Tafsir of Surah Al-Anbiya' - Verse 28

The Refutation of Those Who claim that the Angels are the Daughters of Allah; description of their Deeds and Status

Here Allah refutes those who claim that He has offspring among the angels -- exalted and sanctified be He. Some of the Arabs believed that the angels were the daughters of Allah, but Allah says:

سُبْحَانَهُ بَلْ عِبَادٌ مُّكْرَمُونَ

(Glory to Him! They are but honored servants.) meaning, the angels are servants of Allah who are honored by Him and who hold high positions of noble status. They obey Him to the utmost in all their words and deeds.

لاَ يَسْبِقُونَهُ بِالْقَوْلِ وَهُمْ بِأَمْرِهِ يَعْمَلُونَ

(They speak not until He has spoken, and they act on His command.) meaning, they do not initiate any matter before Him or go against His commands; on the contrary, they hasten to do as He commands, and He encompasses them with His knowledge so that nothing whatsoever is hidden from Him.

يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ

(He knows what is before them, and what is behind them,)

وَلاَ يَشْفَعُونَ إِلاَّ لِمَنِ ارْتَضَى

(and they cannot intercede except for him with whom He is pleased.) This is like the Ayat:

مَن ذَا الَّذِى يَشْفَعُ عِندَهُ إِلاَّ بِإِذْنِهِ

(Who is he that can intercede with Him except with His permission) 2:255

وَلاَ تَنفَعُ الشَّفَـعَةُ عِندَهُ إِلاَّ لِمَنْ أَذِنَ لَهُ

(Intercession with Him profits not except for him whom He permits) 34:23. There are many Ayat which say similar things.

وَهُمْ مِّنْ خَشْيَتِهِ

(And they for fear of Him) means, because they fear Him.

مُشْفِقُونَوَمَن يَقُلْ مِنْهُمْ إِنِّى إِلَـهٌ مِّن دُونِهِ

(And they stand in awe. And if any of them should say: "Verily, I am a god besides Him,") meaning, whoever claims to be a god instead of Allah, i.e., alongside Allah,

فَذلِكَ نَجْزِيهِ جَهَنَّمَ كَذَلِكَ نَجْزِى الظَّـلِمِينَ

(such We should recompense with Hell. Thus We recompense the wrongdoers.) meaning, everyone who says this. This is a conditional sentence, and the condition stated does not necessarily have to take place. This is like the Ayat:

قُلْ إِن كَانَ لِلرَّحْمَـنِ وَلَدٌ فَأَنَاْ أَوَّلُ الْعَـبِدِينَ

(Say: "If the Most Gracious had a son, then I am the first of worshippers.") 43:81

لَئِنْ أَشْرَكْتَ لَيَحْبَطَنَّ عَمَلُكَ وَلَتَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْخَـسِرِينَ

(If you join others in worship with Allah, (then) surely, (all) your deeds will be in vain, and you will certainly be among the losers.) 39:65

لَا يَسْبِقُونَهُ بِالْقَوْلِ وَهُم بِأَمْرِ‌هِ يَعْمَلُونَ (They do not precede Him in speech and only under His command they act. 21:27) This verse refutes the claim of pagans of Makkah that angels were daughters of Allah. How can angels be Allah's children when they stand in such awe in His presence that they neither initiate any talk nor act against His commands. They simply await His words and act accordingly. This also points towards an important etiquette of behaving in the company of elders. That is, when a matter is brought forth in front of a group of people, the people before speaking themselves first, should wait until the elder among such a group has spoken. Speaking prior to the elder is contrary to the manners governing respect of elders.

To consider one thing as right and some other thing as wrong curtails the freedom of human beings. Therefore, they have always attempted to find a theory according to which the difference between truth and untruth should vanish, so that they might live in the world in whatever manner they liked and have the satisfaction of not being answerable for what they did or for what they did not do. Irreligious people have tried to achieve this by denying the life hereafter while religious people have had recourse to polytheistic practices. Angels are invisible creatures. Human beings were informed of the existence of angels through the prophets, so that they might realise God’s power. But they (the human beings) formed the erroneous idea that the angels were the daughters of God and adopted the strange belief that they should perform certain rites of worship in the name of the angels, who would in turn recommend them to their ‘Father’, have them (the worshippers) pardoned and procure their salvation. All such beliefs amount to a negation of the godhood of the Almighty. God is God only because He is free of all shortcomings. Had He been subject to shortcomings, He would not have been God.