Tafsir of Ash-Shura 42:49-50

(To Allah belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth), not to anyone else, neither by way of partnership nor by way of independence.

(He creates what He wills) without any obligation upon Him, the Glorified.

(He bestows upon whom He wills female [children], and He bestows upon whom He wills males).

49. (Or He pairs them [in] males and females, and He makes whom He wills barren). This is an explanatory resumption, or an exposition of "He creates," or it is a substitute for it—specifically a substitution of a part for the whole, as preferred by the Judge [al-Qadi].

When He—the Glorified—mentioned the human being tasting mercy and being struck with its opposite, He followed that with the fact that the kingdom belongs to Him, and that He—the Exalted—distributes blessings and trials as He wills according to His supreme wisdom, not as the human being wills according to his own desire. In this is an indication that the tasting of mercy is not for [the sake of] joy and arrogance, but for thanking its Bestower; and being struck by affliction is not for the sake of disbelief and despair, but for returning to its Afflictor.

There is an emphasis here on refuting their ingratitude from two aspects: First, that the kingdom is His kingdom, the Glorified, without any disputer or partner, and He disposes of it as He wills. Therefore, it is not for the most contemptible of his subjects to object and desire that the management of affairs proceed according to his own corrupt desires. Second, that this vast kingdom belongs to that All-Mighty, All-Wise—glorified be His majesty—whose nature it is to create what He wills. How, then, is it permissible that His disposition be in any way other than the most perfect possible, and the most consistent with the requirements of wisdom and rectitude? Once that is established, nothing remains but submission and occupation with glorifying the Bestower and the Afflictor, rather than ingratitude and amazement.

It was fitting for this sequence to indicate, in the exposition from the very beginning, that His action—the Glorified—is purely out of His own will, with no role for the will of the servant therein. Therefore, females were mentioned first and males delayed, as if it were said: He creates what He wills; He bestows upon whom He wills from among the people that which he does not desire, and He bestows upon whom He wills from among them that which he does desire. For the Arabs used to consider females a tribulation: “And when one of them is given news of [the birth of] a female, his face becomes dark, and he is filled with inward grief.” Had the delayed [males] been brought forward, the structural order would have been disrupted. This precedence is not merely for the sake of observing proximity to the concept of "tribulation," to be countered by the fact that the previous verse mentioned mercy and placed it before it—thereby necessitating the precedence of males over females. As for the definite article on "males" (al-dhukur), it contains a correction to the situation of their being delayed, alerting that they are the known ones present in their hearts before any other thought, and that it is they upon whom they have pinned their hopes.

When the objective of this style was achieved, it was said: (Or He pairs them)—meaning the children—(males and females), meaning He creates what He bestows upon them as a pair, for "pairing" (tazwij) is the making of a thing a pair. Thus, "males and females" are mentioned as being in conjunction with the pronoun, and the "wa" (and) is said to be for accompaniment, because its proper place is to be delayed after the two categories [previously mentioned] in sequence and existence; thus, the comparison is only possible through that. It is also said that this is because the intent is "He bestows upon whom He wills what he does not desire, and He bestows upon whom He wills what he does desire, or He bestows both matters together," not that He makes from each of the two sexes, males and females, a separate pair. Were it not for that, the aforementioned [misconception] would be imagined, so contemplate this. Because it is formed from both, the mention of "the will" was not repeated therein, and the antecedent was placed before what it is originally, without using the definite article, as there is no basis for it.

Then it was said: (And He makes whom He wills barren), meaning: one who has no children born to him. He qualified it with "the will" because it is a separate category. It is as if the "or" was brought for completion [the "aw" of differentiation], without the "wa" as in the previous instance, because it is a sub-division of the "solitary" state, which is shared between the first two [mentioned categories]. It was not brought in the final one because it was clear that it is a subdivision of the "bestowal," which is shared between the preceding sections. So contemplate this.

It is said: Females were mentioned first as a recommendation to look after them due to their weakness, especially since they were close to the period of female infanticide. In the Hadith: "Whoever is afflicted with something of these daughters and treats them well, they will be a veil for him from the Fire." It is said: They were mentioned first because they are more numerous for the sake of multiplying the lineage; thus, in this aspect, it is more appropriate to the "creation." It is also said: To humble the hearts of their fathers, because in placing them first is honor, as they are a cause for the multiplication of the creations of the All-Mighty. Al-Tha'alibi said: It is an indication of the blessing found in the early birth of females, such that the first male child born is considered ominous, and they say to him, "May you be a beginner of two beginners." From Qatadah: "From the blessing of a woman is her starting with a female." It is also said: They were mentioned first, and the males were delayed with the definite article, to preserve the rhyme scheme, and the context is suitable to what you have known previously. Mujahid said regarding (Or He pairs them): "Pairing" is that the woman gives birth to a boy, then she gives birth to a girl. Muhammad bin al-Hanafiyyah (may Allah be pleased with both of them) said: It is that she gives birth to twins, a boy and a girl. Some have claimed that the verse was revealed concerning the Prophets (peace and blessings be upon them), for He—the Glorified—bestowed upon Shu'ayb and Lot (peace be upon them) females, and upon Ibrahim (peace be upon him) males, and upon His Messenger Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) males and females, and He made 'Isa and Yahya (peace be upon them) barren.

(Indeed, He is All-Knowing, All-Powerful)

50. Exaggerated—glorified is His majesty—in knowledge and power; so He does what He does with wisdom and choice.