[Surah al-Shūrā (42): verse 49]

“To Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth. He creates what He wills. He grants daughters to whom He wills, and grants sons to whom He wills.” (49)

Allah, glorified be He, divided the circumstances of married couples into four categories encompassing all actual possibilities. He explained that whatever children He decrees for them are His gift to them. It is enough to expose a servant to His wrath that he should resent what He has given him.

Allah, glorified be He, began by mentioning daughters. It has been said that this is for their benefit, in view of the reception their parents give them.

Another explanation—and a better one—is that He mentioned them first because the passage concerns His doing what He wills, not what the parents will. Parents generally desire only sons, whereas He, glorified be He, has declared that He creates what He wills. He therefore began by mentioning the kind He wills but the parents do not desire.

I have another explanation: He, glorified be He, gave precedence to daughters, whom the people of pre-Islamic ignorance relegated to a lesser position. It is as though the purpose were to make clear: “This category, which you consider inferior and insignificant, I mention first.”

Consider how He, glorified be He, used the indefinite form for females and the definite form for males. He thus compensated for the deficiency of being female by mentioning females first, and compensated males for being mentioned later by using the definite form. For the definite form confers distinction. It is as though He said: “And He grants to whom He wills those illustrious, renowned horsemen who are well known to you.”

[Surah al-Shūrā (42): verse 50]

“Or He grants them both sons and daughters, and makes whom He wills barren. Indeed, He is All-Knowing, All-Powerful.” (50)

Then, when He mentioned both kinds together, He placed males first, giving each sex its due in the order of mention. Allah knows best what He intended by this.

The point is that resentment at having daughters is a trait of the people of pre-Islamic ignorance, whom Allah, glorified be He, condemned in His words:

16:58: “When one of them is given news of a daughter, his face darkens and he suppresses his grief. He hides from his people because of the bad news he has received. Should he keep her in humiliation, or bury her in