and al-Ṭāʾif.

Manāt: an idol at al-Mushallal between Mecca and Medina.

“the third, the other”: a disparaging description, meaning the last and most insignificant of them.

“A-lakum al-dhakar”: you reserve for yourselves what you prize—the male offspring.

“wa lahu al-unthā”: while you assign to Him the females, claiming, “The angels are the daughters of Allah.”

“ḍīzā”: sheer injustice and falsehood.

“asmāʾ”: nothing but empty names.

“sammaytumūhā”: coined by you alone.

“min sulṭān”: that is, any proof or evidence for their divinity.

“in yattabiʿūna”: they follow—meaning they have no real basis—

“illā al-ẓann”: nothing but conjecture, i.e., their favorable opinion of their forefathers,

“wa mā tahwā al-anfus”: and the cravings of their souls for position and dominance,

“al-hudā”: the sending of messengers with clear proof and radiant truth.

Overall meaning of the verses: Allah challenges the idolaters regarding their worship of these three lifeless idols and asks what benefit they have ever gained from them. He rebukes their unjust division, for they distance themselves from daughters yet attribute them to Allah. He then demands evidence for the soundness of worshipping such statues, making it clear that conjecture and selfish desire can never serve as proof. The only valid proof is what the messengers have brought—decisive arguments and unmistakable evidences obliging people to worship Allah alone and abandon all idols.

Relevance of the verses to this chapter: they forbid seeking blessing from trees and stones and regard such a practice as polytheism, for the worshippers of these very idols believed