Arabic verb

Assalamualikum wa Rahmatullah,

I have a question. I remember in class once we were studying nouns, some of which were feminine by nature i.e بنت and how the ة indicated femininity, we were then told their are some exceptions to the case one of which was خليفة the reason being that in Islam there is no such thing as a female Khalifa.

From this I took it that the language is very specific in what it wants to express one example of this is shown by the verbs and how gender and number specific they are.

When I was going through a very well known Surah in the Quran I realised that we have in the surah the word لَمْ يَلِدْ which means He(m1) does not give birth. So here we have a quality which is generally, nay, ALWAYS attributed to females present in a male singular form. Which indicates the verb would be in the male dual and male plural form?

I'm sorry if I am confusing the issue. My question being why is this? I assumed because Arabic is such a specific language it wouldn't have verbs which are applicable to women only also applicable to men vice versa. So potentially, there are verbs strictly applicable to men which can also be feminised, and verbs strictly applicable to women which can be made masculine? Or would this only happen in the context of poetry and personification?

وعليكم السلام

Your question brings forth new ones. I have a thought but as yet I am also unsure. Before I put it forth I feel that when it comes to Allah and the male 'he', things become confusing as we may be looking at the matter from a humanistic sphere whereby we are assuming that human attributes are in accordance with him. As we know Allah is neither Man nor Woman, but outside these gender differentiations altogether.

My initial thought is that the لَمْ يَلِدْ could be connected to the noun والِدٌ (father) and thus the verb َوَلَد (beared, procreated, begot). Thus I believe that what the translation could be saying literally is that 'he does not father' or 'he does not procreate' but also remembering at the same time that if Allah can send forth miracles such as the prophet 'Eesa without a father, then such an act - if it were to have taken place, is rationalised without need of further contemplation.

In terms of the verb وَلَد, it may be used with additional prepositions such as ِبِ or مِنْ i.e. to say 'borne from or by (a woman)' in order to make sense in regards to humans? Also the same verb may be attributed to the beginning of something inhuman - such as 'Time'?

I am also stumped on this question - I look forward to the answer إن شاء الله

مع السلامة