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Surah 43. Az-Zukhruf, Ayah 16

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أَمِ ٱتَّخَذَ مِمَّا يَخْلُقُ بَنَاتٍ وَأَصْفَىٰكُم بِٱلْبَنِينَ
Ami ittakha th a mimm a yakhluqu ban a tin waa s f a kum bi a lbaneen a
Or [do you think], perchance, that out of all His creation He has chosen for Himself daughters, and favoured you with sons?14
  - Mohammad Asad

It should be remembered that the people thus addressed were the pagan Arabs, who believed that some of their goddesses, as well as the angels, were "God's daughters". In view of the fact that those pre-Islamic Arabs regarded daughters as a mere liability and their birth as a disgrace, this verse is obviously ironical. (Cf. in this connection {16:57-59}.)

Would Allah choose daughters (pagan Arabs believed that angels were the daughters of Allah) for Himself out of what He Himself creates and gives you sons?
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
Has He taken 'angels as His' daughters from what He created, and favoured you 'O pagans' with sons?
  - Mustafa Khattab
Or chooseth He daughters of all that He hath created, and honoureth He you with sons?
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
What! Has He taken Daughters out of what He Himself creates and granted to you sons for choice? 4621
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

To imagine goddesses (female gods) or mothers or daughters to Allah was particularly blasphemous in the mouths of people who held the female sex in contempt. Such were the pagan Arabs, and such (it is to be feared) are some of the moderns. They wince when a daughter is born to them and hanker after sons. With that mentality, how can they attribute daughters to Allah?

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