إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ لَيُسَمُّونَ ٱلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةَ تَسْمِيَةَ ٱلْأُنثَىٰ 27
Translations
Indeed, those who do not believe in the Hereafter name the angels female names,
Transliteration
Innal-ladhīna lā yu'minūna bil-ākhirati layusammūnal-malā'ikata tasmiyatal-unthā
Tafsir (Explanation)
This ayah criticizes the polytheists of Mecca who denied the Hereafter and claimed that the angels were female, attributing feminine characteristics to them as daughters of Allah. Classical scholars like Al-Tabari and Ibn Kathir emphasize that this was a grave theological error rooted in jahiliyyah (pre-Islamic) ignorance, where Arabs assigned daughters to Allah while considering daughters inferior in their own society—a profound contradiction and blasphemy. The ayah highlights how denial of the Afterlife leads to further spiritual corruption and irrational beliefs about divine nature.
Revelation Context
This ayah is part of Surah An-Najm's broader Meccan context, where it addresses the polytheists' false doctrines concerning Allah's nature and attributes. The surah refutes their claim that angels were female deities or daughters of Allah, which was a common pre-Islamic Arabian belief system that the Quran consistently condemns throughout its revelation.
Related Hadiths
The theme of angels being neither male nor female in the way humans understand gender is referenced in various hadith collections. Related to this is the hadith in Sahih Muslim where the Prophet (ﷺ) clarified the nature of angels and rejected false beliefs about them held by pagans.
Themes
Key Lesson
This ayah teaches that rejecting belief in the Afterlife often leads to fundamental errors in understanding Allah's nature and attributes. Muslims should recognize that sound theology is interconnected—true faith in Allah's Oneness, the Hereafter, and the proper understanding of divine attributes are inseparable from each other.