Ikrimah said: The guide is Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. That is, “You are only a warner, and you are a guide for every people”—meaning, one who calls them. Sa'id ibn Jubayr said: The Guide is Allah, Most High. (1)
“Allah knows what every female carries, what the wombs diminish, and what they increase. With Him, everything is in due measure.” (8)
His saying, exalted is He, “Allah knows what every female carries”: whether male or female, fully formed or deficient in formation, one child, two, or more; “what the wombs diminish”—that is, what they decrease—“and what they increase.”
The commentators said: What the wombs diminish refers to menstruation during pregnancy. If a pregnant woman menstruates, this results in a deficiency in the child, because menstrual blood is nourishment for the child in the womb. When she sheds blood, the nourishment is diminished, and consequently the child is diminished. But if she does not menstruate, the child increases and becomes complete. Thus, the deficiency is a deficiency in the child’s physical formation due to the discharge of blood, while the increase is the completion of its formation through the retention of blood.
It was also said: If she menstruates, the nourishment decreases (3) and the term of pregnancy increases until she completes nine (4) apparent months. Thus, if she sees (5) blood for five days, she gives birth after nine months and five days. So the deficiency is in nourishment, and the increase is in the term. (6)
(1) Al-Tabari cited the various interpretations and then said: “I have explained the meaning of the guide: namely, the leader who is followed and who leads the people. If this is so, it may refer to Allah, who guides His creation, whose guidance they follow, and whose commands and prohibitions they obey. It may refer to the Prophet of Allah, whom his community follows. It may refer to one of the imams whom his followers take as an example, following his method and way. Or it may refer to a caller who summons people to good or evil. Since this is so, no statement is more correct than to say, as He, exalted be His praise, has said: Muhammad is the warner sent to those to whom he was sent with warning, and every people has a guide who guides them, whom they follow and take as an example.” Tafsir al-Tabari, 16:358.
(2) For these views and their source documentation, see al-Durr al-Manthur, 4:608-610; Tafsir al-Tabari, 16:359-365. See also Muhammad Ali al-Bar, Human Creation Between Medicine and the Quran, chapter “The Cycle of the Wombs,” pp. 69-82.
(3) In manuscript B: “decreases.”
(4) In manuscript B: “by seven.”
(5) In manuscript B: “increased.”
(6) These views concerning the interpretation of the verse are based on the position that a pregnant woman menstruates. This is the view of Malik and one of the two reported views of al-Shafii. Ata, al-Shabi, and others held that she does not menstruate; Abu Hanifah likewise held this view, citing the verse as evidence. Ibn Abbas said in interpreting the verse: “It refers to the menstruation of pregnant women.” The same was narrated from Ikrimah and Mujahid, and it was also the view of Aishah. She would instruct pregnant women who menstruated to refrain from prayer. The Companions were then numerous, yet none of them objected to her; thus, this became akin to a consensus. Abu Hanifah said: If a pregnant woman could menstruate, and the blood seen by a woman were menstrual blood, then istibra (determining that a female slave’s womb is free of pregnancy) could not be established by one menstrual period, whereas this is agreed upon by consensus. A report from Malik in Kitab Muhammad indicates that it is not menstrual blood. See: Tafsir al-Qurtubi, 9:286; Ahkam al-Quran by al-Jassas, 4:397-399; Tafsir Ibn Atiyyah, 8:130-131; Ahkam al-Quran by Ibn al-Arabi, 3:1110.