“What is the matter with you? How do you judge? Will you not then take heed? Or do you have a clear authority?” (154–156)

“They believed”—that is, those to whom Jonah had been sent believed after witnessing the punishment—“so We granted them enjoyment for a time,” until their appointed terms came to an end.

Allah the Exalted says: “Ask them, then”—that is, ask the people of Mecca, O Muhammad. This is a question of rebuke: “Are daughters for your Lord, while sons are for them?” This is because Juhaynah and Banu Salamah ibn Abd al-Dar alleged that the angels were Allah’s daughters. (1) In other words, they ascribed daughters to Allah while assigning sons to themselves.

“Or did We create the angels as females while they were witnesses?” That is, did We create the angels as females while they were present when We created them? Similar is His saying: “Did they witness their creation?” (al-Zukhruf 19).

“Indeed, it is from their falsehood that they say, ‘Allah has begotten,’ and they are surely liars.”

“Has He chosen?” Abu Ja‘far recited it continuously as: “They are surely liars: He has chosen,” as a statement reporting the claim of the polytheists. When pausing, he begins “He has chosen” with a kasrah on the initial alif. The majority recite it with the interrogative hamzah pronounced separately, because the interrogative hamzah enters upon the connecting hamzah; the connecting hamzah is then omitted, while the interrogative hamzah remains open and separate, as in astakbara (“was he arrogant?”) and similar cases: “Has He chosen daughters over sons?”

“What is the matter with you? How do you judge?”—assigning daughters to Allah and sons to yourselves.

“Will you not then take heed?” That is, will you not be admonished?

“Or do you have a clear authority?” That is, clear proof that Allah has a child.