Tafsir of Az-Zukhruf 43:15

This is connected to His saying: {And if you asked them} (Az-Zukhruf: 87), meaning: If you asked them who created the heavens and the earth, they would surely acknowledge it. Yet, despite this acknowledgment, they have attributed to Him a portion of His servants, describing Him with the attributes of the created.

The meaning of {a portion from His servants} is that they said: "The angels are the daughters of Allah." They made them a portion of Him and a part of Him, just as a child is a piece of its parent and a part of him.

Among the innovations in interpretation is the explanation of "portion" (juz’) as "females," claiming that juz’ in the language of the Arabs is a name for females. This is nothing but a lie against the Arabs and a fabricated, forged invention. They were not satisfied with that until they derived from it the verb ajza’at al-mar’ah (the woman bore a female child), and then they fabricated a verse: If a free woman bears a female one day, it is no wonder, Her husband from the daughters of Aws is a bearer of a female.

It is also recited as (juz’u) with two dammahs.

{Indeed, he is a manifest ingrate} Meaning: One who denies the blessing, whose denial is apparent. For attributing a child to Him is disbelief, and disbelief is the root of all ingratitude.

{Or has He taken...} Meaning: "Nay, has He taken?" The hamza is for denial, intended to declare them ignorant and to express astonishment at their state. They were not content with attributing a portion of His servants to Allah, but they assigned to Him the worst of the two portions: the females, rather than the males. This is despite them being the most averse of Allah’s creation to females and the most hateful of them toward them—to the point that their hatred reached the level of burying them alive.

It is as if it were said: Suppose that the attribution of taking a child to Him were permissible—by way of assumption and analogy—are you not ashamed of the injustice in this division? And of your claim that He chose for Himself the worst and lowest of the two portions, while leaving the best and highest for you?

The use of the indefinite {daughters} and the definite {the sons}, and mentioning the former before the latter, is for the reason I mentioned in His saying: {He gives to whom He wills females, and He gives to whom He wills males} (Ash-Shura: 49).

{...for what He has attributed to the Most Merciful as an example} Meaning: By the gender which they made an example for Him. That is, a likeness; for if they made the angels a portion of Allah and a part of Him, they made them of His own gender and similar to Him, because a child can only be of the same gender as the parent. They attributed this gender to Him.

It is their nature that when one of them is told, "A daughter has been born to you," his face darkens with rage and regret, and he is filled with distress. It is narrated of some Arabs that when his wife gave birth to a female, he abandoned the house where she was. She said: Why does Abu Hamza not come to us? He stays in the house that is next to us, Angry that we did not bear sons, We have no control over our affairs, We only take what we are given.

{...remains} (yazallu) Meaning: "becomes," just as most incomplete verbs are used to denote becoming. It is also recited as (muswaddan) and (muswadan), where the pronoun in {remains} refers to the one receiving the news, and {his face darkened} is a sentence acting as the predicate.

Then He says: {Or does He attribute to the Most Merciful from the offspring that which is described with this blameworthy attribute?} That is: {Who is brought up in ornaments}—meaning, raised in adornment and luxury—{and who is not clear in argument}—meaning, when he needs to confront opponents or debate men, he is not clear; he possesses no clarity of speech, nor does he bring forth evidence to argue with his adversary. This is due to the weakness of women's intellects and their deficiency compared to the nature of men. It is said: Rarely does a woman speak, intending to argue her case, but that she speaks the argument against herself.

In this is an indication that being raised in adornment and softness is considered a defect and a blameworthy trait, characteristic of those who dwell behind curtains. A man should avoid this, disdain it, and keep himself above it, living as Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Live a rough life, wear coarse clothing, and be hardy." If he wishes to adorn himself, let him adorn his inner self with the garment of piety.

It is also recited as (yunashsha’u) and (yunsha’u). The analogy of munasha’ah (being brought up) in the sense of insha’ (bringing up) is like mughalah (being expensive) in the sense of ighla’ (making expensive).

{And they have made the angels, who are servants of the Most Merciful, females. Did they witness their creation? Their testimony will be recorded, and they will be questioned.}