Tafseer of The Table · Al-Maaida · 5:103
Allah has not appointed [such innovations as] bahirah or sa'ibah or wasilah or ham. But those who disbelieve invent falsehood about Allah, and most of them do not reason.
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.
The discourse on the explanation of His saying: مَا جَعَلَ اللَّهُ مِنْ بَحِيرَةٍ وَلا سَائِبَةٍ وَلا وَصِيلَةٍ وَلا حَامٍ (Allah has not instituted any baḥīra, nor sāʾiba, nor waṣīla, nor ḥām.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose mention is high, says: Allah has not "slit the ear" of any baḥīra, nor set free any sāʾiba, nor "joined" any waṣīla, nor exempted [from labor] any ḥām — rather it is you, O unbelievers, who have done that, and you forbade it in falsehood against your Lord, as in the following:
12819 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam related to me, saying: my father and Shuʿayb ibn al-Layth related to me, on the authority of al-Layth, on the authority of Ibn al-Hād — and Yūnus related to me, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Yūsuf related to us, saying: al-Layth related to me, saying: Ibn al-Hād related to me — on the authority of Ibn Shihāb, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: "I saw ʿAmr ibn ʿĀmir al-Khuzāʿī dragging his entrails behind him in the Fire, and he was the first to set free the sāʾiba."
12820 - Hannād ibn al-Sarī related to us, saying: Yūnus ibn Bukayr related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ḥārith related to me, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say to Aktham ibn al-Jawn: O Aktham, I saw ʿAmr ibn Luḥayy ibn Qamaʿa ibn Khindif dragging his entrails behind him in the Fire, and I have not seen any man resemble another more than he resembles you, nor you him! Then Aktham said: perhaps his resemblance [to me] will harm me, O Messenger of Allah! Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "No, you are a believer and he is an unbeliever (kāfir); he was the first to change the religion of Ismāʿīl, to slit the ear of the baḥīra, to set free the sāʾiba, and to exempt the ḥām."
12821 - Hannād related to us, saying: Yūnus related to us, saying: Hishām ibn Saʿd related to me, on the authority of Zayd ibn Aslam, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: I have recognized the first to slit the ears of the baḥāʾir: a man of [the tribe of] Mudlij who had two she-camels; he slit their ears, declared their milk and their backs forbidden, and said: these two are for Allah! Then he had need of them, and he drank their milk and rode their backs. He said: and I saw him indeed in the Fire, while the stench of his entrails tormented the people of the Fire.
12822 - Hannād related to us, saying: ʿAbda related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr, on the authority of Abū Salama, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, who said: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: The Fire was shown to me, and I saw in it ʿAmr ibn Fulān ibn Fulān ibn Khindif dragging his entrails behind him in the Fire; he was the first to change the religion of Ibrāhīm and to set free the sāʾiba. And the one most resembling him that I have seen is Aktham ibn al-Jawn! Then Aktham said: O Messenger of Allah, will his resemblance [to me] harm me? He said: "No, for you are a Muslim and he is an unbeliever (kāfir)."
12823 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: [the Prophet ﷺ said:] I saw ʿAmr ibn ʿĀmir al-Khuzāʿī dragging his entrails behind him in the Fire, and he was the first to set free the sawāʾib.
12824 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Zayd ibn Aslam, who said: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: I indeed recognize the first to set free the sawāʾib, and the first to change the covenant of Ibrāhīm! They said: who is he, O Messenger of Allah? He said: ʿAmr ibn Luḥayy, the brother of the Banū Kaʿb; I saw him indeed dragging his entrails behind him in the Fire, while his stench tormented the people of the Fire. And I indeed recognize the first to slit the ears of the baḥāʾir! They said: who is he, O Messenger of Allah? He said: a man of the Banū Mudlij who had two she-camels; he slit their ears and declared their milk forbidden, and afterwards he drank their milk. I saw him indeed in the Fire, him and the two [she-camels], while they bit him with their mouths and struck him with their hooves.
And "al-baḥīra" is the faʿīla-form of the saying of one who says: "I slit the ear of this she-camel" (baḥartu udhn hādhihi al-nāqa), when he tears it, "abḥaruhā baḥran", and the she-camel is then "mabḥūra"; then the "mafʿūla"-form is converted into a "faʿīla"-form, so that one says: "she is baḥīra". As for "al-baḥir" among camels, that is the one that has contracted a disease from excessive drinking of water; one says of that: "baḥira al-baʿīr yabḥaru baḥaran", and from that is the word of the poet:
la-aʿliṭannahu wasman lā yufāriquhu kamā yuḥazzu bi-ḥamyi al-mīsami al-baḥiru (I shall surely mark him with a brand that does not leave him, as the disease-stricken camel is notched with the glow of the branding iron.)
And in accordance with what we have said concerning the meaning of "al-baḥīra", the report of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ has come.
12825 - ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Bayān related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Yazīd informed us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Abū al-Aḥwaṣ, on the authority of his father, who said: I came in to the Prophet ﷺ, and the Prophet ﷺ said to him: What do you think of your camels — do you not breed them with sound ears, then take the razor and slit them, and say: "this one is a baḥīra", and tear their ears, while you say: "this one is a ṣarm"? He said: yes! He said: Indeed, the arm of Allah is stronger, and the razor of Allah is sharper! All your property is permitted to you; nothing of it has been made forbidden to you.
12826 - Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, who said: I heard Abū al-Aḥwaṣ, on the authority of his father, who said: I came in to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and he said: Are the camels of your people born with healthy ears, and then you turn to the razor to cut off their ears and say: "these are buḥr", and you tear them or tear their hides and say: "these are ṣurum", and you thereby declare them forbidden to you and to your family? He said: yes! He said: Indeed, what Allah has given you is permitted to you, and the arm of Allah is stronger, and the razor of Allah is sharper — and sometimes he said: the arm of Allah is stronger than your arm, and the razor of Allah is sharper than your razor.
As for "al-sāʾiba", that is the released, set-free [she-camel]. The people of the Age of Ignorance did that, one of them with some of his livestock, so that he forbade himself to benefit from it, just as some adherents of Islam set free their slave as "sāʾiba" (ʿitq), so that they derived no benefit from him nor from his clientage bond (walāʾ). And "al-musayyaba" is expressed by the wording "al-sāʾiba", as one says: "a contented life" (ʿīsha rāḍiya), in the meaning of: made comfortable.
* * *
As for "al-waṣīla": when the female of their livestock in the Age of Ignorance bore a litter [of twins] with a male and a female animal, it was said: "the female has joined her brother", in that she warded off the slaughter from him, and for that reason they named her "waṣīla".
* * *
As for "al-ḥāmī", that is the stud of the livestock, whose back is exempted from riding and from use, because of the succession of young that come forth from his covering.
* * *
And the exegetes have differed concerning the characteristics of that which is designated by these names, and concerning the reason why they used to do that.
* Mention of the narration concerning what has been said about that:
12827 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama ibn al-Faḍl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ḥārith al-Taymī: that Abū Ṣāliḥ al-Sammān told him that he heard Abū Hurayra say: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say to Aktham ibn al-Jawn al-Khuzāʿī: O Aktham, I saw ʿAmr ibn Luḥayy ibn Qamaʿa ibn Khindif dragging his entrails behind him in the Fire, and I have not seen any man resemble another more than he resembles you, nor you him! Then Aktham said: will his resemblance [to me] harm me, O Prophet of Allah? He said: no, you are a believer and he is an unbeliever (kāfir); he was the first to change the religion of Ismāʿīl, to set up the idols, and to set free the sāʾib among them.
= And that is because when a she-camel bore ten females in succession without a male among them, she was set free (sāʾiba): her back was not ridden, her hair was not shorn, and her milk was not drunk, except [by] a guest. And whatever she afterwards bore as a female, its ear was slit, and then she was set free together with her mother among the camels, so that her back was not ridden, her hair was not shorn, and her milk was not drunk except [by] a guest, as had been done with her mother; and that is the "baḥīra", the daughter of the "sāʾiba".
And "al-waṣīla" is: when the ewe bore ten females in succession in five litters without a male among them, it was made a "waṣīla"; they said: "she has joined", and whatever she bore afterwards belonged to the men among them, not to their women — unless something of it should die, then they shared in eating it, their men and their women.
And "al-ḥāmī" is: when for a stud ten females were born in succession without a male among them, his back was exempted and not ridden, his hair was not shorn, and he was let loose among the camels to cover therein; no other benefit was derived from him. Allah, the Exalted, whose mention is high, says: "Allah has not instituted any baḥīra, nor sāʾiba, nor waṣīla, nor ḥām" up to His saying: "and they are not rightly guided".
12828 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Abū al-Ḍuḥā, on the authority of Masrūq, concerning this verse: "Allah has not instituted any baḥīra, nor sāʾiba, nor waṣīla, nor ḥām" — Abū Jaʿfar said: a word of it has, I think, escaped me — he said: I came to ʿAlqama and asked him about it, and he said: what do you want with something that the people of the Age of Ignorance used to do?
12829 - Yaḥyā ibn Ibrāhīm al-Masʿūdī related to me, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of his grandfather, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Muslim, who said: I came to ʿAlqama and asked him about the saying of Allah, the Exalted: "Allah has not instituted any baḥīra, nor sāʾiba, nor waṣīla, nor ḥām", and he said: what are you doing with this? This is merely something of the deeds of the Age of Ignorance! He said: then I came to Masrūq and asked him about it, and he said: "al-baḥīra" was the she-camel which, when she bore five or seven litters, they [would] slit her ear and say: "this one is a baḥīra" — he said: "nor sāʾiba", he said: the man would take a portion of his property and say: "this one is a sāʾiba" — he said: "nor waṣīla", he said: they used to, when the she-camel bore a male animal, let it be eaten by the men, not by the women; and when she bore a male and a female animal in one litter, they said: "she has joined her brother", and they did not eat them. He said: and when the male animal died, the men ate it, not the women — he said: "nor ḥām", he said: when the camel sired offspring and his offspring [in turn] sired offspring, they said: "this one has fulfilled what was due from him", and they derived no more benefit from his back. They said: "this one is a ḥiman (an exempted one)".
12830 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Muslim ibn Ṣubayḥ, who said: I asked ʿAlqama about His saying: "Allah has not instituted any baḥīra, nor sāʾiba", he said: what are you doing with this? This is something that the people of the Age of Ignorance used to do.
12831 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Yamān and Yaḥyā ibn Ādam related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Abū al-Aḥwaṣ: "Allah has not instituted any baḥīra", he said: the baḥīra is the one that has borne five litters and was then left [alone].
12832 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī: "Allah has not instituted any baḥīra", he said: the baḥīra is the mukhaḍrama (the one cut at the ear); "nor sāʾiba", and the sāʾiba is that which was set free for the strangers (al-ʿidā, i.e. the guests); and "al-waṣīla", when she bore after four litters — according to what Jarīr thinks — and then as a fifth bore a male and a female animal, [then] she has joined her brother; and "al-ḥām", the one whose grand-offspring among the camels have already covered.
12833 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, in similar fashion — except that he said: and "al-waṣīla" is the one that bore after four litters a male and a female animal, [whereupon] they said: "she has joined her brother"; and the rest of the narration is like the narration of Ibn Ḥumayd.
12834 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Isḥāq al-Azraq related to us, on the authority of Zakariyyā, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī: that he was asked about "al-baḥīra", and he said: that is the one whose ears are slit. And he was asked about "al-sāʾiba", and he said: they used to dedicate camels and sheep to their gods and leave them with their gods, so that they would run loose and mingle with the livestock of the people; only the men drank their milk, and when something of them died, the men and the women ate it together.
12835 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the saying of Allah, the Exalted, whose mention is high: "Allah has not instituted any baḥīra" and what goes with it: "al-baḥīra" belongs to the camels whose hair, back, flesh and milk the people of the Age of Ignorance declared forbidden except for the men; and whatever she bore, male or female, remained in her state, and if she died the men and the women shared in eating her flesh. And when the camel-stud from the offspring of the baḥīra covered, he was the "ḥāmī"; and "al-ḥāmī" is a [proper] name. And "al-sāʾiba" among the sheep is similar, except that whatever she bore up to six young remained in her state. And when she bore as a seventh a male or a female animal or two male animals, they slaughtered it, and their men ate it, not their women. And if she bore a female and a male animal as twins, then she is a "waṣīla", because of the omission of the slaughter of the male animal for the sake of the female. And if they were two female animals, they were left [alone].
12836 - Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "Allah has not instituted any baḥīra, nor sāʾiba" — the baḥīra is the she-camel; when a man [saw that] she had borne five litters, he turned to the fifth, provided it was not a male calf, and slit her ears, shore no hair from her, and tasted no milk from her; that is the "baḥīra" — "nor sāʾiba", the man set free of his property what he wished — "nor waṣīla", that is the ewe, when she had borne seven times, he turned to the seventh: if it was a male animal it was slaughtered, and if it was a female animal it was left [alone]; and if there were two in her belly, a male and a female animal, and she bore them both, they said: "she has joined her brother", and they were both left [alone] together and not slaughtered; that is the "waṣīla" — and His saying: "nor ḥām", the man had a stud, and when he had impregnated ten [females], it was said: "ḥām, leave him [alone]".
12837 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying: "Allah has not instituted any baḥīra, nor sāʾiba" — so that they might set them free for their idols — "nor waṣīla", he says: the ewe — "nor ḥām", he says: the stud among the camels.
12838 - Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: "Allah has not instituted any baḥīra, nor sāʾiba, nor waṣīla, nor ḥām" — a burdening that Satan imposed upon the people of the Age of Ignorance regarding their possessions, and a constriction against them. Thus "al-baḥīra" among the camels was: when a man bred five [young] from his camels, he examined the fifth litter; if it was a male calf, it was slaughtered and the men ate it, not the women; and if it was dead, their men and their women shared in it; and if it was a female — and that is the female animal — she was left [alone] and her ear was slit, and her hair was not shorn, her milk was not drunk, her back was not ridden, and the name of Allah was not pronounced over her. And "al-sāʾiba": they set free whatever of their possessions seemed good to them, and she was not held back from a watering trough to drink from it, nor from a protected pasture to graze in it. And "al-waṣīla" was among the sheep, [at] the seventh litter: if it was a male kid, it was slaughtered and the men ate it, not the women; and if it was dead, their men and their women shared in it; and if she bore a male and a female animal, it was said: "she has joined her brother and spared him the slaughter". And "al-ḥām": when ten of the grand-offspring of the stud were ridden, or [when] his grand-offspring sired young, it was said: "ḥām, his back is exempted"; and he was no longer bridled, nor haltered, nor ridden.
12839 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "Allah has not instituted any baḥīra, nor sāʾiba, nor waṣīla, nor ḥām" — the baḥīra is of the camels: when the she-camel bore five litters, and the fifth was a male calf, they slaughtered it and offered it to their gods, and its mother belonged to the ordinary camels. And if it was a rubaʿa (a female born in spring), they kept her alive, slit the ear of her mother, shore her hair, and let her loose in the open country; she did not count for them as bloodwit (diya), they milked no milk from her, shore no hair from her, and loaded nothing on her back; and she belongs to the livestock whose backs have been made forbidden. As for "al-sāʾiba", that is the man who sets free of his property what he wishes, by way of gratitude, if his property increased, or if he recovered from an illness, or if he rode a she-camel and succeeded thereby; then he names [her] "al-sāʾiba", lets her go, and none of the Arabs touches her without a punishment befalling him in this life. As for "al-waṣīla", that is of the sheep: it is the ewe which, when she bore three or five litters and the last of them was a male kid, [then] they slaughtered it and offered it to the house of the gods; and if it was a female kid, they kept it alive; and if it was a male kid and a female kid, they kept the male kid alive for the sake of the female kid, for she is a waṣīla that has joined her brother. As for "al-ḥām", that is the stud that covers among the camels for ten years — and it is said: when his grand-offspring covers — [then] it was said: "he has exempted his back", and they left him [alone]: he was never touched or slaughtered, and he was not held back from any pasture grass he wished; and he belongs to the livestock whose backs have been made forbidden.
12840 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of Ibn al-Musayyab, concerning His saying: "Allah has not instituted any baḥīra, nor sāʾiba, nor waṣīla, nor ḥām", he said: "al-baḥīra" among the camels is the one whose milk-yield was given to the idols (al-ṭawāghīt); and "al-sāʾiba" among the camels — they used to set those free for their idols; and "al-waṣīla" among the camels — the she-camel bore as a firstling a female animal, then as a second [again] a female animal, then they named her "al-waṣīla", they said: "she has joined two female animals without a male between them", and they slit her ears for their idols — or: they slaughtered her; the doubt is from Abū Jaʿfar — and "al-ḥām", the stud among the camels, used to cover a certain number of times; and when he reached that, they said: "this one is a ḥām, he has exempted his back", and he was left [alone], and they named him "al-ḥām". Maʿmar said: Qatāda said: when he has covered ten [times].
12841 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, who said: "al-baḥīra" among the camels: when the she-camel bore five litters, and the fifth was male, it belonged to the men, not to the women; and if it was female, they slit her ears and then let her loose, and they did not slaughter her young, did not drink her milk, and did not ride her back. As for "al-sāʾiba", they used to set free some of their camels, and she was not held back from a watering trough to drink from it, nor from a pasture to graze in it. And "al-waṣīla", the ewe, was that, when she bore seven litters and the seventh was male, [then] it was slaughtered and the men ate it, not the women; and if it was female, it was left [alone].
12842 - It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh al-Faḍl ibn Khālid, who said: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān related to us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: "Allah has not instituted any baḥīra, nor sāʾiba, nor waṣīla, nor ḥām" — as for "al-baḥīra", [that] was the she-camel which, when she bore five litters for them, [then] they slaughtered the fifth if it was a male calf; and if it was a female (rubaʿa), they slit her ear and kept her alive, and she is a "baḥīra"; and as for the male calf, their women did not eat of it, and it was exclusively for their men; and if the she-camel died, or they cast her [as carrion], then their men and their women were equal in it and ate of it. As for "al-sāʾiba", [that] was when a man set free of his livestock-property, so that it was left untended in the protected pasture; no benefit was derived from its back, nor from its young, nor from its milk, nor from its hair, nor from its wool. As for "al-waṣīla", [that] was the ewe which, when she bore seven litters, [then] they slaughtered the seventh if it was a male kid; and if it was a female kid, they kept it alive; and if it was a male kid and a female kid, they kept them both alive and said: "the male kid has been joined by his sister, and she has made him forbidden to us". As for "al-ḥāmī", [that] was the stud which, when his grand-offspring were ridden, [then] they said: "this one has exempted his back, and his grand-offspring have protected him", and they did not ride him, and did not hold him back from a protected woodland, nor from a watering trough he wished to drink from, even if the trough did not belong to his owner. And among their camels there were some over which they did not pronounce the name of Allah in any of their affairs: not when they rode, not when they loaded, not when they milked, not when they bred, and not when they sold. And concerning that Allah, the Exalted, whose mention is high, revealed: "Allah has not instituted any baḥīra, nor sāʾiba", up to His saying: "and most of them do not understand".
12843 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: "Allah has not instituted any baḥīra, nor sāʾiba, nor waṣīla, nor ḥām", he said: this is something the people of the Age of Ignorance used to do, and it has vanished. He said: "al-baḥīra", the man cut off the two ears of his she-camel and then set her free just as he set free his slave-girl (jāriya) and his slave-boy (ghulām); she was not milked and not ridden. And "al-sāʾiba", he set her free without cutting [the ears]. And "al-ḥām": when seven females were born to him in succession, his back was exempted, and he was not ridden and not used for labor. And "al-waṣīla", among the sheep: when she bore seven females in succession, she protected her flesh against its being eaten.
12844 - Yūnus related to us, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Yūsuf related to us, saying: al-Layth ibn Saʿd related to us, saying: Ibn al-Hād related to me, on the authority of Ibn Shihāb, who said: Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab said: "al-sāʾiba" is the one that was set free, so that nothing was loaded on her; and "al-baḥīra" is the one whose milk-yield was given to the idols, so that no one milked her; and "al-waṣīla" is the young she-camel (al-bikr) which bore as the firstling of the camel-litter a female animal, and then afterwards [again] a female animal, and they designated her for the idols and named her "al-waṣīla", because she joined her sisters one with the other; and "al-ḥāmī", the stud of the camels, covered ten of the camels, and when his covering was completed (naqaḍa ḍirābahu) they dedicated him to the idols, relieved him of loading and loaded nothing on him, and named him "al-ḥāmī".
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: These are matters that existed in the Age of Ignorance and which Islam abolished, so that we know of no people who put them into practice at the present day.
If, then, that is so — and since that which the people of the Age of Ignorance put into practice cannot be brought to knowledge, as it has no trace today in Islam, nor do we know it in the [former] polytheism, except through a report — and since the reports about what they used to do of that have differed with the difference that we have mentioned, [then] the correct word concerning it is to say: as for the meanings of these names, that is what we have set forth at the beginning of the discourse on the explanation of this verse; and as for the manner in which the people proceeded with it, that is something of which we have no knowledge. The reports have indeed come with a description of their procedure therein, as we have related, but it does no harm not to know this, so long as the intended object of the needed knowledge of it is brought to its reality; and that is that the people forbade themselves of their livestock what Allah had not forbidden, therein following the footsteps of Satan. Allah, the Exalted, whose mention is high, rebuked them for that, and informed them that all of this is permitted. The forbidden of every thing is, in our view, that which Allah, the Exalted, whose mention is high, and His Messenger ﷺ have made forbidden, by a [decisive] text or by an indication; and the permitted thereof is that which Allah and His Messenger have likewise permitted.
* * *
The discourse on the explanation of His saying: وَلَكِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا يَفْتَرُونَ عَلَى اللَّهِ الْكَذِبَ وَأَكْثَرُهُمْ لا يَعْقِلُونَ (103) (But those who disbelieve invent lies against Allah, and most of them do not understand.) (103)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The exegetes have differed concerning who is meant by "those who disbelieve" in this place, and concerning what is meant by His saying: "and most of them do not understand".
Some of them said: by "those who disbelieve" the Jews are meant, and by "those who do not understand" the people of the idols.
* Mention of who said that:
12845 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Abū Usāma related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Abī Mūsā: "But those who disbelieve invent lies against Allah", he said: the People of the Book — "and most of them do not understand", he said: the people of the idols.
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And others said: no, they are of one and the same religious community; but "the inventors" are the followed ones, and "those who do not understand" are the followers.
* Mention of who said that:
12846 - It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh, who said: Khārija related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, concerning His saying: "But those who disbelieve invent lies against Allah, and most of them do not understand" — they are the followers; and as for "those who invented", they knew that they were inventing.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the most fitting of the statements concerning that, the correct one in our view, is to say: that by His saying "But those who disbelieve invent lies against Allah" are meant those who slit the ears of the baḥāʾir, set free the sawāʾib, joined the waṣāʾil, and exempted the ḥawāmī, such as ʿAmr ibn Luḥayy and his like among them who instituted the corrupt customs for the adherents of polytheism, and changed the religion of Allah, the religion of truth, and ascribed to Allah, the Exalted, whose mention is high, that it was He who forbade what they forbade and permitted what they permitted — while they knowingly and deliberately invented lies against Allah, and consciously fabricated falsehoods against Him. Then Allah, the Exalted, whose mention is high, declared them liars in their saying that and in their ascribing to Him that which they ascribed concerning the permitting of what they permitted and the forbidding of what they forbade, and He, the Exalted, whose mention is high, said: I have not instituted any baḥīra nor sāʾiba, but it is the unbelievers who do that and who invent lies against Allah.
= And to say that by His saying "and most of them do not understand" are meant the followers of those who instituted these customs for them among the ignorant of the polytheists; they are without doubt more numerous than those who instituted that for them, and Allah, the Exalted, described them as those who do not understand, because they did not understand that those who instituted those customs for them and informed them that they were from Allah were liars in their report, inventors; rather, they supposed that these spoke truth in what they said and were trustworthy in their report. And the meaning of the word is only: and most of them do not understand that that prohibition which these polytheists declared forbidden and ascribed to Allah, the Exalted, whose mention is high, is a lie and a falsehood. And this statement which we have made concerning it is identical to the statement of al-Shaʿbī which we mentioned earlier. And there is no ground for the statement of the one who said: "by those who disbelieve the People of the Book are meant", and that is because the reproach at the beginning of the verse from Allah, the Exalted, whose mention is high, is directed against the polytheists of the Arabs; concluding [the verse] with them is therefore more fitting than with others, since nothing occurred in the word by which it would be turned away from them to others.
* * *
And in that sense Qatāda used to speak:
12847 - Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: "and most of them do not understand", he says: the prohibition of Satan which he imposed upon them came only from Satan, and they do not understand.
