43:20 Az-Zukhruf (Ornaments of gold)

وقوله تعالى: { وَقَالُوا لَوْ شَاءَ الرَّحْمَنُ مَا عَبَدْنَاهُمْ } فاحتجوا على عبادتهم الملائكة بالمشيئة، وهي حجة لم يزل المشركون يطرقونها، وهي حجة باطلة في نفسها، عقلا وشرعا. فكل عاقل لا يقبل الاحتجاج بالقدر، ولو سلكه في حالة من أحواله لم يثبت عليها قدمه.وأما شرعا، فإن اللّه تعالى أبطل الاحتجاج به، ولم يذكره عن غير المشركين به المكذبين لرسله، فإن اللّه تعالى قد أقام الحجة على العباد، فلم يبق لأحد عليه حجة أصلا، ولهذا قال هنا: { مَا لَهُمْ بِذَلِكَ مِنْ عِلْمٍ إِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا يَخْرُصُونَ } أي: يتخرصون تخرصا لا دليل عليه، ويتخبطون خبط عشواء.

أي لو أراد الله لحال بيننا وبن عبادة الأصنام التي هى على صورة الملائكة التي هي بنات الله فإنه عالم بذلك وهو يقررنا عليه فجمعوا بين أنوع كثيرة من الخطأ "أحدها" جعلهم لله تعالى ولدا تعالى وتقدس وتنزه عن ذلك علوا كبيرا "الثاني" دعواهم أنه اصطفى البنات على البنين فجعلوا الملائكة الذين هم عباد الرحمن إناثا "الثالث" عبادتهم لهم مع ذلك كله بلا دليل ولا برهان ولا إذن من الله عز وجل بل بمجرد الآراء والأهواء والتقليد للأسلاف والكبراء والآباء والخبط في الجاهلية الجهلاء "الرابع" احتجاجهم بتقديرهم على ذلك قدرا وقد جهلوا في هذا الاحتجاج جهلا كبيرا فإنه تعالى قد أنكر ذلك عليهم أشد الإنكار فإنه منذ بعث الرسل وأنزل الكتب يأمر بعبادته وحده لا شريك له وينهى عن عبادة ما سواه قال تعالى "ولقد بعثنا في كل أمة رسولا أن اعبدوا الله واجتنبوا الطاغوت فمنهم من هدى الله ومنهم من حطت عليه الضلالة فسيروا في الأرض فانظروا كيف كان عاقبة المكذبين" وقال عز وجل "واسأل من أرسلنا من قبلك من رسلنا أجعلنا من دون الرحمن آلهة يعبدون" وقال جل وعلا في هذه الآية بعد أن ذكر حجتهم هذه "ما لهم بذلك من علم" أي بصحة ما قالوه واحتجوا به "إن هم إلا يخرصون" أي يكذبون ويتقولون وقال مجاهد في قوله تعالى "ما لهم بذلك من علم إن هم إلا يخرصون" يعني ما يعلمون قدرة الله تبارك وتعالى على ذلك.

Condemnation of the Idolators' attribution of Offspring to Allah

Here Allah speaks of the lies and fabrications of the idolators, when they devoted some of their cattle to their false gods and some to Allah, as He described in Surat Al-An`am where He said:

وَجَعَلُواْ لِلَّهِ مِمَّا ذَرَأَ مِنَ الْحَرْثِ وَالاٌّنْعَامِ نَصِيباً فَقَالُواْ هَـذَا لِلَّهِ بِزَعْمِهِمْ وَهَـذَا لِشُرَكَآئِنَا فَمَا كَانَ لِشُرَكَآئِهِمْ فَلاَ يَصِلُ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَمَا كَانَ لِلَّهِ فَهُوَ يَصِلُ إِلَى شُرَكَآئِهِمْ سَآءَ مَا يَحْكُمُونَ

(And they assign to Allah share of the tilth and cattle which He has created, and they say: "This is for Allah" according to their claim, "and this is for our partners." But the share of their partners reaches not Allah, while the share of Allah reaches their partners! Evil is the way they judge!) (6:136). Similarly, out of the two kinds of offspring, sons and daughters, they assigned to Him the worst and least valuable (in their eyes), i.e., daughters, as Allah says:

أَلَكُمُ الذَّكَرُ وَلَهُ الاٍّنثَى - تِلْكَ إِذاً قِسْمَةٌ ضِيزَى

(Is it for you the males and for Him the females That indeed is a division most unfair!) (53:21-22) And Allah says here:

وَجَعَلُواْ لَهُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ جُزْءًا إِنَّ الإنسَـنَ لَكَفُورٌ مُّبِينٌ

(Yet, they assign to some of His servants a share with Him. Verily, man is indeed a manifest ingrate!) Then He says:

أَمِ اتَّخَذَ مِمَّا يَخْلُقُ بَنَاتٍ وَأَصْفَـكُم بِالْبَنِينَ

(Or has He taken daughters out of what He has created, and He has selected for you sons) This is a denunciation of them in the strongest terms, as He goes on to say:

وَإِذَا بُشِّرَ أَحَدُهُم بِمَا ضَرَبَ لِلرَّحْمَـنِ مَثَلاً ظَلَّ وَجْهُهُ مُسْوَدّاً وَهُوَ كَظِيمٌ

(And if one of them is informed of the news of that which he sets forth as a parable to the Most Gracious, his face becomes dark, and he is filled with grief!) means, if one of these people is given the news that there has been born to him one of those which he attributes to Allah, i.e., a daughter, he hates this news and it depresses and overwhelms him so much that he keeps away from people because he feels so ashamed. Allah says, so how can they dislike that so much and yet they attribute it to Allah

أَوَمَن يُنَشَّأُ فِى الْحِلْيَةِ وَهُوَ فِى الْخِصَامِ غَيْرُ مُبِينٍ

(A creature who is brought up in adornments, and who in dispute cannot make itself clear) means, women are regarded as lacking something, which they make up for with jewelry and adornments from the time of childhood onwards, and when there is a dispute, they cannot speak up and defend themselves clearly, so how can this be attributed to Allah

وَجَعَلُواْ الْمَلَـئِكَةَ الَّذِينَ هُمْ عِبَادُ الرَّحْمَـنِ إِنَـثاً

(And they make females the angels who themselves are servants of the Most Gracious.) means, that is what they believe about them, but Allah denounces them for that and says:

أَشَهِدُواْ خَلْقَهُمْ

(Did they witness their creation) meaning, did they see Allah creating them as females

سَتُكْتَبُ شَهَـدَتُهُمْ

(Their testimony will be recorded,) means, concerning that,

وَيُسْـَلُونَ

(and they will be questioned!) means, about that, on the Day of Resurrection. This is a stern warning and a serious threat.

وَقَالُواْ لَوْ شَآءَ الرَّحْمَـنُ مَا عَبَدْنَـهُمْ

(And they said: "If it had been the will of the Most Gracious, we should not have worshipped them.") means, (they said:) `if Allah had willed, He would have prevented us from worshipping these idols which are images of the angels who are the daughters of Allah; He knows about this and He approves of it.' By saying this, they combined several types of error: First: They attributed offspring to Allah -- exalted and sanctified be He far above that. Second: They claimed that He chose daughters rather than sons, and they made the angels, who are the servants of the Most Gracious, female. Third: They worshipped them with no proof, evidence or permission from Allah. This was based on mere opinion, whims and desires, imitation of their elders and forefathers, and pure ignorance. They used Allah's decree as an excuse, and this reasoning betrayed their ignorance. Fourth: Allah denounced them for this in the strongest terms, for from the time He first sent Messengers and revealed Books, the command was to worship Him Alone with no partner or associate, and it was forbidden to worship anything other than Him. Allah says:

وَلَقَدْ بَعَثْنَا فِى كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ رَّسُولاً أَنِ اعْبُدُواْ اللَّهَ وَاجْتَنِبُواْ الْطَّـغُوتَ فَمِنْهُم مَّنْ هَدَى اللَّهُ وَمِنْهُمْ مَّنْ حَقَّتْ عَلَيْهِ الضَّلَـلَةُ فَسِيرُواْ فِى الاٌّرْضِ فَانظُرُواْ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَـقِبَةُ الْمُكَذِّبِينَ

(And verily, We have sent among every Ummah a Messenger (proclaiming): "Worship Allah, and avoid all false deities." Then of them were some whom Allah guided and of them were some upon whom the straying was justified. So travel through the land and see what was the end of those who denied.) (16:36)

وَاسْئلْ مَنْ أَرْسَلْنَا مِن قَبْلِكَ مِن رُّسُلِنَآ أَجَعَلْنَا مِن دُونِ الرَّحْمَـنِ ءَالِهَةً يُعْبَدُونَ

(And ask those of Our Messengers whom We sent before you: "Did We ever appoint gods to be worshipped besides the Most Gracious") (43:45) And Allah says in this Ayah, after mentioning this argument of theirs:

مَّا لَهُم بِذَلِكَ مِنْ عِلْمٍ

(They have no knowledge whatsoever of that.) meaning, of the truth of what they say and the arguments they put forward.

وَإِنْ هُمْ إِلاَّ يَخْرُصُونَ

(They do nothing but lie!) means, they tell lies and fabricate untruths.

مَّا لَهُم بِذَلِكَ مِنْ عِلْمٍ إِنْ هُمْ إِلاَّ يَخْرُصُونَ

(They have no knowledge whatsoever of that. They do nothing but lie!) Mujahid said, "They do not appreciate the power of Allah."

And they say ‘Had the Compassionate One so willed we would not have worshipped them’ the angels therefore our worship of them happens by His will and so He must be satisfied with it. God exalted be He says They do not have any knowledge of that which is said of His being satisfied with the worship of these angels; and they are only surmising inventing lies in this respect and so punishment will befall them as a result thereof.

أَوَمَن يُنَشَّأُ فِي الْحِلْيَةِ (Is it that (Allah has chosen) those (as His offspring) who are grown up in ornaments,... 43:18). This tells us that use of ornaments and adornment in accordance with 'Shari'ah is permissible for women. As such, there is consensus on this issue, but at the same time the manner of speech indicates that getting so much involved in adornment that one is busy in it the whole day long, is not proper; it is not only a symptom of one's being short-sighted, but also a cause of it.

وَهُوَ فِي الْخِصَامِ غَيْرُ‌ مُبِينٍ (and who cannot express themselves in debate clearly - 18). This reflects the reality that a great majority of women do not have the same ability as men to express their feelings clearly. Therefore, if it comes to argumentation, it is difficult for them to prove their own contention and to refute the other's arguments in a clear manner. But this applies to the majority. If some women are eloquent in their speech and excel even men in this regard, it does not go against this verse, because the rule applies to the majority, and not to every single individual.