Tafseer of Mary · Maryam · 19:91
That they attribute to the Most Merciful a son.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: and the mountains are on the point of collapsing and bursting apart, because they ascribed a son to the All-Merciful (al-Raḥmān). The word "an" (أَنْ) is, according to some of the Arabic grammarians, in the accusative (naṣb), on account of its connection with the verb; according to others it is in the genitive (khafḍ) through an implied preposition. We have already set forth the correct view concerning this in more than one place in this book of ours, in a manner that makes it unnecessary to repeat it here.
And He said: أَنْ دَعَوْا لِلرَّحْمَنِ وَلَدًا ("because they ascribed a son to the All-Merciful"). By His words أَنْ دَعَوْا ("because they ascribed") He means: that they imputed a son to Him, as the poet said:
"Indeed, how many a one do you call upon as a sincere counsellor, and when he is absent, you find him, in his absence, one whose heart is not well-disposed."
And Ibn Aḥmar said:
"He aimed at her a long, slender arrowhead and pierced her through, and I used to call the mote in her eye the clotted antimony (kohl)."
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The footnotes:
(8) See the explanation of this poetic testimony together with the explanation of the following one.
(9) (1) The verse is in (Lisān al-ʿArab, entry: daʿā). It is attributed to Ibn Aḥmar al-Bāhilī. He said: "I named him with Zayd" and "I named him thus" means: I gave him that name; the verb becomes transitive after the omission of the preposition. Ibn Aḥmar al-Bāhilī said: "He aimed at her..." the verse. That is to say: I name it, and he meant: he aimed at her with a slender arrowhead, omitting the preposition and connecting the verb directly. And the words of the Exalted and Mighty أن دعوا للرحمن ولدا mean: that is, they imputed. And he also cited the verse of Ibn Aḥmar and said: that is, I used to make and to name; and similar to it is the word of the poet: "Indeed, how many a one do you call upon as a sincere counsellor..." the verse. The "mishqaṣ" among the arrowheads is the one that is long and not broad; if it is broad, then it is the "miʿbalah" (Lisān al-ʿArab, entry: shaqaṣa). And an arrow that is "maḥshūr" and "ḥashr": that is the arrow whose feather-ends are cut off evenly, and everything fine and thin is "ḥashr". And "shabraqahā" means: she tore it apart; one says: a "mushabraq" garment, that is: a garment torn to pieces, shredded. And in the book (al-Maʿānī al-Kabīr of Ibn Qutaybah, Hyderabad edition, p. 988) it says: he says: out of my concern for her I used to call that which did her good a "mote" (qadhā), so how much more so that which harms her? And his word "adʿū" means: I name; one says: "what do you call this among yourselves?", that is: how do you name it? And "al-ḥashr" is the arrow with light feathers whose shaft and reinforcement are bound fast. And "al-ithmid" is the black kohl, and "al-qarid" is that which breaks off in the eye; it is also said: "al-qarid" is that whose parts stick to one another. And the meaning is: you used to call the antimony a "mote", out of my concern for her.
