاً قِسْمَةٌ ضِيزَى (Are the males for you and the females for Him That is indeed an unfair division!) (53:21-22) And Allah says here: وَيَجْعَلُونَ لِلَّهِ الْبَنَـتِ سُبْحَانَهُ(And they assign daughters unto Allah! Glorified (and Exalted) is He.) meaning, above their claims and fabrications. أَلاَ إِنَّهُم مِّنْ إِفْكِهِمْ لَيَقُولُونَ - وَلَدَ اللَّهُ وَإِنَّهُمْ لَكَـذِبُونَ - أَصْطَفَى الْبَنَاتِ عَلَى الْبَنِينَ مَا لَكُمْ كَيْفَ تَحْكُمُونَ (But no! It is from their falsehood that they say: "Allah has begotten." They are certainly liars! Has He (then) chosen daughters rather than sons What is the matter with you How do you decide) (37:151-154) وَلَهُمْ مَّا يَشْتَهُونَ(And for themselves, what they desire;) meaning they choose the males for themselves, rejecting the daughters that they assign to Allah. Exalted be Allah far above what they say! The Idolators' Abhorrence for Daughtersوَإِذَا بُشِّرَ أَحَدُهُمْ بِالاٍّنْثَى ظَلَّ وَجْهُهُ مُسْوَدًّا(And when the news of (the birth of) a female (child) is brought to any of them, his face becomes dark) meaning with distress and grief. وَهُوَ كَظِيمٌ(and he is filled with inner grief!) meaning he is silent because of the intensity of the grief he feels. يَتَوَارَى مِنَ الْقَوْمِ(He hides himself from the people) meaning he does not want anyone to see him. مِن سُوءِ مَا بُشِّرَ بِهِ أَيُمْسِكُهُ عَلَى هُونٍ أَمْ يَدُسُّهُ فِى التُّرَابِ(because of the evil of that whereof he has been informed. Shall he keep her with dishonor or bury her in the earth) meaning should he keep her, humiliating her, not letting her inherit from him and not taking care of her, preferring his male children over her أَمْ يَدُسُّهُ فِى التُّرَابِ(or bury her in the earth) meaning bury her alive, as they used to do during the days of ignorance. How could they dislike something so intensely, yet attribute it to Allah أَلاَ سَآءَ مَا يَحْكُمُونَ(Certainly, evil is their decision.) meaning how evil are the words they say, the way they want to share things out and the things they attribute to Him. As Allah says: وَإِذَا بُشِّرَ أَحَدُهُم بِمَا ضَرَبَ لِلرَّحْمَـنِ مَثَلاً ظَلَّ وَجْهُهُ مُسْوَدّاً وَهُوَ كَظِيمٌ (And if one of them is informed of the news of (the birth of a girl) that which he sets forth as a parable to the Most Gracious (Allah), his face becomes dark, and he is filled with grief!) (43:17). Here, Allah says: لِلَّذِينَ لاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالاٌّخِرَةِ مَثَلُ السَّوْءِ(For those who do not believe in the Hereafter there is an evil description,) meaning, only imperfection is to be attributed to وَلِلَّهِ الْمَثَلُ الاٌّعْلَى(and for Allah is the highest description) meaning He is absolutely perfect in all ways and this absolute perfection is His Alone. وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ(And He is the All-Mighty, the All-Wise.)
بازپرس لازمی ہو گی ٭٭مشرکوں کی بے عقلی اور بے ڈھنگی بیان ہو رہی ہے کہ «هَذَا لِلَّهِ بِزَعْمِهِمْ وَهَذَا لِشُرَكَائِنَا فَمَا كَانَ لِشُرَكَائِهِمْ فَلَا يَصِلُ إِلَى اللَّهِ بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ وَمَا كَانَ لِلَّهِ فَهُوَ يَصِلُ إِلَى شُرَكَائِهِمْ» [6-الأنعام:136] ” دینے والا اللہ ہے سب کچھ اسی کا دیا ہوا اور یہ اس میں سے اپنے جھوٹے معبودوں کے نام ہو جائے جن کا صحیح علم بھی انہیں نہیں پھر اس میں سختی ایسی کریں کہ اللہ کے نام کا تو چاہے ان کے معبودوں کے ہو جائے لیکن ان کے معبودوں کے نام کیا گیا اللہ کے نام نہ ہو سکے “۔ ایسے لوگوں سے ضرور بازپرس ہوگی اور اس افترا کا بدلہ انہیں پورا پورا ملے گا۔ جہنم کی آگ ہوگی اور یہ ہوں گے۔ پھر ان کی دوسری بے انصافی اور حماقت بیان ہو رہی ہے کہ ” اللہ کے مقرب غلام فرشتے ان کے نزدیک اللہ کی بیٹیاں ہیں یہ خطا کرکے پھر ان کی عبادت کرتے ہیں جو خطا پر خطا ہے “۔ یہاں تین جرم ان سے سرزد ہوئے اول تو اللہ کے لیے اولاد ٹھہرانا جو اس سے یکسر پاک ہے، «أَلَكُمُ الذَّكَرُ وَلَهُ الْأُنْثَى تِلْكَ إِذًا قِسْمَةٌ ضِيزَى» [53-النجم:21-22] پھر اولاد میں سے بھی وہ قسم اسے دینا جسے خود اپنے لیے بھی پسند نہیں کرتے یعنی لڑکیاں۔ کیا ہی الٹی بات ہے کہ اپنے لیے اولاد ہو؟ پھر اولاد بھی وہ جو ان کے نزدیک نہایت ردی اور ذلیل چیز ہے۔ کیا حماقت ہے کہ انہیں تو اللہ لڑکے دے اور اپنے لیے لڑکیاں رکھے؟ اللہ اس سے بلکہ اولاد سے پاک ہے۔ انہیں جب خبر ملے کہ ان کے ہاں لڑکی ہوئی تو مارے ندامت و شرم کے منہ کالا پڑ جائے، زبان بند ہو جائے، غم سے کمر جھک جائے۔ زہر کے گھونٹ پی کر خاموش ہوجائے۔ لوگوں سے منہ چھپاتا پھرے۔ اسی سوچ میں رہے کہ اب کیا کروں اگر لڑکی کو زندہ چھوڑتا ہوں تو بڑی رسوائی ہے نہ وہ وارث بنے نہ کوئی چیز سمجھی جائے لڑکے کو اس پر ترجیح دی جائے غرض زندہ رکھے تو نہایت ذلت سے۔ ورنہ صاف بات ہے کہ جیتے جی گڑھا کھودا اور دبا دی۔ یہ حالت تو اپنی ہے پھر اللہ کے لیے یہی چیز ثابت کرتے ہیں۔ کیسے برے فیصلے کرتے ہیں؟ کتنی بے حیائی کی تقسیم کرتے ہیں اللہ کے لیے جو بیٹی ثابت کریں اسے اپنے لیے سخت تر باعث توہین و تذلیل سمجھیں۔ اصل یہ ہے کہ بری مثال اور نقصان انہی کافروں کے لیے ہے اللہ کے لیے کمال ہے۔ وہ عزیز و حکیم ہے اور ذوالجلال والاکرام ہے۔صفحہ نمبر4468
آیت 57 وَيَجْعَلُوْنَ لِلّٰهِ الْبَنٰتِ سُبْحٰنَهٗ ۙ وَلَهُمْ مَّا يَشْتَهُوْنَ اللہ تعالیٰ کی اولاد کے طور پر وہ لوگ اس سے بیٹیاں منسوب کرتے ہیں جبکہ خود اپنے لیے وہ بیٹے پسند کرتے ہیں۔ انہوں نے اللہ کے لیے اولاد تجویز بھی کی تو بیٹیاں تجویز کیں جو خود اپنے لیے پسند نہیں کرتے۔
CommentaryIn these verses, two peculiar traits of the disbelievers of Arabia have been censured. To begin with, they would take the birth of a baby girl to be so bad that they would go about hiding from people to avoid being disgraced before them. This predicament would then throw them into a fix as to what they should do about it. Should they swallow their pride, em-brace the disgrace of becoming the father of a baby girl and resign to the disaster with patience, or just ditch it alive into the dust and get rid of it? Then, on top of it, they had turned so irrational that the child they did not like to have as their own, that they would be audacious enough to attribute to Allah Almighty by declaring that the angels were His daughters!
The century before the Prophet's mission, Arabia was characterized by: constant tribal warfare, female infanticide (wa'd al-banat), idol worship (360 idols in the Kaaba), poverty alongside merchant wealth, slavery, and the absence of any unified political authority. The Prophet (ﷺ) transformed this society within 23 years. The Quran repeatedly references these customs — the killing of daughters (16:58-59; 81:8-9) — as signs of moral darkness that Islam came to eradicate.
Pre-Islamic Arabia practiced female infanticide (wa'd al-banat) — burying newborn girls alive due to shame and poverty. The Quran condemned this in multiple verses (16:58-59; 81:8-9; 6:151). The Prophet's declaration 'One who raises two daughters well and I will enter Paradise like this' (pointing to two fingers together) transformed the cultural attitude. The Quran's question on Judgment Day: 'For what sin was she killed?' (81:9) remains one of the most powerful rhetorical condemnations of gender discrimination.
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