The purpose of all this is to make clear that the Lord described by the foregoing qualities—the One who lavishes blessings upon His servants—is alone worthy of having worship, prayer, and prostration devoted to Him.

﴿15-25﴾ “They have assigned to Him a portion of His servants. Man is indeed manifestly ungrateful. Or has He taken daughters from among what He creates and chosen sons especially for you? Yet when one of them is given good news of the very thing he attributes to the Most Merciful, his face darkens and he is filled with suppressed grief. Do they ascribe to Him one who is raised amid adornment and cannot make her case clear in a dispute? They have made the angels, who are servants of the Most Merciful, females. Did they witness their creation? Their testimony will be recorded, and they will be questioned. They say, ‘Had the Most Merciful willed, we would not have worshiped them.’ They have no knowledge of that; they do nothing but conjecture. Or did We give them a Book before this, to which they hold fast? Rather, they say, ‘We found our forefathers following a religion, and we are guided by following in their footsteps.’”

Allah Most High relates the abhorrent claim of the polytheists, who attributed a child to Allah Most High, though He is the One, the Unique, the Sole, the Self-Sufficient Master, who has taken neither consort nor child and to whom no one is comparable. This claim is false for several reasons:

First, all created beings are His servants, and servitude is incompatible with being His offspring.

Second, a child is part of its parent, whereas Allah Most High is distinct from His creation and utterly unlike them in His attributes and majestic qualities. Since a child is part of its parent, it is impossible for Allah Most High to have a child.

Third, they claim that the angels are Allah’s daughters. It is well known that they regard daughters as the lesser of the two sexes. How, then, could Allah have daughters while reserving sons for them and thereby favoring them? They would thus be better than Allah. Exalted is Allah, far above such a claim.

Another reason is that the sex they attributed to Allah—daughters—is, in their view, the lesser of the two and the one they most dislike. Their aversion is such that “when one of them is given good news of the very thing he attributes to the Most Merciful, his face darkens” out of aversion and intense loathing. How, then, can they assign to Allah what they themselves dislike?

Another reason is that the female is deficient in ⦗764⦘ her qualities, speech, and ability to express herself. Hence Allah Most High says, “Do they ascribe to Him one who is raised amid adornment?” That is, she is adorned with it because her own beauty is deficient and is thus beautified by something external to herself. “And cannot make her case clear in a dispute”—that is, when a dispute requires a person to articulate what they have to say, she cannot clearly present her proof or express what is in her mind. How, then, can they ascribe females to Allah Most High?

Another reason is that they made the angels, who are servants of Allah, females. They thus dared to make such a claim about the angels, those servants brought near to Him. They raised them from the station of servitude and humility to a station in which they supposedly shared with Allah one of His exclusive prerogatives, and then lowered them from the rank of males to that of females. Glory be to the One who exposed the contradiction of those who tell lies about Him and stubbornly oppose His messengers.

Another reason is that Allah refuted them by pointing out that they had not witnessed Him creating His angels. How, then, can they speak about something which everyone knows they have no knowledge of? They will inevitably be questioned about this testimony; it will be recorded against them, and they will be punished for it.

Regarding His statement, “They say, ‘Had the Most Merciful willed, we would not have worshiped them,’” they invoked the divine will as an argument for their worship of the angels. The polytheists have always resorted to this argument, though it is inherently false both rationally and according to revelation. No rational person accepts an appeal to the divine decree as a valid excuse; were he to apply it in any area of his own life, he could not consistently maintain that position.

As for revelation, Allah Most High has invalidated this argument and only ever relates it of polytheists who associate partners with Him and deny His messengers. Allah Most High has established conclusive proof against His servants, leaving no one with any argument against Him whatsoever. He therefore says here, “They have no knowledge of that; they do nothing but conjecture.” That is, they make baseless guesses and stumble about blindly.

Then He says, “Or did We give them a Book before this, to which they hold fast?”—a Book telling them that their deeds are sound and their claims true? This is not so. Rather, Allah sent Muhammad as a warner to them, and no warner besides him had come to them. In other words, they have neither reason nor transmitted revelation. Once both are absent, nothing remains but falsehood.

Yes, they do have a specious argument, but it is among the flimsiest of all: blindly following their misguided forefathers. The disbelievers have always used such imitation to reject the messengers’ call. He therefore says here, “Rather, they say, ‘We found our forefathers following a religion’”—that is, adhering to a faith and creed—“and we are guided by following in their footsteps.” That is, we will not follow what Muhammad—peace and blessings be upon him—has brought.