اَلَكُمُ Is for you الذَّكَرُ the male وَ لَهُ and for Him الْاُنْثٰی the female تِلْكَ This اِذًا then قِسْمَةٌ (is) a division ضِیْزٰی unfair اِنْ Not هِیَ they اِلَّاۤ (are) except اَسْمَآءٌ names سَمَّیْتُمُوْهَاۤ you have named them اَنْتُمْ you وَ اٰبَآؤُكُمْ and your forefathers مَّاۤ not اَنْزَلَ has Allah sent down اللّٰهُ has Allah sent down بِهَا for it مِنْ any سُلْطٰنٍ ؕ authority اِنْ Not یَّتَّبِعُوْنَ they follow اِلَّا except الظَّنَّ assumption وَ مَا and what تَهْوَی desire الْاَنْفُسُ ۚ the(ir) souls وَ لَقَدْ And certainly جَآءَهُمْ has come to them مِّنْ from رَّبِّهِمُ their Lord الْهُدٰیؕ the guidance اَمْ Or لِلْاِنْسَانِ (is) for man مَا what تَمَنّٰیؗۖ he wishes فَلِلّٰهِ But for Allah الْاٰخِرَةُ (is) the last وَ الْاُوْلٰی۠ and the first وَ كَمْ And how many مِّنْ of مَّلَكٍ (the) Angels فِی in السَّمٰوٰتِ the heavens لَا not تُغْنِیْ will avail شَفَاعَتُهُمْ their intercession شَیْـًٔا anything اِلَّا except مِنْۢ after بَعْدِ after اَنْ [that] یَّاْذَنَ Allah has given permission اللّٰهُ Allah has given permission لِمَنْ for whom یَّشَآءُ He wills وَ یَرْضٰی and approves 53. An-Najm Page 527 اِنَّ Indeed الَّذِیْنَ those who لَا (do) not یُؤْمِنُوْنَ believe بِالْاٰخِرَةِ in the Hereafter لَیُسَمُّوْنَ surely they name الْمَلٰٓىِٕكَةَ the Angels تَسْمِیَةَ name(s) الْاُنْثٰی (of) female
(53:21) Shall you have the male issues, and He the female issues?16
(53:22) That is indeed an unfair division!
(53:23) These are nothing but names that you and your forefathers have invented, for which Allah has sent down no authority.17 They are merely following their conjectures and their carnal desires18 although guidance has come to them from their Lord.19
(53:24) Does man imagine that whatever he wishes for is right for him?20
(53:25) To Allah belong both the Next World and the present.
(53:26) Numerous are the angels in the heavens; yet their intercession shall be of no avail, except in regard to those whom He grants the leave of intercession and whose plea He is pleased to accept.21
(53:27) Those who do not believe in the Hereafter give angels the names of females,22
16. That is, you held these goddesses as daughters of Allah, Lord of the worlds, and did not consider while inventing this absurd creed that as for yourselves you regarded the birth of a daughter as disgraceful, and desired to have only male children, but as for Allah you assign to Him only daughters.
17. That is, those whom you call gods and goddesses are neither gods nor goddesses, nor do they possess any attribute of divinity, nor any share whatever in the powers of Godhead. You have of your own whim made them children of God and deities and associates in Godhead. Allah has sent down no authority which you may produce as a proof in support of your presumptions.
18. In other words, the basic causes of their deviation are two: First, that they do not feel any need for the knowledge of reality for the purpose of adopting a creed and religion, but make a supposition on the basis of a mere conjecture and then put belief in it as though it were the reality, Second, that they have, in fact, adopted this attitude in order to follow the desires of their souls: they desire that they should have such a deity as should help them attain their aims and objects in the world, and if at all there is to be a Hereafter, it should take the responsibility to have them granted forgiveness there too, But it should not impose any restriction of the lawful and the unlawful on them nor should bind them in any discipline of morality. That is why they do not feel inclined to worship One God as taught by the Prophets, and only like to worship these invented gods and goddesses.
19. That is, in every age the Prophets appointed by Allah have been guiding these wicked people to the truth, and now Muhammad (peace be upon him) has come to tell them as to whom belongs Godhead in reality in the universe.
20. Another meaning of this verse can be: Is man entitled to take anyone he pleases as his god? Still another meaning can be: Can the desire of man to have his prayers answered by these gods ever be fulfilled?
21. That is, even if all the angels together intercede for a person, it cannot be beneficial for him not to speak of the intercession by these invented deities of yours, which can do no one any good. All the powers of Godhead rest with Allah. Even the angels cannot dare intercede for somebody before Him unless He permits it and is pleased to hear their intercession in his behalf.
22 That is, their first folly is that they have taken these powerless angels who cannot even intercede for anyone before Allah as their deities. Their second folly is that they regard them as female and daughters of Allah. The basic reason for these errors is that they do not believe in the Hereafter. For, had they been believers in the Hereafter, they would never have behaved so irrationally and irresponsibly. Their denial of the Hereafter has made them heedless of their end, and they think that believing or disbelieving in God, or believing in a thousand gods, does not make any difference, for none of these creeds seems to entail any good or bad result in the present life of the world. Whether the people are deniers of God, or believers in many gods, or in One God, their crops ripen as well as fail, they fall ill as well as recover from illness, and they pass through all kinds of circumstances, good as well as bad. Therefore it is not at all an important and serious matter for them that man should or should not take some one as a deity, or should take as many deities or of any kind as he likes of his choice. When according to them the decision as to what is truth and what is falsehood is to take place in this very world, depending on the results thereof appearing here, obviously the results here do not decide absolutely that one creed is true and another false. Therefore, the adoption of one creed and rejection of another is a matter of mere whim with these people.