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Sura 53
Aya 22
22
تِلكَ إِذًا قِسمَةٌ ضيزىٰ

Ali Unal

That is an unfair division indeed!1
  • Al-Lāt, al-’Uzzā, and al-Manāt were three of the “greatest” idols of the Makkan polytheists. It is very interesting that these three idols were regarded as females and had female names. Since they were images or representations of some angels or angelic powers in the sight of the polytheists, and since the polytheists regarded the angels as females or daughters of God, they called them by female names. Yet, they despised females and did not desire to have daughters, and they attributed females to God. As explained in note 25 to 4: 117, the reason why they chose their deities from among the females was because they did not want these to have any authority over them; moreover, they tended to seek to dominate even their deities and to use them for the realization of their worldly ambitions.