al-Azwāj is interpreted in three ways:
1. By the word al-Azwāj, what is meant is men and women who are lawful to one another; as in the following verses:
Therein for them are purified azwāj (that is, women lawful for men, men lawful for women). (al-Baqara 2:25)
There are similar verses in the surahs Āl ʿImrān and al-Nisāʾ.
Enter Paradise, you and your azwāj (that is, men and women who are lawful to one another), in happiness and joy! (al-Zukhruf 43:70)
Half of what your azwāj (that is, O men, your wives) leave behind is yours. (al-Nisāʾ 4:12)
2. The word al-Azwāj is used in the sense of classes [kinds, species, types, and varieties]; as in the following verses:
Do they not see the earth, how We produce therein many noble zawj (that is, every beautiful class/type of plant)? (al-Shuʿarāʾ 26:7)
He who created all the azwāj (that is, classes/types) from what the earth grows, from themselves, and from things they do not know... (Yā Sīn 36:36)
Eight azwāj (that is, eight classes/types from four kinds)... (al-Anʿām 6:143)
Load onto it two of each zawj (that is, of each class/kind, one male and one female). (Hūd 11:40)
He made in it two zawj (that is, two classes/types). (al-Raʿd 13:3)
There are many similar verses.
3. The word al-Azwāj is used in the sense of peers, those together, spouses and companions; as in the following verses:
Gather those who did wrong and their azwāj (that is, from the devils, those who were with them, their spouses and companions from among the devils). (al-Ṣāffāt 37:22)
When the nafs are paired (that is, when the souls of the disbelievers are joined with the devils)... (al-Takwīr 81:7)