انث

Core meaning

The feminine, the female: one of the two terms of the couple, human or animal, almost always named facing the male.

Uses

1. ٱلذَّكَر … ٱلْأُنثَىٰ → "the male", "the female" : the two terms of the created couple.

   • «إِنَّا خَلَقْنَٰكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍۢ وَأُنثَىٰ» — "We created you from a male and a female" (49:13)
   • «وَلَيْسَ ٱلذَّكَرُ كَٱلْأُنثَىٰ» — "and the male is not like the female" (3:36)

2. مِّن ذَكَرٍ أَوْ أُنثَىٰ → "male or female" : both equally, before the deed and its reward.

   • «مَنْ عَمِلَ صَٰلِحًۭا مِّن ذَكَرٍ أَوْ أُنثَىٰ وَهُوَ مُؤْمِنٌۭ» — "Whoever does a sound deed, male or female, while being a believer" (16:97)

3. أُنثَىٰ, إِنَٰث (the child) → "a girl", "a daughter", "daughters" : the female child, at birth or as a gift.

   • «إِنِّى وَضَعْتُهَآ أُنثَىٰ» — "I have indeed given birth to her, a girl" (3:36)
   • «وَإِذَا بُشِّرَ أَحَدُهُم بِٱلْأُنثَىٰ ظَلَّ وَجْهُهُۥ مُسْوَدًّۭا» — "And when one of them receives the news of a daughter, his face stays darkened" (16:58)

4. إِنَٰث, تَسْمِيَةَ ٱلْأُنثَىٰ (what is ascribed to God) → "female", "the attribute of the feminine" : the feminine ascribed to the Agents or to the deities invoked.

   • «وَجَعَلُوا۟ ٱلْمَلَٰٓئِكَةَ ٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ عِبَٰدُ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ إِنَٰثًا» — "And they have made the Agents, who are the obedient ones of the All-Benevolent, female" (43:19)
   • «أَلَكُمُ ٱلذَّكَرُ وَلَهُ ٱلْأُنثَىٰ» — "Would the male be for you, and for Him the female?" (53:21)

Evidence from the text

The word calls for its counterpart: in most of its uses, ٱلذَّكَر is in the same sentence. The couple is God's work: "from a male and a female" (49:13), "two mates, the male and the female" (75:39); the same holds for livestock (6:143) and for every female that carries (35:11). Before the sound deed, the two terms are of equal worth (16:97, 40:40).

The text then turns the word against those who make it a hierarchy. The one who receives the news of a daughter darkens and hides (16:58), and yet God is given what one refuses for oneself: "female" Agents (43:19, 37:150), female deities (4:117), hence the question of 53:21: "Would the male be for you, and for Him the female?". The feminine is not lowered there: it is the inconsistency of those who lower it that is laid bare.

Distinctions

• ذكر — the male, the other term of the couple (homonym of remembrance)

See also

زوج (the couple, the paired element) · بنو (the son, filiation)