مَرْيَم : ٣٥

  • مَا Not
  • كَانَ (it) is
  • لِلَّهِ for Allah
  • أَن that
  • يَتَّخِذَ He should take
  • مِن any son
  • وَلَدٖۖ any son
  • سُبۡحَٰنَهُۥٓۚ Glory be to Him
  • إِذَا When
  • قَضَىٰٓ He decrees
  • أَمۡرٗا a matter
  • فَإِنَّمَا then only
  • يَقُولُ He says
  • لَهُۥ to it
  • كُن Be
  • فَيَكُونُ and it is
It is not [befitting] for Allāh to take a son; exalted is He!1 When He decrees an affair, He only says to it, "Be," and it is.
Footnotes
1 i.e., far removed is He from any such need.
It is not [befitting] for God to take to Himself a son. Glory be to Him - in affirmation of His being transcendent above [doing] such a thing. When He decrees a thing, that is, [when] He will for it to happen, He only says to it, 'Be!', and it is (read fa-yakoonu because of an implied [pronoun] huwa [sc. fa-huwa yakoonu]; or read fa-yakoona because of an implied an [sc. an yakoona]). An example of this is His creating Jesus without [his having had] a father.