able to subdue it. And surely to our Lord we shall return.” He then praised Allah three times and proclaimed His greatness three times. Then he said, “There is no god worthy of worship but Allah. I have wronged myself, so forgive me; indeed, none forgives sins but You.” Then he laughed. They asked, “What makes you laugh, Commander of the Believers?” He replied, “I saw the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, 117/b do what I have done and say what I have said; then he laughed. We asked, ‘What makes you laugh, O Prophet of Allah?’ He replied, ‘The servant’—or, he said—‘I marvel at the servant when he says: There is no god worthy of worship but Allah. I have wronged myself, so forgive me; indeed, none forgives sins but You. He knows that none forgives sins except Him.’” (1)
“And they assign to Him a portion of His servants. Indeed, man is clearly ungrateful. (15) Or has He taken, from among what He creates, daughters for Himself and favored you with sons? (16) Whenever one of them is given the news of that which he has attributed as a likeness to the Most Merciful, his face darkens and he is filled with suppressed grief. (17) Or one who is brought up in finery and is unable to argue clearly? (18)”
His saying, exalted is He, “And they assign to Him a portion of His servants,” means a share or part. This refers to their claim that the angels are Allah’s daughters. Here, assigning means judging and asserting, as when you say, “I have made Zayd the best of people,” meaning that you have described him as such and judged him to be so. “Indeed, man,” meaning the disbeliever, “is clearly ungrateful”: that is, one who denies Allah’s blessings, openly displaying his ingratitude.
“Or has He taken, from among what He creates, daughters for Himself?” This is a question of rebuke and condemnation. That is, has your Lord taken daughters for Himself and favored you with sons? It is like His saying: “Has your Lord favored you with sons?” (al-Isra’, 40).
“Whenever one of them is given the news of that which he has attributed as a likeness to the Most Merciful”: that is, of what he has made a likeness for Allah. This is because the offspring of everything resembles it. In other words, whenever one of them is given news of daughters, as mentioned in Surah al-Nahl: “Whenever one of them is given news of a female, his face darkens and he is filled with suppressed grief” (al-Nahl, 58), out of sorrow and rage.
“Or one who is brought up”: Hamzah, al-Kisa’i, and Hafs read it as yunashsha’u, with the initial yā’ bearing ḍammah, the nūn fatḥah, and the shīn doubled, meaning “is raised.” The others read it as yansha’u, with the initial yā’ bearing fatḥah, the nūn sukūn, and the shīn undoubled, meaning “grows and matures.” “In finery,” that is, in adornment, refers to women. “And is unable to argue clearly”: that is, unable to make an argument clear in disputation,