Glorified is He, a declaration of His being free from taking a child. It is a wonder at their foolish saying: He is the Self-Sufficient. This is a reason for denying a child, for what is sought by a child is one who gives birth, and what is sought for him is the cause of all need. Since need is negated from Him, a child is also negated from Him. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth. He is self-sufficient by His ownership of them from taking anyone of them as a child. If you have any authority in this, what you have is no proof for this saying. The 'ba' (ب) is rightly connected to His saying: If you have, as if to say, the saying is a place for authority, like saying: What you have in your land is bananas. It is as if it were said: If you have in what you say authority, do you say about Allah what you do not know? By denying them the proof, He made them ignorant. This indicates that every saying without proof for its speaker is ignorance, and he does not know.