al-Najm

أفَرَأيْتُمُ اللَآتَ وَالْعُزَّی

وَمَنَاةَ الثَّالِثَةَ الْاُخْرَی

ألَكُمُ الذَّكَرُ وَلَهُ الْاُنثَی

تِلْكَ إِذًا قِسْمَةٌ ضِيزَی

19. Have you then considered al-Lat and al-‘Uzza ¹²

20. And Manat, the other third?

21. Is it for you the males and for Him the females?

22. That indeed is a division most unfair!

The Omnipotent God Who takes man to the highest point of the heavens and shows His Great Signs unto him is far different from useless stone idols. The names of nine idols are attested in the Holy Qur’an: Lat, ‘Uzza, and Manat in the blessed Chapter in question, Ya‘al in Chapter 37, and Wadd, Ya‘suq, Yaghuth, and Nasr in Chapter 71. Lat, ‘Uzza, and Manat were three important idols worshipped by Arabs in pre-Islamic times (jahiliyya). There is consensus amongst Muslims that they were destroyed thanks to the Hashemite Messenger of Allah (S), but Qur’an exegetes are not unanimous on the nature of these idols, though their views are not mentioned herein for the sake of brevity.¹³

In short, since polytheists termed idols and angels the daughters of God, the blessed Verses in question were revealed to rebuke them through asking them rhetorical questions saying that Allah bestowed such exalted state to Prophet Muhammad (S) that He made him pass the lote tree such that the distance between Him and His Prophet (S) was the extent of two bows or less and bestowed Divine Emanation upon the pure soul of the Noble Prophet (S) and showed unto him the world of creation, but your idols may not provide you with such state.

Pagan Arabs are censured in rhetorical questions saying that you imagine that you have male offspring but attribute female offspring to God Almighty since you deem male offspring worthier and female offspring and you falsely claim that angels are daughters of God.

Footnotes

1. 12. Tafsir Jami‘ al-Jawami‘, vol. 6, p. 62.
2. 13. Tafsir Makhzan al-‘Irfan, vol. 6, p. 385.