His saying - glorified and exalted is He -: "And likewise, it has been made attractive to many of the polytheists the killing of their children by their partners, so that they may bring them to ruin and so that they may confuse their religion. And if Allah had willed, they would not have done it. So leave them and what they invent."

The term "many" in this verse refers to those who used to bury their daughters alive among the polytheists of the Arabs. The "partners" here are the devils who command that; they beautify it for them; and they also include from the children of Adam those who transfer it from one generation to another; as all of them share in the ugliness of this act and its consequences in the Hereafter. The purpose of this verse is to condemn the act of burying alive and to denounce its practice.

(p-468) The reading has differed; the congregation - except for Ibn 'Amir - read: "And likewise, it has been made attractive"; with the 'zay' opened; "the killing"; in the accusative; "their children"; with the 'dal' broken; "their partners"; and this is the clearest reading. Sibawayh reported that a group read: "And likewise, it has been made attractive"; with the 'zay' closed; "the killing"; in the nominative; "their children"; with the 'dal' broken; "their partners"; in the nominative.

Qadi Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: This is the reading of Abu 'Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami, al-Hasan, and Abu 'Abd al-Malik - the judge of the army; the companion of Ibn 'Amir - as if he said: "Their partners made it attractive to them". Sibawayh said: This is as the poet said:

"Let Yazid weep, a supplicant for a dispute, And confused by what the winds obey."

As if he said: "A supplicant weeps for a dispute." Qutrub permitted that the partners in this reading may have been elevated by the killing; as if the source was added to the object; then the subject was mentioned after it; as if he said: "That their partners killed their children"; just as you say: "Zayd made riding the horse beloved to me"; meaning: "That Zayd rode the horse."

Qadi Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: The correct view when a source is added to an object is that the subject should not be mentioned; and also the majority - in this verse - are of the opinion that the partners are beautifiers, not killers; and the interpretation mentioned by Sibawayh is the correct one; and from it is His saying - glorified and exalted is He - regarding the reading of those who read: "Men glorify Him therein morning and evening"; with the 'ba' opened; meaning: "Men glorify."

And Ibn 'Amir read: "And likewise, it has been made attractive"; with the 'zay' closed; "the killing"; in the nominative; "their children"; with the 'dal' in the accusative; "their partners"; with the partners in the genitive; and this reading is weak in the usage of the Arabs; and the leaders of the Arabic language do not permit separation by circumstances in such cases; except in poetry; as in the saying:

"As the book was written by the hand of a Jew, Approaching or removing."

(p-469) So how about the object in the most eloquent speech? However, its aspect - despite its weakness - is that it has been reported as an exception in a verse recited by Abu al-Hasan al-Akhfash; and it is:

"And I urged it with a mixture, As the father of Mazadah urged the camel."

And in the verse of al-Tirmidh, which is his saying:

"They wander in my pastures, they have not grazed, In its valleys from the sound of the bows of the women."

And the partners - according to this reading - are those who interpret the burying of daughters of others; they are the killers; and the correct meaning is that they are the beautifiers; not the killers; and this is implied in the reading of the congregation.

And some of the people of the Levant read - and it was narrated from Ibn 'Amir -: "ZAYNA"; with a kasrah on the zay; and a sukoon on the ya; according to the previous rank; of separating with the maful; and Al-Zahrawi reported that a group from the people of the Levant read: "And likewise it was beautified"; with a dammah on the zay; "killing"; with a رفع; "their children"; with a kasrah on the dal; "their partners"; with a khafd; and the partners - according to this reading - are the buried children; because they are partners in lineage and inheritance; and it is as if their description as partners implies a sanctity for them; and it indicates the corruption of the act; as it is the killing of one who has sanctity.

And "to lead them to destruction"; its meaning is: to annihilate them. From "al-rida"; and "and to mix"; its meaning is: to confuse; and the congregation is on a kasrah of the ba; and Ibrahim Al-Nakha'i read: "and to mix"; with a fathah on the ba; Abu Al-Fath said: it is a metaphor from "al-libas"; a phrase about the intensity of mixing; and these two verbs support the first reading in our arrangement; in His saying, the Exalted: "And likewise it was beautified".

And His saying, the Exalted: "And if Allah had willed, they would not have done it"; implies that nothing occurs except by the will of Allah - Mighty and Majestic -; and in it is a refutation of those who say that man creates his actions.

And His saying, the Exalted: "So leave them"; is purely a threat; and "they fabricate"; its meaning is: they create lies in their legislation by that; and their belief that it is permissible for them.