Tafseer of The Cattle · Al-An'aam · 6:137
And likewise, to many of the polytheists their partners have made [to seem] pleasing the killing of their children in order to bring about their destruction and to cover them with confusion in their religion. And if Allah had willed, they would not have done so. So leave them and that which they invent.
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 explanation of His word: وَكَذَلِكَ زَيَّنَ لِكَثِيرٍ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ قَتْلَ أَوْلادِهِمْ شُرَكَاؤُهُمْ لِيُرْدُوهُمْ وَلِيَلْبِسُوا عَلَيْهِمْ دِينَهُمْ وَلَوْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ مَا فَعَلُوهُ فَذَرْهُمْ وَمَا يَفْتَرُونَ (137) ("And thus their associate-gods have made fair-seeming to many of the polytheists the killing of their children, in order to ruin them and to confuse their religion for them. And had Allah willed, they would not have done it. So leave them with that which they fabricate." (137))
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His mention, says: and just as the associate-gods of these who set up idols and false deities as equals alongside their Lord have made fair-seeming to them what they made fair-seeming to them — namely that, according to their claim, they assigned a portion of their possessions to their Lord, and that they left in their division whatever passed over from the portion they had designated for Allah into the portion of their associate-gods, while whatever passed over from the portion they had designated for their associate-gods they returned to the portion of Allah's share, into the portion of their associate-gods — (thus their associate-gods from among the devils have made fair-seeming to many of the polytheists (mushrikīn) the killing of their children), and thus they made the burying alive of daughters appear beautiful to them. (In order to ruin them), He says: in order to destroy them. (And to confuse their religion for them), they did that with them in order to muddle their religion for them so that it became obscure, so that they would go astray and perish through their doing of that which Allah has forbidden them. And had Allah willed that they would not do what they did in their killings, they would not have done it, in that He would have guided them to the truth and granted them success upon the right path, so that they would not have killed them; but Allah forsook them with respect to right guidance, and so they killed their children and obeyed the devils who seduced them.
Allah says to His Prophet, threatening them on account of their enormous fabrication against their Lord in what they used to say concerning the shares they divided: "this is for Allah and this is for our associate-gods," and on account of the killing of their children: "leave them," O Muḥammad, "with that which they fabricate," and with that which they fabricate against Me of lies and falsehood, for I lie in wait for them, and behind them lies the punishment and the chastisement.
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And in accordance with what we have said concerning that, the exegetes spoke.
* Mention of who said that:
13908- Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: (and thus their associate-gods have made fair-seeming to many of the polytheists the killing of their children, in order to ruin them), they made fair-seeming to them the killing of their children.
13909- Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the word of Allah: (the killing of their children, their associate-gods), they are their devils, who command them to bury their children alive out of fear of poverty (al-ʿayla).
13910- Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, he said: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the like of it.
13911- Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: (and thus their associate-gods have made fair-seeming to many of the polytheists the killing of their children), the verse, he said: their associate-gods made that fair-seeming to them. (And had your Lord willed, they would not have done it. So leave them with that which they fabricate.)
13912- Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: (and thus their associate-gods have made fair-seeming to many of the polytheists the killing of their children), he said: their devils whom they worshipped made fair-seeming to them the killing of their children.
13913- Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, he said: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: (and thus their associate-gods have made fair-seeming to many of the polytheists the killing of their children, in order to ruin them), the devils gave them the command to kill the daughters. And as for (in order to ruin them), that is, in order to destroy them. And as for (and to confuse their religion for them), that is, in order to muddle their religion for them.
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And the reciters differed concerning its recitation.
The reciters of the Ḥijāz and Iraq recited it: (wa-kadhālika zayyana) with a fatḥa on the zāy of "zayyana," (li-kathīrin mina l-mushrikīna qatla awlādihim) with a naṣb (accusative) on "al-qatl," (shurakāʾuhum) in the rafʿ (nominative) — with the meaning that the associate-gods of these polytheists are those who made fair-seeming to them the killing of their children. Thus they place "al-shurakāʾ" in the nominative as the agent of their deed, and they place "al-qatl" in the accusative, because it is the object.
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And some of the reciters of Syria recited it: "wa-kadhālika zuyyina" with a ḍamma on the zāy, "li-kathīrin mina l-mushrikīna qatlu" in the nominative, "awlādahum" in the accusative, "shurakāʾihim" in the genitive — with the meaning: and thus the killing by their associate-gods of their children has been made fair-seeming to many of the polytheists. Thus they separated between the genitive-governing construct and that which is placed in the genitive by means of the noun upon which the construct operates. And that, in the speech of the Arabs, is ugly and not eloquent. And there has been transmitted from some of the people of the Ḥijāz a line of verse that supports the recitation of the one who recited according to what I have mentioned of the recitation of the people of Syria; I have seen the transmitters of poetry and the experts in Arabic among the people of Iraq reject this, and it is the saying of one of their poets:
Fa-zajajtuhū mutamakkinan Zajja l-qalūṣa abī mazādah (27) ("I thrust him firmly with the spear-point, as Abū Mazāda drives forward his young she-camel with the spear-point")
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And the recitation which I do not deem any other than it permissible is: (wa-kadhālika zayyana li-kathīrin mina l-mushrikīna qatla awlādihim shurakāʾuhum), with a fatḥa on the zāy of "zayyana," and a naṣb (accusative) on "al-qatl" because "zayyana" operates upon it, and a genitive on "awlādahum" by the annexation of "al-qatl" to it, and a rafʿ (nominative) on "al-shurakāʾ" as the agent of their deed, because it is they who made fair-seeming to the polytheists the killing of their children, in accordance with what I have mentioned of explanation.
And I have only said: "I do not deem reciting with any other permissible" because of the agreement of the authoritative proof of the reciters concerning that, and because the explanation of the exegetes accords with it; therein lies the clearest demonstration of the incongruity of that which is contrary to it in recitation.
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And were it not that the explanation of all the exegetes accords with it, then it would have been permissible, if a reciter recited: "wa-kadhālika zuyyina li-kathīrin mina l-mushrikīna qatlu awlādahum shurakāʾihim," with a ḍamma on the zāy of "zayyana," and a nominative on "al-qatl," and a genitive on "al-awlād" and "al-shurakāʾ," on the grounds that "al-shurakāʾ" stand in the genitive by being joined to "al-awlād," because "the children" are the associates of their fathers in lineage and inheritance (mīrāth).
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And if a reciter were to recite it thus, except that he places "al-shurakāʾ" in the nominative and "al-awlād" in the genitive, as one says: "ḍuriba ʿabdu llāhi akhūka" (ʿAbdallāh, your brother, was struck), where one makes the agent manifest after the report has proceeded in the passive form (whose agent is not named) — then that would be correct and permissible in Arabic.
