The Setting Star (Al-Najm)
Verses 19-25 GROUP_1409 53.19-25
19
أَفَرَأَيْتُمُ اللَّاتَ وَالْعُزَّى
Have you really considered al-Lat and al-‘Uzza,
20
وَمَنَاةَ الثَّالِثَةَ الْأُخْرَى
and the third one, Manat? a—
21
أَلَكُمُ الذَّكَرُ وَلَهُ الْأُنثَى
‘What! For you the males and for Him the females?’
22
تِلْكَ إِذًا قِسْمَةٌ ضِيزَى
That indeed is an unfair division—
23
إِنْ هِيَ إِلَّا أَسْمَاء سَمَّيْتُمُوهَا أَنتُمْ وَآبَاؤُكُم مَّا أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ بِهَا مِن سُلْطَانٍ إِن يَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَّا الظَّنَّ وَمَا تَهْوَى الْأَنفُسُ وَلَقَدْ جَاءهُم مِّن رَّبِّهِمُ الْهُدَى
these are nothing but names which you yourselves have devised, you and your forefathers. God has sent down no authority for them. They follow nothing but conjecture and what their own selves desire, even though guidance has already come to them from their Lord!
24
أَمْ لِلْإِنسَانِ مَا تَمَنَّى
Shall man have whatever he craves?
25
فَلِلَّهِ الْآخِرَةُ وَالْأُولَى
But it is to God that the Hereafter and this world belong.
No class discussions published for this verse group yet.
Commentary
(a) Al-Lat, al-‘Uzza and Manat were the deities of ancient Arabia. Al-Lat was located in Taif, al-‘Uzza in Nakhla near Makkah and Manat in Qudayd near Madinah. These three, according to the popular belief of those days, were the daughters of god, and so they were worshipped. A belief of this kind was undoubtedly a baseless supposition. It is a contradiction in itself. These polytheists used to consider it a degrading thing to have daughters. So, God wanted them to ask themselves if He, who was the Creator of sons and daughters, were to create children for Himself, would He have created daughters for Himself? (b) Explaining the query in verse 24, ‘Does man get all that he wants?’ Shah Abdul Qadir Dehlavi writes, ‘What does one get by worshipping deities? One gets whatever is given by God.’