Qur’anic Root A N TH

1. Qur’anic forms and the semantic core

A N TH occurs thirty times in twenty-six Qur’anic verses, in three principal forms.

Singular unthā occurs eighteen times, with or without the article and attached particles, including unthā, al-unthā, and bi-l-unthā.

Ināth is its plural and occurs six times, concerning offspring, supposed deities, and attributing female sex to angels.

Unthayayni is the accusative or genitive dual, occurring six times: once in Al-Nisāʾ 4:11, once in Al-Nisāʾ 4:176, and twice each in Al-Anʿām 6:143 and Al-Anʿām 6:144.

The Qur’an therefore uses singular, dual, and plural nouns from this root, but no verb.

Arabic records unūthah and anāthah for femaleness and female characteristics. Anutha concerns being or becoming female or feminine; annatha concerns making or considering something feminine.

Muʾannath describes something identified as female in reality or feminine grammatically.

Ānathati al-marʾatu describes a woman giving birth to a girl. Miʾnāth describes a woman who bears many daughters and a man who has many daughters; its application to a man does not mean he gives birth.

These derivatives are known in Arabic, but the Qur’anic forms are unthā, unthayayni, and ināth.

Semantic core

The principal meaning of the Qur’anic branch is:

The female sex contrasted with the male, in humans and other living beings; in linguistic use, considering or naming something feminine, or attributing female sex to it.

This definition must remain distinct from several other concepts.

Unthā does not itself mean a little girl: an adult woman is also female.

Nor does it mean mother, since not every female has become a mother.

It does not mean wife either: being female differs from being married.

Conversely, grammatical femininity does not always identify a biologically female being. Some object names are grammatically feminine without those objects having biological sex.

Distinguishing actual sex from grammatical gender matters particularly for certain Qur’anic uses.

2. Unthā in early Arabic: female sex and linguistic extensions

Unthā contrasted with dhakar

In direct Arabic usage, unthā contrasts with dhakar.

The contrast applies to humans and animals.

One can discuss male and female humans, birds, and other living beings to which the distinction applies.

Unthā can identify a female without specifying the species.

Unthā mina al-anʿām, for example, means a female among livestock.

In the context of a human birth, however, unthā means a girl.

The English equivalent therefore varies with the referent: female, woman, or girl.

That variation does not change the root’s lexical core.

A pre-Islamic witness: soft, fertile ground

Imruʾ Al-Qays is quoted as saying:

بِمَيْثٍ أَنِيثٍ فِي رِيَاضٍ دَمِيثَةٍ
يُحِيلُ سَوَافِيهَا بِمَاءٍ فَضِيضِ

bi-maythin anīthin fī riyāḍin damīthatin / yuḥīlu sawāfīhā bi-māʾin faḍīḍi

“On soft, fertile ground, among gentle, level meadows, whose soil is transformed by flowing water.”

Anīth describes the ground here.

Early Arabic records arḍun anīthah and baladun anīthun for soft ground readily producing vegetation.

Anīth does not identify the land’s biological sex; it describes softness and readiness for growth.

The lexical family therefore extends beyond the sex of living beings.

This usage should not replace the meaning of Qur’anic unthā.

When the Qur’an says kullu unthā concerning pregnancy, it does not mean every patch of fertile ground, but females that carry offspring.

Was woman called unthā because of softness?

Some early lexical explanations connect femininity with softness.

One explanation starts from soft land called anīthah and derives unthā from woman’s supposed softness relative to man.

Another reverses the direction, interpreting softness in land or metal as a comparison with femaleness.

This difference matters.

Two uses within one lexical family do not by themselves establish which arose first historically.

Earlier ideas about women’s and men’s softness or hardness also reflect their periods’ linguistic and social classifications.

These comparisons do not establish that all women are necessarily weaker, less capable, or inferior in intellect or character.

Even if anīth for soft metal or fertile ground arose by analogy with females, that is a linguistic extension, rather than a scientific or moral definition of woman.

Ḥadīdun anīthun: soft iron and a less effective sword

Early Arabic ḥadīdun anīthun describes iron considered softer or less hard.

Sayfun anīthun can likewise describe a sword whose cutting quality or hardness is considered inadequate.

The following is attributed to Ṣakhr Al-Ghayy, a Hudhayl poet variously classified as pre-Islamic or spanning the pre-Islamic and Islamic periods:

فَيُعْلِمَهُ بِأَنَّ الْعَقْلَ عِنْدِي
جُرَازٌ لَا أَفَلُّ وَلَا أَنِيثُ

fa-yuʿlimahu bi-anna al-ʿaqla ʿindī / jurāzun lā afallu wa-lā anīthu

“So that he knows my answer in blood-money is a keen-cutting sword, neither notched nor soft and ineffective.”

Al-ʿaql here concerns blood-money or compensation, rather than the faculty of reasoning.

Jurāz describes a keen-cutting sword; anīth contrasts with it as lacking the desired hardness and cutting quality.

The witness shows technical and figurative usage. Ḥusām is also transmitted instead of jurāz; merely quoting the line in a lexicon does not establish its precise composition date.

This does not make unthā mean a powerless or worthless being throughout the Qur’an.

Passages concerning faith and righteous conduct place men and women together in responsibility and reward.

Technical anīth for metal must therefore remain distinct from unthā for a human being.

Taʾnīth in grammar

Arabic nouns and descriptions can be grammatically masculine or feminine.

Al-shams, “sun,” is feminine; al-qamar, “moon,” is masculine.

This does not give the sun and moon human biological sex.

Likewise, al-yad, “hand,” and al-udhun, “ear,” are grammatically feminine, though hands and ears do not independently possess biological sex.

Two levels must therefore be distinguished:

Male and female sex in living beings.

Masculine and feminine nouns within language.

The levels sometimes correspond, but are not identical.

This distinction matters for ināthan describing supposed deities or claims about angels.

Al-unthayān: names of bodily organs

Arabic dictionaries also record al-unthayān for the two testicles and, in another use, the two ears.

This naming illustrates that masculine and feminine terms for organs do not always denote the organ’s biological sex.

The lexical form must not be confused with al-unthayayni in the Qur’an.

Al-Nisāʾ 4:11 and Al-Nisāʾ 4:176 refer to two females as a unit for comparing inheritance shares.

Al-Anʿām 6:143 and Al-Anʿām 6:144 refer to two female animals.

None concerns two testicles or ears.

3. Female sex in creation, pregnancy, and offspring

Al-dhakara wa-l-unthā: the two sexes in creation

Al-Najm 53:45 states:

وَأَنَّهُ خَلَقَ الزَّوْجَيْنِ الذَّكَرَ وَالْأُنْثَىٰ

wa-annahu khalaqa al-zawjayni al-dhakara wa-l-unthā

“And that He created the two counterparts, male and female.”

Al-Najm 53:45

Al-dhakar and al-unthā occur alongside al-zawjayn.

Dhakar identifies the male; unthā identifies the female.

Zawjayn here concerns the two counterparts of a pair.

Al-Najm 53:46 then mentions a reproductive drop, placing male and female creation within generation and reproduction.

Al-Qiyāmah 75:39 likewise states:

فَجَعَلَ مِنْهُ الزَّوْجَيْنِ الذَّكَرَ وَالْأُنْثَىٰ

fa-jaʿala minhu al-zawjayni al-dhakara wa-l-unthā

“Then He made from it the two counterparts, male and female.”

Al-Qiyāmah 75:39

Minhu refers back to what the preceding verse describes.

Al-Layl 92:3 also states:

وَمَا خَلَقَ الذَّكَرَ وَالْأُنْثَىٰ

wa-mā khalaqa al-dhakara wa-l-unthā

“And by that which created male and female.”

Al-Layl 92:3

Mā has different grammatical analyses: it can be considered with reference to the Creator or to the act of creating.

Al-dhakara wa-l-unthā remains clear in either reading: male and female.

These verses present female sex as part of creation, rather than a defect opposed to male creation.

Without separate investigation, their mention of male and female cannot establish every detail of sex determination, uncommon variations of sexual development, or the structure of all living beings.

They discuss two sexes within creation and reproduction, rather than offering a comprehensive medical classification of every possible condition.

Kullu unthā: every female that carries offspring

Al-Raʿd 13:8 states:

اللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَحْمِلُ كُلُّ أُنْثَىٰ وَمَا تَغِيضُ الْأَرْحَامُ وَمَا تَزْدَادُ وَكُلُّ شَيْءٍ عِنْدَهُ بِمِقْدَارٍ

allāhu yaʿlamu mā taḥmilu kullu unthā wa-mā taghīḍu al-arḥāmu wa-mā tazdādu wa-kullu shayʾin ʿindahu bi-miqdār

“The God knows what every female carries, what the wombs diminish, and what they increase. Everything with Him has a measure.”

Al-Raʿd 13:8

Kullu unthā is the subject of taḥmilu.

Kullu expresses comprehensiveness; unthā identifies female sex.

The phrase is therefore not restricted to human women.

Female animals that carry offspring fall within its natural scope too.

It does not mean every female must be pregnant at every moment.

The verse concerns The God’s knowledge of what every female carries. Absence of pregnancy does not place that being outside divine knowledge.

Taghīḍu and tazdādu belong to other roots and concern diminution and increase.

Those meanings should not be inserted into unthā itself.

Wa-mā taḥmilu min unthā: the mother or a female fetus?

Fāṭir 35:11 states:

وَاللَّهُ خَلَقَكُمْ مِنْ تُرَابٍ ثُمَّ مِنْ نُطْفَةٍ ثُمَّ جَعَلَكُمْ أَزْوَاجًا وَمَا تَحْمِلُ مِنْ أُنْثَىٰ وَلَا تَضَعُ إِلَّا بِعِلْمِهِ وَمَا يُعَمَّرُ مِنْ مُعَمَّرٍ وَلَا يُنْقَصُ مِنْ عُمُرِهِ إِلَّا فِي كِتَابٍ إِنَّ ذَٰلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ يَسِيرٌ

wa-allāhu khalaqakum min turābin thumma min nuṭfatin thumma jaʿalakum azwājan wa-mā taḥmilu min unthā wa-lā taḍaʿu illā bi-ʿilmihi wa-mā yuʿammaru min muʿammarin wa-lā yunqaṣu min ʿumurihi illā fī kitābin inna dhālika ʿalā allāhi yasīr

“The God created you from dust, then from a reproductive drop, then made you pairs. No female conceives or gives birth except with His knowledge. No long-lived person’s life is extended or diminished except in a record. That is easy for The God.”

Fāṭir 35:11

Wa-mā taḥmilu min unthā has particular significance.

Min unthā occurs in a negative construction and identifies the female carrying offspring.

The precise sense is therefore “no female conceives.”

It should not become “no one carries a female fetus.”

That would change unthā from the subject carrying offspring to the fetus’s sex, altering the sentence’s structure.

Fuṣṣilat 41:47 has the same construction.

Both concern The God’s knowledge of pregnancy and childbirth.

Forqan should therefore preserve the distinction between the female carrying offspring and female offspring being carried.

Daughters too are gifts

Al-Shūrā 42:49 states:

لِلَّهِ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَاءُ يَهَبُ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ إِنَاثًا وَيَهَبُ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ الذُّكُورَ

li-llāhi mulku al-samāwāti wa-l-arḍi yakhluqu mā yashāʾu yahabu li-man yashāʾu ināthan wa-yahabu li-man yashāʾu al-dhukūr

“To The God belongs dominion over the heavens and earth. He creates what He wills, granting daughters to whom He wills and sons to whom He wills.”

Al-Shūrā 42:49

Ināthan is the plural of unthā.

Since the subject is granting human offspring, “daughters” is the natural equivalent.

Al-dhukūr likewise identifies sons here.

Yahabu belongs to W H B and expresses granting or giving.

The idea of a gift therefore comes from yahabu, rather than ināth itself.

Their conjunction nevertheless presents daughters as gifts from The God.

The next verse states:

أَوْ يُزَوِّجُهُمْ ذُكْرَانًا وَإِنَاثًا وَيَجْعَلُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ عَقِيمًا إِنَّهُ عَلِيمٌ قَدِيرٌ

aw yuzawwijuhum dhukrānan wa-ināthan wa-yajʿalu man yashāʾu ʿaqīman innahu ʿalīmun qadīr

“Or He gives them both sons and daughters, and makes whom He wills unable to have children. He is knowing and powerful.”

Al-Shūrā 42:50

These verses describe having daughters, sons, both, or no children.

Yuzawwijuhum concerns combining both kinds of offspring in people’s lives, rather than necessarily marrying the children to one another.

ʿAqīman concerns an inability to have offspring.

It belongs to another root and should not enter unthā’s meaning.

None of having daughters, sons, or no children is itself made a measure of moral worth.

4. Women and men in faith, conduct, and human worth

Min dhakarin wa-unthā: a shared human origin

Al-Ḥujurāt 49:13 states:

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُمْ مِنْ ذَكَرٍ وَأُنْثَىٰ وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ

yā ayyuhā al-nāsu innā khalaqnākum min dhakarin wa-unthā wa-jaʿalnākum shuʿūban wa-qabāʾila li-taʿārafū inna akramakum ʿinda allāhi atqākum inna allāha ʿalīmun khabīr

“People, We created you from a male and a female, and made you peoples and tribes so that you might know one another. The most honored of you with The God is the most mindful of Him. The God is knowing and aware.”

Al-Ḥujurāt 49:13

The verse begins yā ayyuhā al-nāsu, “people.”

It therefore addresses humanity, rather than only men or adherents of one religious community.

Min dhakarin wa-unthā concerns male and female within human origins.

The verse then mentions peoples and tribes, with li-taʿārafū expressing mutual recognition.

Honor with The God is subsequently connected with taqwā.

Sex and communal affiliation alone are therefore not the final measure of human worth.

Unthā itself, however, does not lexically yield taqwā or equal legal provisions in every matter.

Unthā identifies the female sex.

The criterion of honor comes from atqākum; social connection comes from the verse’s other components.

Min dhakarin aw unthā: no one’s work is lost

In Āl ʿImrān 3:195, The God states that He does not let any believing worker’s work be lost, whether male or female.

The same verse says baʿḍukum min baʿḍ, “you are of one another.”

This emphasizes the addressees’ connection and common humanity.

Women’s work therefore does not depend here on men’s separate valuation. Each person participates through their own conduct in responsibility and reward.

Al-Nisāʾ 4:124 likewise expresses righteous conduct, belief, and entry into the Garden for men and women through one shared construction.

Ghāfir 40:40 first describes recompense for wrongdoing, then believing women and men who act righteously and receive the Garden.

These distinct passages explicitly place male and female together when discussing belief, conduct, and reward.

Fa-la-nuḥyiyannahu ḥayātan ṭayyibah

Al-Naḥl 16:97 states:

مَنْ عَمِلَ صَالِحًا مِنْ ذَكَرٍ أَوْ أُنْثَىٰ وَهُوَ مُؤْمِنٌ فَلَنُحْيِيَنَّهُ حَيَاةً طَيِّبَةً وَلَنَجْزِيَنَّهُمْ أَجْرَهُمْ بِأَحْسَنِ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ

man ʿamila ṣāliḥan min dhakarin aw unthā wa-huwa muʾminun fa-la-nuḥyiyannahu ḥayātan ṭayyibatan wa-la-najziyannahum ajrahum bi-aḥsani mā kānū yaʿmalūn

“Whoever acts righteously, whether male or female, while believing, We will certainly give them a good life, and reward them according to the best of what they used to do.”

Al-Naḥl 16:97

The sentence begins with man, “whoever.”

Min dhakarin aw unthā specifies its scope with respect to sex.

Wa-huwa muʾminun also supplies the condition of belief.

The promise of a good life and reward therefore concerns righteous conduct and belief here.

Being male or female alone does not secure the promise.

The masculine singular pronouns in huwa and fa-la-nuḥyiyannahu should not exclude women from its scope.

Min dhakarin aw unthā expressly includes both.

The final wa-la-najziyannahum is plural, concerning those who meet the condition of belief and righteous conduct.

Grammatical gender and people’s actual sex therefore should not be merged without grounds.

Do these verses eliminate every legal distinction?

They place men and women together in faith, righteous action, responsibility, and reward.

They alone do not establish that the Qur’an makes no distinction between men’s and women’s circumstances in every legal, familial, and social matter.

Such a judgment requires examining each provision and its conditions independently.

Conversely, a different provision in one matter does not make unthā lexically inferior or morally less worthy than dhakar.

Sex designation and a provision concerning someone in a particular situation must remain distinct.

5. Being a daughter: social judgments and particular provisions

Bushshira aḥaduhum bi-l-unthā: responding to a daughter’s birth

Al-Naḥl 16:58 states:

وَإِذَا بُشِّرَ أَحَدُهُمْ بِالْأُنْثَىٰ ظَلَّ وَجْهُهُ مُسْوَدًّا وَهُوَ كَظِيمٌ

wa-idhā bushshira aḥaduhum bi-l-unthā ẓalla wajhuhu muswaddan wa-huwa kaẓīm

“When one of them is given news of a daughter’s birth, his face darkens while he suppresses his anger and sorrow.”

Al-Naḥl 16:58

The birth context identifies al-unthā as a girl.

Bushshira belongs to B SH R and concerns being given news, ordinarily glad news that should bring joy.

The person’s response conflicts with that expectation.

His face darkens and he conceals distress.

The next verse states:

يَتَوَارَىٰ مِنَ الْقَوْمِ مِنْ سُوءِ مَا بُشِّرَ بِهِ أَيُمْسِكُهُ عَلَىٰ هُونٍ أَمْ يَدُسُّهُ فِي التُّرَابِ أَلَا سَاءَ مَا يَحْكُمُونَ

yatawārā mina al-qawmi min sūʾi mā bushshira bihi a-yumsikuhu ʿalā hūnin am yadussuhu fī al-turābi a-lā sāʾa mā yaḥkumūn

“He hides from his people because of the news he received: should he keep the child in humiliation or bury it in the dust? How evil is their judgment!”

Al-Naḥl 16:59

These verses describe a social response and condemn it at the close.

The child’s being a girl causes the person’s distress.

The criticism targets his judgment and conduct, rather than treating female sex as a defect or disgrace.

This distinction is fundamental.

If unthā inherently meant something contemptible, criticizing those who regard a daughter’s birth as shameful would carry a different meaning.

The Qur’an instead describes their judgment as sāʾa mā yaḥkumūna, “how evil is their judgment.”

Mary: wa-laysa al-dhakaru ka-l-unthā

Āl ʿImrān 3:36 states:

فَلَمَّا وَضَعَتْهَا قَالَتْ رَبِّ إِنِّي وَضَعْتُهَا أُنْثَىٰ وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا وَضَعَتْ وَلَيْسَ الذَّكَرُ كَالْأُنْثَىٰ وَإِنِّي سَمَّيْتُهَا مَرْيَمَ وَإِنِّي أُعِيذُهَا بِكَ وَذُرِّيَّتَهَا مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ

fa-lammā waḍaʿathā qālat rabbi innī waḍaʿtuhā unthā wa-allāhu aʿlamu bi-mā waḍaʿat wa-laysa al-dhakaru ka-l-unthā wa-innī sammaytuhā maryama wa-innī uʿīdhuhā bika wa-dhurriyyatahā mina al-shayṭāni al-rajīm

“When she gave birth, she said: My Lord, I have delivered a girl. The God knew best what she had delivered; the male is not like the female. I have named her Mary and seek Your protection for her and her offspring from the outcast Satan.”

Āl ʿImrān 3:36

Mary’s mother speaks of her child being a girl.

The sentence wa-laysa al-dhakaru ka-l-unthā must be read alongside Āl ʿImrān 3:35, where she had vowed to dedicate what was in her womb to The God’s service.

Mary’s being a girl therefore occurs within a particular expectation and vow.

There are two readings of who speaks wa-laysa al-dhakaru ka-l-unthā.

One treats it as Mary’s mother continuing to speak, expressing the difference between the expected child and the girl she delivered.

The other connects it with the divine explanation wa-allāhu aʿlamu bi-mā waḍaʿat, potentially emphasizing Mary’s special position beyond her mother’s expectation.

Neither allows laysa ... ka- alone to establish that all men surpass all women in every capacity and human value.

The construction expresses difference; its direction and reason come from context.

Āl ʿImrān 3:37 describes the Lord’s gracious acceptance of Mary.

Her being a girl therefore does not end the story as a barrier to divine acceptance. She receives a prominent place as the surah continues.

Does unthā mean a weak woman?

Some early lexical and interpretive explanations associate femaleness with softness or weakness.

These interpretations should not replace the word’s Qur’anic meaning.

Unthā identifies the female sex.

If a person’s strength or weakness is at issue, it must come from another description or contextual feature.

Physical condition, age, health, skill, experience, and circumstances can affect capacities; sex designation alone does not judge every individual.

In Mary’s story too, being a girl is not presented as preventing divine acceptance or her special position with The God.

6. Unthā and unthayayni in retaliation and inheritance

Wa-l-unthā bi-l-unthā: sex within a retaliation provision

Al-Baqarah 2:178 states:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْقِصَاصُ فِي الْقَتْلَى الْحُرُّ بِالْحُرِّ وَالْعَبْدُ بِالْعَبْدِ وَالْأُنْثَىٰ بِالْأُنْثَىٰ فَمَنْ عُفِيَ لَهُ مِنْ أَخِيهِ شَيْءٌ فَاتِّبَاعٌ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَأَدَاءٌ إِلَيْهِ بِإِحْسَانٍ ذَٰلِكَ تَخْفِيفٌ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ وَرَحْمَةٌ فَمَنِ اعْتَدَىٰ بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ فَلَهُ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ

yā ayyuhā alladhīna āmanū kutiba ʿalaykumu al-qiṣāṣu fī al-qatlā al-ḥurru bi-l-ḥurri wa-l-ʿabdu bi-l-ʿabdi wa-l-unthā bi-l-unthā fa-man ʿufiya lahu min akhīhi shayʾun fa-ttibāʿun bi-l-maʿrūfi wa-adāʾun ilayhi bi-iḥsānin dhālika takhfīfun min rabbikum wa-raḥmatun fa-mani iʿtadā baʿda dhālika fa-lahu ʿadhābun alīm

“Believers, corresponding retaliation is prescribed for you concerning those killed: free for free, enslaved for enslaved, and female for female. If something is remitted to someone by their brother, pursuit should be proper and payment gracious. This is relief and mercy from your Lord. Whoever transgresses afterward will have painful punishment.”

Al-Baqarah 2:178

Al-unthā occurs twice here.

The context concerns female for female.

Sex designation must nevertheless remain distinct from the retaliation provision.

Unthā itself does not mean victim, killer, or person subject to retaliation.

Those roles come from the verse’s construction and al-qiṣāṣu fī al-qatlā.

Without examining related verses and the legal structure of retaliation, al-unthā bi-l-unthā should not become an isolated universal rule that retaliation always concerns only people of the same sex.

Al-Māʾidah 5:45 also contains al-nafsa bi-l-nafsi, “person for person.”

Relating the two requires a separate study of retaliation.

For A N TH, the principal point is clear: Al-Baqarah 2:178 places female sex within a legal construction without changing its lexical meaning.

Li-l-dhakari mithlu ḥaẓẓi al-unthayayni: the dual in an inheritance comparison

Al-Nisāʾ 4:11 states:

يُوصِيكُمُ اللَّهُ فِي أَوْلَادِكُمْ لِلذَّكَرِ مِثْلُ حَظِّ الْأُنْثَيَيْنِ فَإِنْ كُنَّ نِسَاءً فَوْقَ اثْنَتَيْنِ فَلَهُنَّ ثُلُثَا مَا تَرَكَ وَإِنْ كَانَتْ وَاحِدَةً فَلَهَا النِّصْفُ وَلِأَبَوَيْهِ لِكُلِّ وَاحِدٍ مِنْهُمَا السُّدُسُ مِمَّا تَرَكَ إِنْ كَانَ لَهُ وَلَدٌ فَإِنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ وَلَدٌ وَوَرِثَهُ أَبَوَاهُ فَلِأُمِّهِ الثُّلُثُ فَإِنْ كَانَ لَهُ إِخْوَةٌ فَلِأُمِّهِ السُّدُسُ مِنْ بَعْدِ وَصِيَّةٍ يُوصِي بِهَا أَوْ دَيْنٍ آبَاؤُكُمْ وَأَبْنَاؤُكُمْ لَا تَدْرُونَ أَيُّهُمْ أَقْرَبُ لَكُمْ نَفْعًا فَرِيضَةً مِنَ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ عَلِيمًا حَكِيمًا

yūṣīkumu allāhu fī awlādikum li-l-dhakari mithlu ḥaẓẓi al-unthayayni fa-in kunna nisāʾan fawqa ithnatayni fa-lahunna thuluthā mā taraka wa-in kānat wāḥidatan fa-lahā al-niṣfu wa-li-abawayhi li-kulli wāḥidin minhumā al-sudusu mimmā taraka in kāna lahu waladun fa-in lam yakun lahu waladun wa-warithahu abawāhu fa-li-ummihi al-thuluthu fa-in kāna lahu ikhwatun fa-li-ummihi al-sudusu min baʿdi waṣiyyatin yūṣī bihā aw daynin ābāʾukum wa-abnāʾukum lā tadrūna ayyuhum aqrabu lakum nafʿan farīḍatan mina allāhi inna allāha kāna ʿalīman ḥakīmā

“The God instructs you concerning your children: a son has the share of two daughters. If they are daughters numbering more than two, they receive two-thirds of what is left; if one daughter, she receives half. Each parent receives one-sixth of what the deceased leaves if there is a child. If there is no child and the parents inherit, the mother receives one-third; if there are siblings, she receives one-sixth, after a bequest or debt. You do not know which of your parents or children is nearer in benefit to you. This is a prescription from The God; He is knowing and wise.”

Al-Nisāʾ 4:11

Al-unthayayni is the dual of unthā.

The construction compares one son’s share with two daughters’ shares.

Fī awlādikum, “concerning your children,” identifies dhakar as a son here.

Unthayayni likewise identifies two daughters.

The lexical meaning and financial provision must remain distinct.

Unthā does not lexically mean half a man.

The share ratio comes from mithlu ḥaẓẓi al-unthayayni, a particular inheritance construction.

It does not halve a woman’s humanity, faith, ability, or reward.

The verse concerns distributing property under specified circumstances.

Does every inheritance situation give a woman half a man’s share?

The Qur’an itself shows that this generalization is incorrect.

Al-Nisāʾ 4:11 also assigns each parent one-sixth when the deceased has a child.

In that situation, the specified amounts for father and mother are equal.

Al-Nisāʾ 4:12 likewise assigns shares in certain sibling situations that cannot all be reduced to “a woman always receives half.”

Li-l-dhakari mithlu ḥaẓẓi al-unthayayni must therefore be examined in its place, rather than as a rule about all property, economic relationships, or human worth.

The dual and the actual number of people

Unthayayni is dual and denotes two females.

In mithlu ḥaẓẓi al-unthayayni, it also supplies a unit of comparison for a share ratio.

Understanding the expression does not require two particular daughters to be present alongside one son in every inheritance case.

A legal construction can compare one person’s share with that of two people in another group to establish a ratio.

This distinguishes the dual’s numerical meaning from its function in a financial ratio.

Al-unthayayni in sibling inheritance

Al-Nisāʾ 4:176 repeats the expression.

Its subject differs from Al-Nisāʾ 4:11.

Al-Nisāʾ 4:11 concerns the deceased’s children.

Al-Nisāʾ 4:176 concerns kalālah and the relationship of sisters and brothers.

Li-l-dhakari mithlu ḥaẓẓi al-unthayayni therefore occurs in two legal settings.

Both use two females as a comparison unit, but context determines whether they are daughters or sisters.

Unthayayni cannot therefore always mean only “two daughters.”

7. Al-unthayayni in livestock: two female animals

Al-Anʿām 6:143 states:

ثَمَانِيَةَ أَزْوَاجٍ مِنَ الضَّأْنِ اثْنَيْنِ وَمِنَ الْمَعْزِ اثْنَيْنِ قُلْ آلذَّكَرَيْنِ حَرَّمَ أَمِ الْأُنْثَيَيْنِ أَمَّا اشْتَمَلَتْ عَلَيْهِ أَرْحَامُ الْأُنْثَيَيْنِ نَبِّئُونِي بِعِلْمٍ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ

thamāniyata azwājin mina al-ḍaʾni ithnayni wa-mina al-maʿzi ithnayni qul āl-dhakarayni ḥarrama ami al-unthayayni ammā ishtamalat ʿalayhi arḥāmu al-unthayayni nabbiʾūnī bi-ʿilmin in kuntum ṣādiqīn

“Eight individual counterparts: two of sheep and two of goats. Say: Has He forbidden the two males, the two females, or what the two females’ wombs contain? Inform me with knowledge, if you are truthful.”

Al-Anʿām 6:143

This clearly shows that unthā is not restricted to human women.

The subject is sheep and goats.

Āl-dhakarayni concerns two males; al-unthayayni concerns two females.

Arḥāmu al-unthayayni identifies the wombs of those two female animals.

“Two women” or “two girls” is incorrect here.

“Two females” or “two female animals” is appropriate.

Which groups do the females belong to?

The verse first mentions sheep and goats.

Al-unthayayni therefore concerns females from those groups, rather than two human daughters or wives.

Al-Anʿām 6:144 repeats the question for camels and cattle.

The two verses address four familiar livestock groups and question claims concerning their males, females, and what females’ wombs carry.

The principal issue is declaring something forbidden

Al-Anʿām 6:143 and Al-Anʿām 6:144 use ḥarrama.

It belongs to Ḥ R M and concerns forbidding.

Unthayayni identifies only the two animals’ sex.

A N TH itself therefore does not establish prohibition or permissibility.

The passages question the grounds for claims of prohibition.

They demand clarity about whether males, females, or their offspring were forbidden, and knowledge supporting the claim.

The questions criticize attributing groundless provisions to The God.

Al-unthayayni should therefore not be treated simply as the name of undesirable or prohibited animals.

Distinguishing the inheritance dual

Al-Nisāʾ 4:11 and Al-Nisāʾ 4:176 use unthayayni within a financial ratio among heirs.

Al-Anʿām 6:143 and Al-Anʿām 6:144 use the same morphology for female animals.

Sex designation alone therefore does not determine the kind of being or the provision’s subject.

Accompanying nouns and context identify the referent.

8. Calling supposed deities and angels feminine

Illā ināthan: supposed deities

Al-Nisāʾ 4:117 states:

إِنْ يَدْعُونَ مِنْ دُونِهِ إِلَّا إِنَاثًا وَإِنْ يَدْعُونَ إِلَّا شَيْطَانًا مَرِيدًا

in yadʿūna min dūnihi illā ināthan wa-in yadʿūna illā shayṭānan marīdā

“Besides Him they invoke only deities designated feminine; in truth, they invoke only a rebellious Satan.”

Al-Nisāʾ 4:117

Both occurrences of in are negative particles, close in meaning to mā.

Ināthan is a plural of unthā.

The subject, however, is not actual women or girls.

It concerns objects of worship invoked instead of The God.

Reports of pre-Islamic Arabian worship include feminine names such as Al-Lāt, Al-ʿUzzā, and Manāt.

One clear reading therefore identifies objects of worship given feminine names or descriptions.

Another understands idols and inanimate objects, since Arabic gives some such nouns feminine grammatical treatment.

Another connects the expression with belief in female angels and their worship.

Ināthan must therefore be understood within supposed deities and beliefs about them.

Does the verse make female sex inherently inferior?

Some earlier explanations justified the description through a supposed inferiority of females to males.

That judgment is not part of ināth’s lexical meaning.

Elsewhere daughters are gifts from The God, and women’s and men’s righteous conduct shares one field of reward.

Al-Nisāʾ 4:117 also continues by describing invocation of a rebellious Satan.

Its criticism concerns worship besides The God and following misguidance.

If idols are stone or wood, their powerlessness comes from being lifeless and lacking lordly power, rather than female sex.

Criticism of idol worship should therefore not become contempt for women or females.

Wa-jaʿalū al-malāʾikata ... ināthan

Al-Zukhruf 43:19 states:

وَجَعَلُوا الْمَلَائِكَةَ الَّذِينَ هُمْ عِبَادُ الرَّحْمَٰنِ إِنَاثًا أَشَهِدُوا خَلْقَهُمْ سَتُكْتَبُ شَهَادَتُهُمْ وَيُسْأَلُونَ

wa-jaʿalū al-malāʾikata alladhīna hum ʿibādu al-raḥmāni ināthan a-shahidū khalqahum sa-tuktabu shahādatuhum wa-yusʾalūn

“They designated the angels, who are servants of the Entirely Merciful, female. Did they witness their creation? Their testimony will be recorded and they will be questioned.”

Al-Zukhruf 43:19

Ināthan expresses what some people claimed about angels.

Jaʿalū here concerns considering them female or attributing that description to them.

The Qur’an then asks a-shahidū khalqahum.

The question challenges the claimants’ knowledge.

Were they present when the angels were created, enabling them to judge their sex with certainty?

The passage therefore identifies the claim as unsupported.

Does rejecting that claim prove angels are male?

No.

Criticizing a female designation for lack of knowledge or testimony does not itself prove biological maleness.

Al-Ṣāffāt 37:150 also states:

أَمْ خَلَقْنَا الْمَلَائِكَةَ إِنَاثًا وَهُمْ شَاهِدُونَ

am khalaqnā al-malāʾikata ināthan wa-hum shāhidūn

“Or did We create the angels female while they witnessed it?”

Al-Ṣāffāt 37:150

This question too focuses on the claim of witnessing creation.

It therefore raises the limits of human knowledge about angels’ nature.

These verses do not yield a particular biological structure for angels.

Masculine pronouns or grammatical descriptions alone do not prove their biological maleness either.

Grammatical gender and a being’s actual sex are different matters.

Tasmiyata al-unthā: calling angels feminine

Al-Najm 53:27 states:

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْآخِرَةِ لَيُسَمُّونَ الْمَلَائِكَةَ تَسْمِيَةَ الْأُنْثَىٰ

inna alladhīna lā yuʾminūna bi-l-ākhirati la-yusammūna al-malāʾikata tasmiyata al-unthā

“Those who do not believe in the hereafter certainly give the angels feminine names and descriptions.”

Al-Najm 53:27

Yusammūna concerns naming and describing.

Tasmiyata al-unthā specifies the naming or attribution of femaleness.

The verse itself therefore distinguishes angels from the names people give them.

Al-Najm 53:28 then discusses absence of knowledge and following conjecture.

The sequence criticizes an unsupported claim.

A-lakumu al-dhakaru wa-lahu al-unthā: challenging a double standard

Al-Najm 53:21 states:

أَلَكُمُ الذَّكَرُ وَلَهُ الْأُنْثَىٰ

a-lakumu al-dhakaru wa-lahu al-unthā

“Are sons for you, and daughters for Him?”

Al-Najm 53:21

The question occurs within attributing offspring to The God.

Some people preferred sons for themselves while assigning to The God what they considered less valuable.

The Qur’an challenges the contradiction.

Al-Isrāʾ 17:40 likewise discusses claiming sons for humans and females among angels.

The argument should not become an endorsement of daughters’ inferiority.

These passages criticize attributing offspring to The God, assigning angels a sex without knowledge, and the claimants’ double standard.

Opponents’ social valuations are therefore not necessarily the Qur’an’s judgment of females.

9. Distinguishing A N TH from neighboring roots

A N TH (unthā) and DH K R (dhakar)

Study of DH K R

In sexual use, dhakar identifies the male and unthā the female.

They occur together in many verses.

Dhakar’s lexical family also contains other uses, including remembrance.

Male sex should not be equated with dhikr, “remembrance,” or shared roots used to invent particular intellectual or moral qualities for men.

Dhakar and unthā name the two sexes in the constructions discussed here.

A N TH (unthā) and N S W (nisāʾ)

Study of N S W

Nisāʾ is a plural identifying human women.

Unthā names the female sex and can apply to humans or animals.

It can also identify a newborn girl, while nisāʾ ordinarily identifies a group of women.

Al-Nisāʾ 4:11 contains both nisāʾan and al-unthayayni.

Both can identify females in one human setting, but have different structures and functions.

A N TH (unthā) and M R A (imraʾah)

Study of M R A

Imraʾah identifies a human woman.

It can occur in familial, marital, or personal identification contexts.

Unthā identifies sex and extends beyond humans.

Kullu unthā in Al-Raʿd 13:8, for example, concerns females carrying offspring.

Imraʾah in the Qur’an identifies a human woman, rather than a female animal.

A N TH (unthā) and B N Y / B N W (bint)

Study of B N Y

Bint identifies a daughter through kinship. The installed index and Quranic Arabic Corpus place this family under B N Y; B N W also occurs in lexical analyses and reconstructions of the final consonant.

Unthā concerns female sex.

Ināthan in Al-Shūrā 42:49 refers to daughters through the act of granting offspring.

“Daughters” is natural here, but comes from the sentence’s construction.

A N TH itself does not name a daughter’s relationship to her parents.

A N TH (unthā) and Z W J (zawj)

Study of Z W J

Zawj concerns a counterpart or one member of a pair or relationship.

Al-Najm 53:45 explains al-zawjayn with al-dhakara wa-l-unthā.

Male and female are the pair’s two counterparts here.

Zawj does not mean spouse or female in every verse.

Nor is unthā necessarily a particular male’s spouse.

Being paired and being female are distinct concepts related in some contexts.

A N TH (unthā) and A M W (amah)

Study of A M W

Amah belongs to A M W and identifies an enslaved woman.

Unthā names the female sex.

An enslaved woman is female, but not every female is an enslaved woman.

Amatun muʾminatun in Al-Baqarah 2:221 expresses slavery and belief.

Amah and unthā therefore differ in social and lexical meaning.

A N TH (unthā) and KH N TH (khunthā)

Khunthā belongs to KH N TH. Some earlier legal and medical uses describe someone with atypical sex characteristics or signs associated with both sexes.

Its consonants and usage history are independent of unthā.

Similar sounds should not merge the terms.

Mentioning male and female in Qur’anic verses does not automatically settle every uncommon variation in sexual development or its medical assessment.

That requires independent research.

10. Translation proposals for Forqan

No single English equivalent of unthā suits every verse.

“Woman” is natural where humans are contrasted as men and women.

“Girl” or “daughter” is more precise in a childbirth context.

“Female” is appropriate for animals.

In general creation expressions, “male and female” can be broader and closer to the lexical field than “man and woman.”

Where humans are addressed, as in Al-Ḥujurāt 49:13, “man and woman” is also natural and clear.

Singular forms

Bi-l-unthā in Al-Naḥl 16:58 concerns news of a daughter’s birth.

Unthā in Āl ʿImrān 3:36 means “a girl,” referring to Mary.

Kullu unthā in Al-Raʿd 13:8 is better expressed as “every female.”

Min dhakarin aw unthā in Al-Naḥl 16:97 means “whether man or woman” within a human setting.

Dual forms

Al-unthayayni in Al-Nisāʾ 4:11 concerns “two daughters” within offspring.

Al-Nisāʾ 4:176 uses the same form within sibling inheritance, identifying “two sisters” as the comparison unit.

In Al-Anʿām 6:143 and Al-Anʿām 6:144, al-unthayayni identifies “two female animals.”

The six dual occurrences in these four verses should therefore not all become “two women” or “two daughters.”

Plural forms

Ināthan in Al-Shūrā 42:49 and Al-Shūrā 42:50 means “daughters.”

Al-Zukhruf 43:19 and Al-Ṣāffāt 37:150 should preserve “feminine” or “female”: they concern attributing sex to angels, rather than daughters as human offspring.

Ināthan in Al-Nisāʾ 4:117 concerns supposed deities. “Deities designated feminine” can clarify one contextual reading in the base translation, but is explanatory: the wording itself says only ināthan, whose precise referent has several lexical and interpretive readings.

Unsuitable equivalents

Unthā should not invariably become “adult woman,” “wife,” “mother,” “little girl,” or “weak being.”

Translating ināth in the angel passages should not turn opponents’ claims into established facts about angels’ nature.

In inheritance passages, unthā does not mean half a man’s value. The share ratio comes from the legal sentence, rather than the sex designation itself.

11. Conclusion

A N TH’s principal branch identifies the female sex contrasted with the male.

Unthā is singular, unthayayni dual, and ināth plural.

The Qur’an uses the root thirty times in twenty-six verses, exclusively as nouns.

Creation passages contrast unthā with dhakar. Pregnancy passages can identify the female carrying offspring; childbirth passages identify daughters; livestock passages specify female animals.

Faith and righteous-conduct passages place men and women together in responsibility and reward. Retaliation and inheritance passages use the same sex designation within legal constructions; lexical meaning should remain distinct from the particular provision.

Passages concerning angels and supposed deities may use ināth for names or descriptions people attribute to them. The Qur’an examines these claims while criticizing association of partners, attributing offspring to The God, and unsupported assertions about angels’ creation.

Actual sex and grammatical gender must therefore remain distinct.

Early Arabic also uses derivatives such as anīth for soft fertile land or softer iron. These linguistic extensions should not become essential definitions of women or judgments of every woman’s value, intellect, and ability.

Forqan’s final definition of A N TH:

“The female sex contrasted with the male, in humans and other living beings; linguistically, considering or naming something feminine. Qur’anic unthā identifies a woman, girl, or female being according to context; unthayayni is its dual for two females; ināth is its plural, used for daughters and in feminine attributions to angels and supposed deities. The root itself establishes neither moral position or human worth, nor a particular legal provision, nor that everything called feminine in language has female biological sex.”