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wa-ka-dhālika zayyana li-kathīrin mina l-mushrikīna qatla ʾawlādihim shurakāʾuhum li-yurdūhum wa-li-yalbisū ʿalayhim dīnahum wa-law shāʾa llāhu mā faʿalūhu fa-dharhum wa-mā yaftarūna
That is how to most of the polytheists the slaying of their children is presented as decorous by those whom they ascribe as partners [to Allah], that they may ruin them and confound their religion for them. Had Allah wished, they would not have done it. So leave them with what they fabricate.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Al-‘An’am, Verse 137
137. "And thus their associates have made fair seeming to most of the polytheists the killing of their children, that they may destroy them and confound their religion for them. And had Allah pleased they would not have done so. Therefore, leave them with what they forge."
Here, Allah refers to another indecent quality of the specifications of these people. The verse says:
As they assigned share from their filth and cattle for God, Satan also made fair seeming killing their daughters and burying them alive for fear of poverty and scorn. Some commentators have said that the custom of killing daughters came forth from the time when Nu'man-ibn-Munthir plundered a tribe of Arabs and took their females captive. The daughter of Oays-ibn-' Asim was also among the captives. When the two parties made peace, all women went their own homes except Qays' daughter, who preferred to stay among the enemy's troop. Qays made an oath that he would bury alive any daughter was born in his house.
The Arabic sign 'li', in this part of the verse, refers to the end of the action. Then the phrase means that the result of ornamentation of slaying child was the destruction of people. There were, of course, some obstinate persons among them who intended to kill them, too.
Another result was that their religion became dubious to them and they hesitated.
If Allah (S.w.T.) had desired to prohibit them its performance, or to force them to abandon it, He would have done it and prevented them from doing that. But this work did not fit to responsibility, which is an arbitrary affair.
Do leave them then with their lies and calumnies and let them be in their own state, for Allah will retribute them. This phrase is stated in the utmost threat. This verse indicates that ornamentation of slaying and slaughter itself both were among their own practices, and they were liars when they attributed it to Allah.