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Offline Reader Questions

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Why Does it Only Apply to Men?
« on: March 12, 2013, 10:41:34 AM »
Salaam Big Brother,

I hope you could help me again.
 
It is about 2:245

Sahih International:
2:245 Who is it that would loan Allah a goodly loan so He may multiply it for him many times over? And it is Allah who withholds and grants abundance, and to Him you will be returned.
 
I also check in corpus.quran.com http://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=2&verse=245
 
It contains words which are masculine singular like laHU
 
Is this verse only for man? What about woman?
 
I just wonder why this verse seems targeted at a man only. Honestly, I feel rather sad because of this. Please help me understand this verse.

Salaam. Thank you.

 

Offline Joseph Islam

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Re: Why Does it Only Apply to Men?
« Reply #1 on: March 12, 2013, 10:44:39 AM »
Dear Sister,

May peace be with you.

This is within the scope of the Arabic language. Please kindly allow me to illustrate a response by sharing a few examples:

Please note the singular masculine pronoun in verse 2:126 (adtaruHU). Of course this does not mean that only men are eligible to receive the punishment of the fire but rather this potentially includes all people. Similarly, please also see 'alyaHI' in verse 2:158 which is once again a singular masculine pronoun. Once again and as I'm sure you will agree, this does not mean that the ‘tawaaf’ of Safa and Marwah is only meant to be performed by men.

As a final example from the many present in the Quran, please see verse 2:173 and the use of the 3rd personal masculine singular 'alayHI'. Does this mean that certain food types are only forbidden to men? Of course not as I’m sure you will agree.

Similarly, the verse you share with the use of the 3rd person singular masculine pronoun is not restricted just for men and neither do the singular masculine references in the contexts used only imply men. Furthermore in addition, masculine plurals include both genders.

Arabic is a spoken language and it has meanings within contexts which are understood by the recipients that understand the language. I always respectfully recommend that if one is going to make use of grammar / lexicons to have / gain some knowledge of the language as it is spoken.

I hope that helps, God willing.
Joseph.
'During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act' 
George Orwell