Surah Zumar Ayat 4 in Arabic Text
English Translation
Here you can read various translations of verse 4
If Allah had intended to take a son, He could have chosen from what He creates whatever He willed. Exalted is He; He is Allah, the One, the Prevailing.
Had Allah wished to take to Himself a son, He could have chosen whom He pleased out of those whom He doth create: but Glory be to Him! (He is above such things.) He is Allah, the One, the Irresistible.
If Allah had wanted to take to Himself a son, He could have chosen anyone He wanted out of those whom He creates. Glory be to Him (that He should have a son). He is Allah: the One, the Overpowering.
Had Allah willed to take a son (or offspring or children), He could have chosen whom He pleased out of those whom He created. But glory be to Him! (He is above such things). He is Allah, the One, the Irresistible.
If Allah had willed to choose a son, He could have chosen what He would of that which He hath created. Be He Glorified! He is Allah, the One, the Absolute.
If Allah had willed to take to Him a child, indeed He would have elected whatever He decided of whatever He has created. All Extolment be to Him! He is Allah, The One, The Superb Vanquisher.
God could have chosen any of His creation He willed for offspring, but He is far above this! He is the One, the Almighty.
اگر اللہ تعالیٰ کااراده اوﻻد ہی کا ہوتا تو اپنی مخلوق میں سے جسے چاہتا چن لیتا۔ (لیکن) وه تو پاک ہے، وه وہی اللہ تعالیٰ ہے یگانہ اور قوت واﻻ
Quran 39 Verse 4 Explanation
For those looking for commentary to help with the understanding of Surah Zumar ayat 4, we’ve provided two Tafseer works below. The first is the tafseer of Abul Ala Maududi, the second is of Ibn Kathir.
Ala-Maududi
(39:4) If Allah had wanted to take to Himself a son, He could have chosen anyone He wanted out of those whom He creates.[8] Glory be to Him (that He should have a son). He is Allah: the One, the Overpowering.[9]
8. That is, it is just impossible that Allah should have begotten a son. The only possibility is that Allah should choose someone for Himself; and whomever He chooses will inevitably be from among the creatures, for everything in the world, apart from Allah, is His creation. Now, evidently, however exalted and chosen a creature might be, it cannot have the position of the offspring. For between the Creator and the created there exists a great disparity of nature and essence and character, and parenthood necessarily demands that there should be the unity of nature and essence between a father and his offspring. Besides, one should also bear in mind the point that the words: “If Allah had intended to take a son, He could have chosen from what He created” themselves give the meaning that Allah has never intended so. Here the object is to impress that not to speak of taking a son, Allah has never even intended so.
9. The following are the arguments by which the doctrine of parenthood has been refuted:
First, that Allah is free from every defect and fault and weakness. Obviously, children are needed by the one who is defective and weak. The one who is mortal and stands in need of them, so that his progeny should continue to live after him in the world. Likewise, he who adopts a son does so either because he feels the need of having an heir, being childless himself, or he adopts a son being overpowered by love of somebody. Attributing such human weaknesses to Allah and forming religious creeds on their basis is nothing but ignorance and shortsightedness.
The second argument is that Allah in His essence and Being is unique. He is not a member of a species, whereas, evidently, offspring must necessarily belong to a species. Furthermore, there can be no concept of offspring without marriage, and marriage can take place only between homogeneous individuals. Therefore, the one who proposes offspring for the Unique and Matchless Being like Allah, is ignorant and foolish.
The third argument is that Allah is Omnipotent, i.e. whatever is there in the world is subdued to Him and is held in His powerful grasp. No one in this Universe has any resemblance with Him in any way or degree on account of which it may be imagined that he has a relation with Allah.
Ibn-Kathir
The tafsir of Surah Az-Zumar verse 4 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Zumar ayat 1 which provides the complete commentary from verse 1 through 4.
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