كَأَنَّهُنَّ بَيْضٌ مَّكْنُونٌ
Ka annahunna baidum maknoon
گویا وہ محفوظ انڈے ہیں
as if they were sheltered eggs, kept safe.
The image comes from the desert the first listeners knew: the ostrich's egg, kept buried and covered, its inner membrane the shade Arab poets used as the measure of fair complexion. Commentators have taken the comparison two ways, some for that color and some for maknūn itself, which means hidden and guarded. Both readings turn on protection, something kept covered and unhandled.