Maryam · Makki · ayah 92 of 98

Maryam 19:92

وَمَا يَنۢبَغِى لِلرَّحْمَـٰنِ أَن يَتَّخِذَ وَلَدًا

“And it is not appropriate for the Most Merciful that He should take a son.”

Saheeh International

Essence

After the heavens strain, the verdict is quiet: a son is simply not fitting for the Most Merciful, who seeks nothing because He lacks nothing.

A reflection

The language of fittingness

After three ayat of thunder, the denial itself is almost gentle. Not it is impossible, though it is. Not how dare they, though the previous ayat have shown the weight of it. Simply: it is not fitting for the Most Merciful to take a son.

A narration-based commentary explains the phrase. It does not suit Him, it says, and does not befit His majesty and greatness. He has no equal among His creation, because all creation are His servants. The next ayah makes that point in full.

There is something worth noticing in the register. The ayah speaks of fittingness, the language of what becomes a person and what is beneath them. Human beings use this language constantly, and mostly about their pride. That task is beneath me. That remark was not fitting for someone in my position. We guard our dignity with the vocabulary of what suits us.

Here the vocabulary is used of the only One whose dignity is real. And what is said not to fit Him is not a humble task. It is being made into a parent, given a peer, placed in a kind.

That should rearrange a reader's sense of dignity. Real greatness is not protected by refusing small work. It consists in having no equal. Our pride, by contrast, is mostly a fear of being placed alongside others.

The Qur'an's shortest surah of oneness says the same. He neither begets nor was begotten, and there is none comparable to Him (112:3 to 4). The surah ends with none comparable. So does this ayah's logic.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.