Tafseer of The Bee · An-Nahl · 16:114
Then eat of what Allah has provided for you [which is] lawful and good. And be grateful for the favor of Allah, if it is [indeed] Him that you worship.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
Allah, the Exalted, says: So eat, O people, of what Allah has provided for you of the slaughtered animals of the livestock that He has made permissible for you — ḥalāl and good, ritually slaughtered and not forbidden to you. وَاشْكُرُوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ — Allah says: and be grateful to Allah for His favours which He bestowed upon you by declaring permissible for you all of that, and for all His other favours. إِنْ كُنْتُمْ إِيَّاهُ تَعْبُدُونَ — Allah says: if you worship Allah and obey Him in what He commands you and forbids you.
Some said: By His words فَكُلُوا مِمَّا رَزَقَكُمُ اللَّهُ حَلَالًا طَيِّبًا was meant food which the Prophet ﷺ, out of compassion for the polytheists of his people during the years of drought and famine, had sent to them, whereupon Allah, the Exalted, said to the polytheists: Eat of what Allah has provided for you of this which has been sent to you — ḥalāl and good. But this is a remote interpretation of what the outward text of the revelation indicates, for Allah, the Exalted, followed it with His words: إِنَّمَا حَرَّمَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْمَيْتَةَ وَالدَّمَ … the verse and the verse after it — and thereby He made clear that His words فَكُلُوا مِمَّا رَزَقَكُمُ اللَّهُ حَلَالًا طَيِّبًا are an announcement from Allah to His servants that what the polytheists declared forbidden of the al-baḥāʾir (the slit-eared/slit-nosed animals), the al-sawāʾib (the freely released animals), the al-waṣāʾil, and the like — the explanation of which we have already given earlier — has no validity, because this belongs to the footsteps of the devil (shayṭān), and that all of this is ḥalāl and Allah has forbidden nothing of it.