Q: Why did Allah used a Female Noun (Isim muannas) to refer to Adam alaihis salaam in the following verse (7:189)? Why did not Allah use masculine nouns to refer to Adam alaihis salaam?
A. Although Nafs in this verse refers to Sayyidina Adam (Alayhis Salaam), the word ‘Nafs’ is Mu’annath (feminine) in Arabic grammar. Thus, after Nafs is Waahidatin and not Waahidin. The Haa of Minhaa and the Haa of Zaujahaa are both related to the word Nafs, so they too have to come in the Mu’annath form.
So the feminine pronoun is used to comply with the rules of Arabic grammar and not to imply that Adam was a female. Throughout the Qur’aan, the word Nafs is used in the feminine gender. Nafs means a soul.
Moulana Yusuf Laher
Checked by: Mufti Siraj Desai