Tafsir of As-Saffat 37:149

In the beginning of this noble Surah, Allah the Exalted commanded His Prophet to silence the Quraysh and invalidate their school of thought regarding the denial of resurrection through the method of interrogation. He presented proofs that speak of its inevitable realization, explained its occurrence, and described the various forms of torment they will encounter when it comes, while exempting His sincere servants from it.

He—Exalted is He—detailed the everlasting bliss prepared for them. Then, He mentioned that most of the ancients before them had gone astray, and that He sent warners to them in a general sense. He then presented the stories of some of the prophets, peace be upon them, in a somewhat detailed manner, each containing that which points to their merit and their servanthood to Him—the Almighty and Majestic.

Then, He commanded him—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—here to silence them through the method of interrogation regarding a matter that the intellects completely reject: the false division necessitated by their deviant belief. For they used to say—like some tribes of the Arabs such as Juhaynah, Sulaym, Khuza'ah, and Banu Malih—that the angels are the daughters of Allah—Exalted is He above what they say, a great exaltation. Then, He silenced them by highlighting what their mentioned disbelief entails: the degradation of the angels—peace be upon them—by assigning them femininity.

Thereafter, He invalidated the root of their disbelief, which encompasses these two types of disbelief, namely, the attribution of a child to Him—Exalted is He above that, a great exaltation. He did not arrange this within the series of silent rebukes because they share this with the Jews, who claim Uzayr is the son of Allah, and the Christians, who believe Jesus is the son of Allah—Exalted is He above that.

It is said that the Fa (the 'So' in Fastaftihim) is for ordering the command based on what was learned previously: that those messengers—the most prominent of creation—are the servants of Allah. For this confirms the silencing and demonstrates the falsity of their corrupt sect. It is as if it were said: "Since the messengers of your Lord are those whose state you have come to know, ask these disbelievers: how is it that the daughters—who are the lower of the two genders—are for Him (according to their claim), while the sons—the higher of the two—are for them?" They cannot establish any logic for this, for it is in the utmost degree of vanity that no one possessing even the slightest bit of reason would utter.

Some eminent scholars have said: The speech is connected to His saying at the beginning of the Surah: (So ask them: "Are they stronger in creation...?"), with the Fa here being for conjunction with that, indicating immediate succession, as he was commanded with both without delay. In that previous instance, it was conditional in response to an implied condition. I favor this opinion. Abu Hayyan objected to it, stating that it involves a long separation, and grammarians have considered separation by a sentence—such as "I ate meat, and strike Zayd, and bread"—to be ugly; what then of the verb by entire sentences? Indeed, it borders on being a separation of a Surah. It was answered that what he mentioned concerns the conjunction of single items; as for sentences, due to their independence, this is excused. When the meanings of the speech here have embraced one another, their structures are bound, and one has seized the waist of the other so tightly that it is as if the whole were a single word, distance is no longer considered distance. As the saying goes:

It does not harm us, the distance between our bodies, If that which is between our hearts is near.

The aspect of the succession of the conjoined to what preceded it is like the aspect of the succession of the one conjoined to it. For His being the Lord of the heavens and the earth and those great creations, just as it points to His oneness and power—the Almighty and Majestic—it also points to His being exalted above having children. Do you not see His saying—Glorified be He—: (The Originator of the heavens and the earth; how could He have a son?) The relevance between the refutation of the deniers of resurrection and the refutation of the affirmers of a child is manifest, and the inquirer, the questioned, and the command are unified in both sentences.

Some permitted the pronoun in (Fastaftihim) to refer to the mentioned messengers—peace be upon them—while the remainder refers to the Quraysh. The intent is seeking information from those who know their news, from those who are trusted, and from their books and scrolls. That is: not one of them exists who does not declare Allah—the Exalted—free from the likeness of that, even Jonah—peace be upon him—in the belly of the whale. By my life, the man has reached the limits of obligation without any need for it. Perhaps if he were to dispense with resorting to metaphorical interpretation by committing to the idea that the interrogation is from the aforementioned messengers—where the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—meets them in a spiritual gathering, as the Sheikh Muhyiddin—may his secret be sanctified—claims for himself with more than one of the prophets—peace be upon them—and claims that the command to ask, which necessitates a gathering, in His saying: (And ask those of Our messengers whom We sent before you: "Did We set up besides the Most Gracious, deities to be worshipped?") is of this pattern—it would be a lighter matter, even if it is a Sufi leaning.

He added "the Lord" to His pronoun—upon him be peace and blessings—and not to their pronoun, as an honor to His Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—while noting that in their saying concerning daughters for Him—the Almighty and Majestic—they are like those who deny His Lordship. And His saying—Glorified be He—: [Has your Lord daughters, while they have sons?]