16. Here, the folly of the polytheists of Arabia has been fully exposed. They said that the angels were the daughters of Allah. They had carved out their images as females, and these were their goddesses whom they worshiped. About this Allah says: In the first place, in spite of knowing and recognizing that the Creator of the earth and heavens is Allah and it is He Who has made this earth a cradle for you and it is He Who sends down the rain from the sky, and it is He Who has created these animals for your service, yet you have taken others as gods beside Him, whereas those whom you serve as deities are not God but creatures of God. Then, further more, you have made some of the servants associates of Allah not only in His attributes but in His Being as well, and invented the creed that they were Allah’s offspring. Then, not resting content with this, you assigned to Allah that kind of the offspring which you regard as disgraceful for your own selves. When a daughter is born in your house, your face grows dark, you feel distressed, and sometimes you bury her alive. This offspring you assign to Allah and reserve for yourselves the sons, whom you regard as a source of joy and pride. Even then you claim that you believe in Allah.

17. In other words, You have assigned to Allah the offspring that is by nature delicate, weak and frail, and adopted for yourselves the offspring that is bold, courageous and fearless. This verse shows permissibility of the ornaments for the women, for Allah has mentioned the ornaments as a natural thing for them. The same is also confirmed by the Hadith. Imam Ahmad, Abu Daud and Nasai have related on the authority of Ali that the Prophet (peace be upon him) took silk in one hand and gold in the other and said that both were forbidden to be used in dress by the men of his Ummah. Tirmidhi and Nasai have related from Abu Musa Ashari a tradition, saying that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Silk and gold have been forbidden for the men but made lawful for the women of my Ummah. Allama Abu Bakr al-Jassas has discussed this question in his Ahkam ai-Quran and related the following traditions:

Aishah says: Once Usamah, son of Zaid bin Harithah, was hurt and started bleeding. The Prophet (peace be upon him) loved him like his own children. He sucked his blood and spat it out, and cheered him saying: Had Usamah been a daughter we would have adorned him with ornaments! Had Usamah been a daughter, we would have dressed him in fine clothes!

Abu Musa Ashari has related that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Wearing of silken clothes and ornaments of gold is unlawful for the men of my Unmah but lawful for the women.

Amr bin Aaas has related: Once two women came before the Prophet (peace be upon him), and they were wearing bracelets of gold. He said: Would you like that Allah should make you wear bracelets of the fire instead of these? They replied that they would not. Thereupon he said: Pay their dues, i.e. the zakat due on them.

Aisha has stated that there is no harm in wearing the ornaments if the zakat due on them is paid.

Umar wrote to Abu Musa Ashari: Order the Muslim women who live in the areas under your administrative control that they should pay the zakat dues on their ornaments.

Imam Abu Hanifah has related the following traditions on the authority of Amr bin Dinar: Aishah had arranged ornaments of gold for her sisters and Abdullah bin Umar for his daughters.

After citing all these traditions, Allama Jassas writes: The traditions that have been related from the Prophet (peace be upon him) and the companions about the permissibility and lawfulness of gold and silk for the women are better known and more common than those that are there about their unlawfulness, and the above verse also points to their lawfulness. Then the practice of the Muslims also from the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his companions till our time (i.e. till the latter part of the 4th century of hijrah) has been the same, and no one ever objected to it. In such matters, no objection can be admitted on the basis of the isolated reports (Akhbar ahab).

18. That is, who are free from this that they should be males or females.

19. Another translation can be: Were they present at the time of their creation?

20. This was their reasoning from destiny to cover up their deviation and error, and this has been the argument of the wrongdoers in every age. They argued that their worshiping the angels became possible only because Allah allowed them to do so. Had He not willed so they could not have done it; and then it had been a practice with them for centuries and no torment from Allah had descended on them, which meant that Allah did not disapprove of their this practice.

21. It means this: These ignorant people think that whatever is happening in the world has the approval of Allah for it, because it is happening according to His will. This argument, however, is wrong. For it is not only shirk which is being committed in the world, but countless other crimes like stealing, robbery, murder, bribery, etc. are also taking place, which nobody likes. Then, can it be said by the same reasoning that all such acts are lawful and good only because Allah is letting them happen in His world, and when He allows them to happen, He must have approved of them also? The means of knowing what Allah likes and what He hates are not the events that are happening in the world, but the Book of Allah, which comes through His Messenger and in which Allah Himself states as to what beliefs, what deeds and what morals He likes and what He dislikes. If these people have a Book, which came before the Quran, and which tells that Allah has appointed the angels also as deities beside himself and that they should worship them also, they should cite it. (For further explanation, see (Surah Al-Anaam, Ayats 107-112, 137, 148-149); (Surah Al- Aaraf, Ayat 28); (Surah Younus, Ayat 99); (Surah Hud, Ayats 118-119); (Surah Ar-Raad, Ayat 31); (Surah An-Nahl, Ayats 9, 35-36, 93); and (E.N. 20 of Surah Az-Zumar) and (E.N. 11 of Surah Ash-Shura).

22. That is, they have no authority of any divine book. The only authority they have is that it has been the practice since the time of their forefathers. Therefore, they have taken the angels as goddesses in imitation of them.

23. Here, the point worth consideration is why only the well to do people of every community have resisted the Prophets and upheld the imitation of their forefathers in every age. Why have they alone been in the forefront to oppose the truth and to endeavor to maintain the established falsehood and to beguile and incite the common people against them? Its basic causes were two:

(1) The well to do and affluent people are so absorbed in making and enjoying the world of their own that they are not inclined to bother themselves about the useless debate (as they assume it to be) between the truth and falsehood. Their love of ease and mental lethargy renders them so heedless of religion and conservative that they want the established order, no matter whether it is based on truth or falsehood, to retrain in force so that they do not have to take the trouble of thinking about the new order at all for themselves.

(2) Their interests become so dependent on the established order that when they get the first glimpse of the order presented by the Prophets, they start feeling that if it came, it would not only put an end to their leadership but also would deprive them of the freedom to consume the lawful and commit the unlawful. (For further details, see Surah Al-Anaam, Ayat 103; (Surah Al-Aaraf, Ayats 66-70). 75, 88, 109, 127); (Surah Houd, Ayats 27-28); (Surah Bani-Israil, Ayat 16); (Surah Al-Muaminun, Ayats 24-33, 46); (Surah Saba, Ayat 34 )and the corresponding E.Ns).