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Pronouns, gender and number 1 / 9
The feminine pronoun follows the gender of the word, not sex
The pronouns هِيَ ("she / it") and هُنَّ ("they", feminine) refer as much to women as to things whose noun is grammatically feminine: a cow, a staff, verses, idols. Agreement follows the gender of the word referred to, never an idea of sex.
The examples:
- « يُبَيِّن لَّنَا مَا هِىَ », "that He make clear to us what it is" (2:68, 2:70): هِيَ refers to the cow (بَقَرَة);
- « هِىَ عَصَاىَ », "It is my staff" (20:18): عَصًا is feminine;
- « هُنَّ أُمُّ ٱلْكِتَٰبِ », "which are the foundation of the Scripture" (3:7): هُنَّ refers to the verses (آيَات);
- « هَلْ هُنَّ كَٰشِفَٰتُ ضُرِّهِۦٓ », "could they remove His harm?" (39:38): هُنَّ refers to the idols invoked.
The same pronoun is used for women: « هُنَّ لِبَاسٌۭ لَّكُمْ », "they are a garment for you" (2:187). No mark distinguishes the two uses; only context does.
For translation the consequence is simple: rendering هي as "she" when the noun referred to is a thing makes the reader think of a person. In English, "it" renders the thing, as in 2:68 and 2:70, "what it is".
In the text
قَالَ هِىَ عَصَاىَ“It is my staff”
Here, هِيَ for an object: the staff.
ٱدْعُ لَنَا رَبَّكَ يُبَيِّن لَّنَا مَا هِىَ“that He make clear to us what it is”
هُنَّ أُمُّ ٱلْكِتَٰبِ“which are the foundation of the Scripture”
Here, هُنَّ for verses.
هُنَّ لِبَاسٌۭ لَّكُمْ وَأَنتُمْ لِبَاسٌۭ لَّهُنَّ“they are a garment for you”
The same pronoun for women: only context tells them apart.