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ʾa-wa-man yunashshaʾu fī l-ḥilyati wa-huwa fī l-khiṣāmi ghayru mubīnin
‘What! One who is brought up amid ornaments and is inconspicuous in contests?’
— Ali Quli Qarai
43Az-ZukhrufالزخرفVerse 18 of 89
The Ornaments of Gold43. Az-Zukhrufالزخرف
al-Zukhruf
The Gold Ornaments
MeccanVerse 18 of 89
Surah al-Zukhruf - Verse 18
18. Is [it appropriate that] the one who is brought up in adornments and who in dispute cannot make herself clear [be attributed to God Almighty]?
We noticed in Verse nine that polytheists regarded the Glorious and Omniscient God as the Creator of being. The blessed Verse in question says:
“why do you who regard the Creator as Glorious and Omnipotent attribute daughters to Him who are brought up in adornments and are subjugated by their feelings and sentiments in disputes, but the fact is that firmness and decisiveness rather than sentimentality are the prerequisites of endearment and logic and argumentation rather than being subjected to feelings are necessary for the acquisition of knowledge.”
The Verse inquires of disbelievers,
“Why do you regard as Divine offspring the one who is brought up in adornments and who in disputes cannot make herself clear but regard sons as your offspring?”
The word yunsha’u (“is brought up”) derives from nasha’a (lit. “make something,” ad hoc “be brought up”). The words hilya and khisam are employed in the senses of “adornment” and “dispute” respectively. Two feminine characteristics noticed in the majority of females springing from their sentimentality are to be found in the blessed Verse in question, i.e., their keen interest in adornments and their insufficient capacity for substantiating their arguments which is due to their modesty and prudency.
There are indubitably females not so interested in adornments and a moderate interest in adornments is by no means a demerit for them. The demerit lies in extreme keenness of adornments as if they are born in adornments and are brought up there. Likewise, there are females who possess a remarkable capacity for logic and argumentation, but it may not be denied that because of modesty and prudence, compared with males, the majority of females possess a weaker capacity for argumentation and disputation.
The major theme of the blessed Verse in question is that disbelievers regard female offspring as Allah’s daughters and deem their sons as their own offspring.