52:39
QURANHIVE

Ayah 52:39

أَمْ لَهُ الْبَنَاتُ وَلَكُمُ الْبَنُونَ

“Or has He daughters while you have sons?”

لَهُ — ٱلْبَنَاتُ لَكُمُ — ٱلْبَنُونَ

Fronting “له” and “لكم” conveys exclusivity in their claim, exposing its contradiction.

Background: Quraish social mindset

Preference for sons

The Quraish loved sons and gave little value to daughters, treating them as a source of shame and liability.

Legacy and inheritance
  • Sons were seen as the continuation of lineage and power.
  • They would inherit everything from their fathers — including their wives in some instances — to perpetuate the legacy.

Language and rhetorical precision

Exclusivity via fronting

By placing لَهُ before ٱلْبَنَاتُ and لَكُمُ before ٱلْبَنُونَ (a reversal of the usual order), the phrasing indicates exclusivity:

لَهُ ٱلْبَنَاتُ

“He only has daughters” — as implied by their claim.

لَكُمُ ٱلْبَنُونَ

“You only have sons” — kept for yourselves.

Category scope via “ال”

The definite article ال in ٱلْبَنَاتُ and ٱلْبَنُونَ points to the entire categories:

ٱلْبَنَاتُ — whole category of daughters ٱلْبَنُونَ — whole category of sons

Rebuke of a self-contradictory claim

What they wanted for themselves

Sons signified power and legacy to them; this is what they reserved for themselves.

Their claim about Allah

They attributed daughters to Allah by claiming the angels were daughters of Allah.

This exposes ignorance and hypocritical corruption: attributing to Allah what they themselves disliked, while keeping what they deemed powerful for themselves.

Cross-reference

Allah says in Surah Al-Isra’:

أَفَأَصْفَاكُمْ رَبُّكُم بِالْبَنِينَ وَاتَّخَذَ مِنَ الْمَلَائِكَةِ إِنَاثًا

“Then, has your Lord favoured you with] sons and taken daughters from among the angels?” (40)

Worldly-driven religion and its danger

Focus on worldly wishes

Their beliefs and practices were oriented around attaining worldly desires, divorced from the next life.

Instrumentalizing religion

They turned to religion to reach worldly outcomes, believing that attributing daughters to Allah would help secure those wishes.

Root of contradiction and Shirk

This mindset depicts turning the relationship with God into “getting what one wants,” which is the premise upon which associating partners (Shirk) is established.

A mindful warning to Muslims

Be wary of making the practice of Deen and supplications revolve around worldly wishes; rather, seek Allah’s pleasure and success in the Hereafter.

Ayah 39