Can anyone tell me whether the references in the Quran which talk about 'man' refer only to the male of our species or does it in some instances mean 'mankind', to include men and women? Are there different words in Arabic to mean man as in male and man as in mankind?
Actually it most of the time delimits man to be mankind... e.g. "Ya ayyuhal insanu innaka kaadihun ilaa rabbika kadhan.." surat inshiqaq... Allah normally uses the word insan for mankind and 'rajul' specifically to reference to man, and 'imra-ah' for female..
also allah does reference to females specifically using 'irmahath'... e.g. surat tahreem and for example in baqarah regarding business transactions for example etc.
yaa ayyu han nas for example deals with mankind, it includes the woman, the twin half of man, simply man but with a different sex so we place a wo before the man. Or you can say the woman is a kind of man being that she was created from man but with a few different features. Indeed Allah intends both when He speaks the first fil amr in the Qur'an
O mankind! Worship your Lord , Who hath created you and those before you , so that ye may become of those with taqwaa 2:21
And Allah knows best
also another interesting thing that i have wondered about is the word "miraatun" - meaning mirror which is simular to the arabic word for woman "imratun" , its quite interesting to say they have the same root letters.
A person with personal hatred in the heart will argue, however the one who questions his sincerity will reason.
O mankind! Worship your Lord , Who hath created you and those before you , so that ye may become of those with taqwaa 2:21
And Allah knows best
QUOTE]
Sorry this leads me to another problem. I have 2 copies of the translated Quran (to cross reference the translations) the most frequently used has the original arabic, english translation and also each page has explanations. The quote above reads in my Quran 'O man! Worship your Lord'. As I can't read the arabic how do I know when Allah is referring to mankind? Or must I make assumptions based on the subject matter?
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