Āl-‘Imrān 3:14

The issue

Regarding this verse, most of the scholars said, “Allah has beautified to people the love of desires and things they covet.” Al-Zamakhsharī explains that Allah beautified for people the love of desires and things they covet to test them, as mentioned in Q 18.7: “Verily, we have made what is on the earth an ornament thereof, to try them, which of them is best in works.” This verse astonished the early Muslims. It might have even pleased some of them.

So, another verse, Q 3.15, came immediately following it, saying that better than the listed earthly desires are “gardens with their Lord, beneath which rivers flow…and pure wives….”

Some of the scholars thought that it was not appropriate for Allah to beautify the “life of lusts” and coveting, so they said that the one who made it seemly was the devil. The Mu‘tazila disagreed among themselves about the identity of the beautifier. Some of them thought it to be Allah, while others thought that it was the devil that beautified the love of desires.

However, Abū ‘Alī al-Jubā’ī presented a compromise, saying that “the beautification of good things is from Allah, but that of forbidden things is from the devil.” The opinion that the devil was the one who “beautified the life of lusts” faced opposition from other Muslim scholars. They argued, “If the beautifier was the devil, then who beautified disbelief and heresy for the devil? If it was another devil, then that necessitates a sequence.” Thus, the majority of the scholars have collectively agreed that Allah is the beautifier.

Question: How could Allah beautify for people “the life of lusts,” then punish them for their lusts?

Women

This verse states, “Seemly unto men is a life of lusts, of women, and children, and hoarded talents of gold and silver, and of horses well-bred, and cattle, and tilth,” thereby placing women and sons on the same level as gold, silver, horses, cattle (camels, cows, and sheep) and land.

This verse addresses men and considers them “mankind,” but it excludes women from mankind. The verse encourages the man to look at women and sons in the same way as he looks at possessions. It equates the relationships within the family (women and children) with the relationship an owner has with his possessions (wealth and animals). Therefore, in this verse the value of women is expressed as follows:

Women = children = wealth = animals = land (= means “equals”)

As to the reason why the verse starts the list with women, al-Qurtubī makes this statement:

As the souls [of men] [lust after] them [women], as they are the snares of the devil and the desire of men…. The temptation of women is the greatest one of all because it is said that in women there are two temptations…the first one is to break the closest [of family ties], as women instruct husbands to disconnect from their mothers and sisters. The second comes when, for the sake of women, men are tempted to gather money [by all possible means] legally and illegally. This is how the Qur’ān views a woman: an instrument in the devil’s hand, a temptation, a destroyer of family relationships, and a motivator for collecting ill-gained money.