Surah Al-Anbiya Ayat 26 in Arabic Text
English Translation
Here you can read various translations of verse 26
And they say, “The Most Merciful has taken a son.” Exalted is He! Rather, they are [but] honored servants.
And they say: “(Allah) Most Gracious has begotten offspring.” Glory to Him! they are (but) servants raised to honour.
They say: “The Most Compassionate Lord has taken to Himself a son.” Glory be to Him! Those whom they so designate are only His honoured servants.
And they say: “The Most Beneficent (Allah) has begotten a son (or children).” Glory to Him! They [those whom they call children of Allah i.e. the angels, ‘Iesa (Jesus) son of Maryam (Mary), ‘Uzair (Ezra), etc.], are but honoured slaves.
And they say: The Beneficent hath taken unto Himself a son. Be He Glorified! Nay, but (those whom they call sons) are honoured slaves;
And they have said, “The All-Merciful has taken to Him a child.” All Extolment be to Him. No indeed, they (i.e., the messengers) are honored bondmen.
And they say, ‘The Lord of Mercy has taken offspring for Himself.’ May He be exalted! No! They are only His honoured servants:
(مشرک لوگ) کہتے ہیں کہ رحمٰن اوﻻد واﻻ ہے (غلط ہے) اس کی ذات پاک ہے، بلکہ وه سب اس کے باعزت بندے ہیں
Quran 21 Verse 26 Explanation
For those looking for commentary to help with the understanding of Surah Al-Anbiya ayat 26, we’ve provided two Tafseer works below. The first is the tafseer of Abul Ala Maududi, the second is of Ibn Kathir.
Ala-Maududi
(21:26) They say: “The Most Compassionate Lord has taken to Himself a son.”[26] Glory be to Him! Those whom they so designate are only His honoured servants.
26. Here it refers to the angels as is clear from Ayat
Ibn-Kathir
26. And they say: “The Most Gracious has begotten children.” Glory to Him! They are but honored servants. 27. They speak not until He has spoken, and they act on His command. 28. He knows what is before them, and what is behind them, and they cannot intercede except for him with whom He is pleased. And they stand in awe for fear of Him. 29. And if any of them should say: “Verily, I am a god besides Him,” such We should recompense with Hell. Thus We recompense the wrongdoers.
Here Allah refutes those who claim that He has offspring among the angels — exalted and sanctified be He. Some of the Arabs believed that the angels were the daughters of Allah, but Allah says:
(Glory to Him! They are but honored servants.) meaning, the angels are servants of Allah who are honored by Him and who hold high positions of noble status. They obey Him to the utmost in all their words and deeds.
(They speak not until He has spoken, and they act on His command.) meaning, they do not initiate any matter before Him or go against His commands; on the contrary, they hasten to do as He commands, and He encompasses them with His knowledge so that nothing whatsoever is hidden from Him.
(He knows what is before them, and what is behind them,)
(and they cannot intercede except for him with whom He is pleased.) This is like the Ayat:
(Who is he that can intercede with Him except with His permission) ﴿2:255﴾
(Intercession with Him profits not except for him whom He permits) ﴿34:23﴾. There are many Ayat which say similar things.
(And they for fear of Him) means, because they fear Him.
(And they stand in awe. And if any of them should say: “Verily, I am a god besides Him,”) meaning, whoever claims to be a god instead of Allah, i.e., alongside Allah,
(such We should recompense with Hell. Thus We recompense the wrongdoers.) meaning, everyone who says this. This is a conditional sentence, and the condition stated does not necessarily have to take place. This is like the Ayat:
(Say: “If the Most Gracious had a son, then I am the first of worshippers.”) ﴿43:81﴾
(If you join others in worship with Allah, (then) surely, (all) your deeds will be in vain, and you will certainly be among the losers.) ﴿39:65﴾
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