Tafseer of The Table · Al-Maaida · 5:3
Prohibited to you are dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allah, and [those animals] killed by strangling or by a violent blow or by a head-long fall or by the goring of horns, and those from which a wild animal has eaten, except what you [are able to] slaughter [before its death], and those which are sacrificed on stone altars, and [prohibited is] that you seek decision through divining arrows. That is grave disobedience. This day those who disbelieve have despaired of [defeating] your religion; so fear them not, but fear Me. This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion. But whoever is forced by severe hunger with no inclination to sin - then indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.
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.
Forbidden to you is the carrion
The explanation of His word, the Exalted: Forbidden to you is the carrion. He, exalted is His praise, means by this: Allah has forbidden to you, O believers, the carrion. The carrion (al-mayta) is everything with flowing blood among the land animals and the birds — of that which Allah has permitted to be eaten, their domesticated and their wild kinds — from which the soul has departed without ritual slaughter (tadhkiya). Some have said: the carrion is everything from which life has departed among the land animals and the birds without ritual slaughter, of that which Allah has permitted to be eaten. We have set forth the reason that necessitates the correctness of our statement on this in our book: the Book "Laṭīf al-qawl fī al-aḥkām".
And the blood
As for the blood: it is the spilled blood (al-dam al-masfūḥ), not the blood that is not spilled; for Allah, exalted is His praise, has said: Say: I do not find in what has been revealed to me anything forbidden for one who eats of it, unless it be a carrion, or spilled blood, or the flesh of swine. As for that which has taken on the meaning of flesh, such as the liver and the spleen, and the blood that is in the flesh and is not spilled, that is not forbidden, on account of the consensus of all upon that.
And the flesh of swine
As for His word: and the flesh of swine, by it He means: and forbidden to you is the flesh of swine, the domesticated and the wild. The carrion and the blood occur in their outward form as general, but by them the particular is meant. As for the flesh of swine, its outward is as its inward and its inward as its outward: it is forbidden in its entirety, nothing of it is excepted.
And that over which other than Allah has been invoked
As for His word: and that over which other than Allah has been invoked, by it He means: and that over which a name other than the name of Allah has been pronounced. The origin of that lies in the istihlāl (the loud crying out) at the birth of a child, and that is when it cries out as soon as it falls from the belly of its mother; and from it comes also the ihlāl of the pilgrim (muḥrim) at the pilgrimage (ḥajj) when he pronounces the talbiya; and from it comes also the verse of Ibn Aḥmar: "Their riders cry aloud at the star al-Farqad, as the pilgrim performing the ʿumra cries aloud." By His word and that over which other than Allah has been invoked He means that which is slaughtered for the idols and the graven images, over which other than the name of Allah has been pronounced. With that which we have said on this, the people of exegesis have also spoken; we have mentioned the narration of those who said that in what preceded, and we found it unfitting to repeat it.
And the strangled animal
The explanation of His word, the Exalted: and the strangled animal (al-munkhaniqa). The people of exegesis differed regarding the nature of the strangling that Allah, exalted is His praise, means by His word and the strangled animal. Some said, as in:
8648 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: and the strangled animal, he said: that which puts its head between two branches of a tree, so that it is strangled and dies.
8649 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Abū Khālid al-Aḥmar related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning the strangled animal, he said: that which is strangled and dies.
8650 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar related to us, on the authority of Qatāda concerning His word: and the strangled animal: that which dies by its strangling.
Others said: it is the animal that is tied up, and its tether kills it by strangling. The mention of who said that:
8651 — It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying concerning His word: and the strangled animal, he said: the sheep that is tied up, and its tether kills it by strangling, that is forbidden.
Others said: it is rather the livestock which the polytheists (mushrikīn) used to strangle until it died, and Allah forbade the eating of it. The mention of who said that:
8652 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: and the strangled animal: that which is strangled and dies.
8653 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: and the strangled animal: the people of the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya) used to strangle the sheep, and when it had died, they ate it.
The most correct of these statements is the statement of him who said: it is that which is strangled, whether in its tether, or by putting its head into a place from which it cannot free itself, so that it is strangled until it dies. We say that this is the most correct in the interpretation of it, above the other statements, because al-munkhaniqa is that which is described with being self-strangled, not that which is strangled by another; for if by it were meant that it is the object of an action, it would have been said al-makhnūqa (the one made to be strangled), so that the meaning of the statement would be what they said.
And the beaten-to-death animal
The explanation of His word, the Exalted: and the beaten-to-death animal (al-mawqūdha). He, exalted is His praise, means by His word and the beaten-to-death animal: and the carrion that has been struck to death (mawqūdh). One says of it: waqadha-hu yaqidhu-hu waqdhan: when he strikes it until it is on the verge of death. And from it comes the verse of al-Farazdaq: "A kicking one that strikes the foal to death with her hind leg, a springer toward the front feathers of the young camels." And in the sense of what we have said on this, the people of exegesis have also spoken. The mention of who said that:
8654 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: and the beaten-to-death animal, he said: the beaten-to-death animal is that which is struck with a stick until he beats it to death and it dies.
8655 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: and the beaten-to-death animal: the people of the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya) used to strike it with the stick, and when it had died, they ate it.
— Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Rawḥ related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Qatāda concerning His word: and the beaten-to-death animal, he said: they used to strike it until they beat it to death, and then they ate it.
— Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda concerning His word: and the beaten-to-death animal: that which is beaten to death and dies.
8656 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Abū Khālid al-Aḥmar related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, he said: the beaten-to-death animal: that which is struck until it dies.
8657 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: and the beaten-to-death animal, he said: it is that which is struck and dies.
8658 — It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying concerning His word: and the beaten-to-death animal: the sheep or other livestock was struck with the stick for their idols, until they killed it and ate it.
— Al-ʿAbbās ibn al-Walīd related to us, saying: ʿUqba ibn ʿAlqama informed me, Ibrāhīm ibn Abī ʿAbla related to me, saying: Nuʿaym ibn Salāma related to me, on the authority of Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ṣunābiḥī, he said: the beaten-to-death animal occurs only among livestock, and in hunting there is no waqīdh (beaten-to-death game).
And the animal fallen to its death
The explanation of His word, the Exalted: and the animal fallen to its death (al-mutaraddiya). He, exalted is His praise, means by this: and forbidden to you is the carrion that has fallen to its death from a mountain, or into a well, or something of the like. And its taraddī (falling to its death) is: that it throws itself down from a high, elevated place. And in the sense of what we have said on this, the people of exegesis have also spoken. The mention of who said that:
8659 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: and the animal fallen to its death, he said: that which falls from the mountain.
8660 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: and the animal fallen to its death: it fell into the well and died, and then they ate it.
— Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Rawḥ related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: and the animal fallen to its death, he said: that which fell into the well.
8661 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī concerning His word: and the animal fallen to its death, he said: it is that which falls from the mountain or into the well and dies.
8662 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Abū Khālid al-Aḥmar related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: and the animal fallen to its death: that which falls from the mountain and dies.
8663 — It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying concerning His word: and the animal fallen to its death, he said: that which falls into a well or from the top of a mountain, and dies.
And the gored-to-death animal
The explanation of His word, the Exalted: and the gored-to-death animal (al-naṭīḥa). By His word the gored-to-death animal He means: the sheep that is gored by another, so that it dies by the goring without ritual slaughter; and Allah, exalted is His praise, has forbidden that to the believers if they were not able to perform its ritual slaughter before its death. The origin of al-naṭīḥa is al-manṭūḥa (the gored animal), transformed from the mafʿūla form (the passive) to the faʿīla form. If someone should ask: how was the hāʾ (the tāʾ-marbūṭa of the feminine) retained in it, while you know that the Arabs almost never retain the hāʾ in such cases when they transform them as they transformed naṭīḥa from mafʿūl to faʿīl — for one says liḥya dahīn (a dyed beard), ʿayn kaḥīl (an eye lined with kohl), kaff khaḍīb (a dyed palm), and one does not say kaff khaḍība, nor ʿayn kaḥīla? The answer is: the scholars of the Arabic language are at variance about that. Some grammarians of Basra said: the hāʾ was retained in it — I mean in naṭīḥa — because it is made into a substantive noun, like al-ṭawīla (the long one) and al-ṭarīqa (the way); it is as though the one making this statement understands naṭīḥa in the meaning of al-nāṭiḥa (the goring one, the active form). The explanation of the statement according to his understanding is thus: and forbidden to you is the carrion that has been gored to death, as if He meant: and forbidden to you is the goring animal that dies by its goring. Some grammarians of Kufa said: the Arabs drop the hāʾ from the faʿīla that has been transformed from the mafʿūl only when they make it a qualifier of a substantive noun that precedes it, and then one says: we saw a dyed (khaḍīb) palm and an eye lined with kohl (kaḥīl). But when one drops the palm and the eye and the substantive noun of which faʿīl is the qualifier, and contents oneself with faʿīl alone, then one retains in it the hāʾ of the feminine, so that by its presence it may be known that it is a qualifier of the feminine and not of the masculine; one then says: we saw a kaḥīla (an exemplar lined with kohl), a khaḍība (a dyed exemplar), and akīlat al-sabuʿ (that which has been devoured by the beast of prey). They said: and that is why the hāʾ was added in naṭīḥa, for it is a qualifier of the feminine, and if it had been dropped from it one would not know whether it is a qualifier of the feminine or of the masculine. And this statement is the most correct of the two statements on this, in agreement with the widespread statements of the people of exegesis, namely that the meaning of naṭīḥa is "al-manṭūḥa (the gored animal)". The mention of who said that:
8664 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, his word: and the gored-to-death animal, he said: the sheep that gores another sheep to death.
8665 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad al-Zubayrī related to us, on the authority of Qays, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Abū Maysara, he said: he used to recite: "wa al-manṭūḥa".
8666 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Abū Khālid al-Aḥmar related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: and the gored-to-death animal: the two sheep that gore each other so that they die.
8667 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: and the gored-to-death animal: it is that which is gored by the sheep and the cattle so that it dies. He says: this is forbidden, for some people among the Arabs used to eat it.
8668 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: and the gored-to-death animal: the two rams gored each other, and one of the two died, and then they ate it.
— Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Rawḥ related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: and the gored-to-death animal: the two rams gore each other so that the one kills the other, and then they eat it.
— It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying concerning His word: and the gored-to-death animal, he said: the sheep that gores a sheep to death so that it dies.
And that which the beast of prey has partly devoured
The explanation of His word, the Exalted: and that which the beast of prey has partly devoured. He, exalted is His praise, means by His word and that which the beast of prey has partly devoured: and forbidden to you is that which the beast of prey — an untrained one of the predatory animals — has partly devoured. And so said the people of exegesis. The mention of who said that:
8669 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: and that which the beast of prey has partly devoured, he says: that which the beast of prey has seized.
8670 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Abū Khālid al-Aḥmar related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: and that which the beast of prey has partly devoured, he says: that which the beast of prey has seized.
8671 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: and that which the beast of prey has partly devoured, he said: the people of the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya), when the beast of prey killed anything of this or ate of it, they ate what remained.
8672 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad al-Zubayrī related to us, on the authority of Qays, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of Abū al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, that he recited: "wa akīl al-sabuʿ (and that which has been devoured by the beast of prey)".
Except that which you have ritually slaughtered
The explanation of His word, the Exalted: except that which you have ritually slaughtered. He, exalted is His praise, means by His word except that which you have ritually slaughtered: except that which you have purified by the slaughter (dhabḥ) that Allah has made a purification. Then the people of exegesis differed about that which Allah excepted by His word except that which you have ritually slaughtered. Some said: He excepted from everything of which Allah mentioned the prohibition, namely from His word and that over which other than Allah has been invoked, and the strangled animal, and the beaten-to-death animal, and the animal fallen to its death, and the gored-to-death animal, and that which the beast of prey has partly devoured. The mention of who said that:
8673 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: except that which you have ritually slaughtered, he says: that whose ritual slaughter you were able to perform of all this, while it is still moving its tail or blinking its eye — then slaughter it and pronounce the name of Allah over it, and it is lawful.
8674 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn Fuḍayl related to us, on the authority of Ashʿath, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: Forbidden to you is the carrion, and the blood, and the flesh of swine, and that over which other than Allah has been invoked, and the strangled animal, and the beaten-to-death animal, and the animal fallen to its death, and the gored-to-death animal, and that which the beast of prey has partly devoured, except that which you have ritually slaughtered. Al-Ḥasan said: that is to say: that whose ritual slaughter you were able to perform, then slaughter it and eat of it. I said: O Abū Saʿīd, how do I recognize that? He said: when it blinks with its eye or strikes with its tail.
8675 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: except that which you have ritually slaughtered, he said: all this that Allah, mighty and exalted is He, has mentioned here, with the exception of the flesh of swine — when you find of it a blinking eye, or a moving tail, or a kicking leg, and you slaughter it ritually, then Allah has made that lawful for you.
— Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda: except that which you have ritually slaughtered of all this — when you find it while it is blinking with its eye or moving with its ear, of all this, then it is lawful for you.
8676 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Hushaym and ʿAbbād related to me, both of them saying: Ḥajjāj informed us, on the authority of Ḥuṣayn, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, on the authority of al-Ḥārith, on the authority of ʿAlī, he said: when you are able to perform the ritual slaughter of the beaten-to-death animal, the animal fallen to its death, and the gored-to-death animal while it is moving a hand or a leg, then eat it.
8677 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, he said: when the beast of prey has eaten of the game, or of the beaten-to-death animal, or of the gored-to-death animal, or of the animal fallen to its death, and you are able to perform its ritual slaughter, then eat.
— Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Muṣʿab ibn Sallām al-Tamīmī related to us, saying: Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, he said: when it kicks with its leg, or blinks with its eye, or moves with its tail, then it suffices.
8678 — Ibn al-Muthannā and Ibn Bashshār related to us, both of them saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: Ibn Jurayj informed us, saying: Ibn Ṭāwūs informed me, on the authority of his father, he said: when you slaughter and it strikes with its tail or moves it, then it is lawful for you. Or he said: then it suffices.
8679 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: al-Ḥajjāj ibn al-Minhāl related to us, saying: Ḥammād related to us, on the authority of Ḥumayd, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, he said: when the beaten-to-death animal blinks with its gaze, or kicks with its leg, or strikes with its tail, then slaughter it and eat of it.
— Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: al-Ḥajjāj related to us, saying: Ḥammād related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, the like of it.
— Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Abū al-Zubayr, that he heard ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr saying: when it blinks with its eye, or strikes with its tail, or moves, then it is lawful for you.
8680 — It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying: the people of the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya) used to eat this, and in Islam Allah forbade it, except that of it which is ritually slaughtered — so that which you find and of which a leg, or tail, or eye is moving and it is ritually slaughtered, that is lawful.
8681 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: Forbidden to you is the carrion, and the blood, and the flesh of swine, and His word: and the strangled animal, and the beaten-to-death animal, and the animal fallen to its death, and the gored-to-death animal — the verse — and that which the beast of prey has partly devoured, except that which you have ritually slaughtered: all this is forbidden, except that of it which is ritually slaughtered. The explanation of the verse according to the statement of these is thus: forbidden is the beaten-to-death animal and the animal fallen to its death, if it dies by the falling to death, the beating to death, the goring and the partial devouring by the beast of prey, unless you are able to perform its ritual slaughter and reach it before its death, then the eating of it at that moment is lawful.
Others said: it is an exception to the prohibition, and it is not an exception to the forbidden things that Allah, the Exalted, mentioned in His word Forbidden to you is the carrion, for there is no ritual slaughter for the carrion, nor for the swine. They said: the meaning of the verse is rather: forbidden to you is the carrion and the blood and all the rest that we have mentioned with it, except that which you have ritually slaughtered of what Allah has permitted you by the ritual slaughter, for that is lawful for you. And among those who said that is a group of the people of Medina. The mention of some of those who said that:
8682 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Mālik said — and he was asked about the sheep whose belly the beast of prey rips open so that its entrails come out — then Mālik said: I am of the opinion that it may not be ritually slaughtered and may not be eaten; which part of it would one ritually slaughter?
8683 — Yūnus related to me, on the authority of Ashhab, he said: Mālik was asked about the beast of prey that attacks the ram and breaks its back — are you of the opinion that it should be ritually slaughtered before it dies, so that it may be eaten? He said: if it has reached the lungs, I am not of the opinion that it may be eaten; but if it has only struck its limbs, I see no harm in it. It was said to him: it sprang upon it and broke its back? He said: it does not please me that it be eaten; this does not live thereafter. It was said to him: and the wolf that attacks the sheep and rips open its belly but does not rip open the entrails? He said: when it has ripped open its belly, I am not of the opinion that it may be eaten.
According to this statement, His word except that which you have ritually slaughtered must be a disconnected (munqaṭiʿ) exception, so that the explanation of the verse is: forbidden to you is the carrion and the blood and all the rest that we have mentioned, but that which you have ritually slaughtered of the animals which I have permitted you by the ritual slaughter is lawful. The most correct of the two statements on this is, in our opinion, the first statement, namely that His word except that which you have ritually slaughtered is an exception to His word and that over which other than Allah has been invoked, and the strangled animal, and the beaten-to-death animal, and the animal fallen to its death, and the gored-to-death animal, and that which the beast of prey has partly devoured; for all these have the attribute by which it is described before the moment of its death. One says, then: when the polytheists offered something for their idols and dedicated it to them, then that is that over which other than Allah has been invoked in the meaning of: it was named as an offering for other than Allah. And likewise the strangled animal: when it is strangled, even if it does not die, then it is a strangled animal; and likewise all the rest that Allah, mighty and exalted is He, forbade after His word and that over which other than Allah has been invoked, except by the ritual slaughter — for it is described with the attribute by which it is described before its death, and Allah forbade it to His servants, except by the permitted ritual slaughter in place of death by the cause with which it was described. If that is so, then the explanation of the verse is: and forbidden to you is that over which other than Allah has been invoked, and the strangled animal, and so and so and so, except that which you have ritually slaughtered of this. And "that which" (mā), since that is its explanation, is in the position of the accusative (naṣb) by the exception to what precedes it; and the nominative (rafʿ) is also permitted in it. And since the matter is as we have described, everything whose ritual slaughter you are able to perform — of a bird or an animal — before the departure of its soul and the leaving of its spirit from its body, the eating of it is lawful, if it belongs to that which Allah has permitted to His servants.
If someone should say to us: since that, in your opinion, is its meaning, what then is the reason for the repetition that He repeated with His word and that over which other than Allah has been invoked, and the strangled animal, and the beaten-to-death animal, and the animal fallen to its death and all the rest of which He enumerated the prohibition in this verse, while He opened the verse with His word Forbidden to you is the carrion? And you know that His word Forbidden to you is the carrion encompasses every carrion, whether its death was a natural death, by a sickness without anyone doing anything to it, or its death was by the blow of a striker, or by strangling it, or by goring, or by the partial devouring of a beast of prey? And why was His word — if the matter is as you have described, namely that by the prohibition in all that the carrion is meant, which has died by strangling, goring, beating to death, the partial devouring of a beast of prey or something else, in place of meaning by it the prohibition of it when it falls to its death, or is strangled, or a beast of prey partly devours it, and it has by that come to a point where one knows that of what has befallen it, it will not live more than a brief remnant of life — why then was His word Forbidden to you is the carrion not sufficient, and was that which He repeated with His word and that over which other than Allah has been invoked, and the strangled animal and all the rest that He mentioned and enumerated with it superfluous? The answer is: the reason for that repetition — even though the prohibition of it when it dies by the causes with which it is described has already been preceded by His word Forbidden to you is the carrion — is that those who were addressed by this verse regarded the carrion among the animals only as that which died by a sickness that befell it, other than strangling, falling to death, goring and the partial devouring of a beast of prey. Therefore Allah made known to them that the ruling of that is the same as the ruling of what dies by the befalling sicknesses, and that the reason that necessitates the prohibition of the carrion is not its death by a sickness or an ailment that befell it before its death, but rather the reason in it is that it was not slaughtered with a view to the slaughter in the meaning by which He permitted it. As in:
8684 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī concerning His word: and the strangled animal, and the beaten-to-death animal, and the animal fallen to its death, and the gored-to-death animal, and that which the beast of prey has partly devoured, except that which you have ritually slaughtered, he says: this is forbidden, for some people among the Arabs used to eat it and did not regard it as dead; they regarded as dead only that which dies by the pain. So Allah forbade it to them, except that over which they pronounced the name of Allah and whose ritual slaughter they performed while there was still life in it.
And that which has been slaughtered on the sacrificial stones
The explanation of His word, the Exalted: and that which has been slaughtered on the sacrificial stones (al-nuṣub). He, exalted is His praise, means by His word and that which has been slaughtered on the sacrificial stones: and forbidden to you likewise is that which has been slaughtered on the sacrificial stones. And "that which" (mā) in His word and that which has been slaughtered is in the nominative (rafʿ) as a coordination with the "mā" in His word and that which the beast of prey has partly devoured. And al-nuṣub: those are the graven images of stone, a collection of anṣāb (sacrificial stones) that were gathered together at a place on the earth, and the polytheists (mushrikīn) used to bring offerings to them; they were not idols (aṣnām). And Ibn Jurayj used to say concerning the nature of them, as in:
8685 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, saying: Ibn Jurayj said: the nuṣub are not aṣnām; the idol (ṣanam) is depicted and engraved, but these are stones that were set up, three hundred and sixty stones, and some say: three hundred of them belonged to Khuzāʿa. When they slaughtered, they sprinkled the blood on the part of the House that faces forward, and cut the flesh into pieces and laid it on the stones. Then the Muslims said: O Messenger of Allah, the people of the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya) used to honor the House with the blood, and we have more right to honor it! And it was as though the Prophet ﷺ did not disapprove of that, whereupon Allah sent down: Their flesh nor their blood will reach Allah. And what confirms the statement of Ibn Jurayj, namely that the anṣāb are something other than the aṣnām, is:
8686 — Ibn Wakīʿ related it to us, saying: Ibn ʿUyayna related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: and that which has been slaughtered on the sacrificial stones, he said: stones on which the people of the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya) used to slaughter.
— 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 His word: the sacrificial stones, he said: stones around the Kaʿba, on which the people of the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya) used to slaughter, and they would exchange them if they wished for stones that pleased them better.
— Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the like of it.
8687 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: and that which has been slaughtered on the sacrificial stones: and the sacrificial stones are stones that the people of the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya) used to worship and for which they slaughtered, and Allah forbade that.
— Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda concerning His word: and that which has been slaughtered on the sacrificial stones, that is to say: the sacrificial stones of the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya).
8688 — Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: and that which has been slaughtered on the sacrificial stones: and the sacrificial stones are anṣāb on which they slaughtered and over which they invoked other than Allah.
— Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAnbasa, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, on the authority of al-Qāsim ibn Abī Bazza, on the authority of Mujāhid, his word: and that which has been slaughtered on the sacrificial stones, he said: around the Kaʿba there were stones on which the people of the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya) used to slaughter, and they would exchange them if they wished for a stone that was dearer to them.
8689 — It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Muzāḥim saying: the anṣāb are stones over which they invoked other than Allah and on which they slaughtered.
8690 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: and that which has been slaughtered on the sacrificial stones, he said: that which has been slaughtered on the sacrificial stones and that over which other than Allah has been invoked, that is one and the same.
And that you seek to determine your lot by the divining arrows
The explanation of His word: and that you seek to determine your lot by the divining arrows (al-azlām). He means by His word: and that you seek to determine your lot by the divining arrows: and that you seek to obtain the knowledge of what is allotted to you or not allotted to you, by means of the arrows. It is the istafʿalt form of al-qism: the allotting of livelihood and needs. For the people of the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya), when one of them wished to undertake a journey or a raid or something of the like, would shuffle the arrows together — and those are the azlām — and they were arrows on some of which was written: "my Lord has forbidden it to me", and on some: "my Lord has commanded it to me". When the arrow came out on which was written "my Lord has commanded it to me", he proceeded with what he wished — a journey, or a raid, or a marriage or something else; and when the arrow came out on which was written "my Lord has forbidden it to me", he refrained from proceeding and held himself back. Therefore it was said: and that you seek to determine your lot by the divining arrows, for by doing that they were as though asking their arrows to allot to them. And from it comes the verse of the poet, boasting of leaving off consulting them: "And I did not ask by lot-drawing so that the lot-dividers held me back." As for the azlām: the singular of it is zalam, and one also says zulam, and those are the arrows whose matter we have described. And in the sense of what we have said on this, the people of exegesis have also spoken. The mention of who said that:
8691 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, both of them saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Abū Ḥaṣīn, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: and that you seek to determine your lot by the divining arrows, he said: the arrows — when they wished to set out on a journey, they made arrows for staying and for departing; if departure fell, they departed, and if staying fell, they stayed.
8692 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sharīk, on the authority of Abū Ḥaṣīn, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: and that you seek to determine your lot by the divining arrows, he said: white pebbles with which they cast. Abū Jaʿfar said: Sufyān ibn Wakīʿ said to us: it is the game of chess.
8693 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: ʿAbbād ibn Rāshid al-Bazzār informed us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan concerning His word: and that you seek to determine your lot by the divining arrows, he said: when they wished to undertake a matter or a journey, they resorted to three arrows; on one of them was written "command me", and on the other "forbid me", and the third they left blank between the two, on which there was nothing. Then they shuffled them together; if the arrow with "command me" came out, they proceeded with their matter; and if the arrow with "forbid me" came out, they refrained from it; and if the arrow came out on which there was nothing, they repeated it.
8694 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUyayna related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: and that you seek to determine your lot by the divining arrows: stones on which they wrote and which they called the arrows (al-qidāḥ).
— Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the like of it.
8695 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Ādam related to us, on the authority of Zuhayr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm ibn Muhājir, on the authority of Mujāhid: and that you seek to determine your lot by the divining arrows, he said: the dice of Persia with which they gambled, and the arrows of the Arabs.
— Aḥmad ibn Ḥāzim al-Ghifārī related to me, saying: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, saying: Zuhayr related to us, on the authority of Ibrāhīm ibn Muhājir, on the authority of Mujāhid: and that you seek to determine your lot by the divining arrows, he said: the arrows of the Arabs and the dice of Persia and the Romans, with which they gambled.
8696 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda concerning His word: and that you seek to determine your lot by the divining arrows, he said: when someone wished to set out on a journey, he wrote on arrows: "this one commands me to stay", and "this one commands me to depart", and he added to them a blank, a thing on which nothing was written; then he sought to determine his lot by them when he wished to depart. If the arrow that commanded staying came out, he stayed; if the arrow that commanded departing came out, he departed; and if the other came out, he shuffled them a second time until one of the two arrows came out.
— Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: and that you seek to determine your lot by the divining arrows: the people of the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya), when one of them wished to undertake a departure, took an arrow and said: "this one commands departure", and if it came out, he would obtain something good on his journey; and he took another arrow and said: "this one commands staying", and then he would obtain nothing good on his journey; and the blank was between the two. Allah forbade that and opposed it.
8697 — It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying concerning His word: and that you seek to determine your lot by the divining arrows, he said: they sought to determine their lot by them in their matters.
8698 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: the azlām are arrows of theirs; when one of them wished for something of those matters, he wrote on those arrows what he wished and cast with them; whichever arrow came out — even if it were the most detested of them — that he proceeded with and acted upon.
8699 — 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: and that you seek to determine your lot by the divining arrows, he said: the azlām are arrows that were with the soothsayers in the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya); when a man wished to travel or to marry or to undertake a matter, he came to the soothsayer and gave him something, and he cast for him with them. If something came out that pleased him, he commanded him and he did it; and if something came out that displeased him, he forbade him and he held himself back — as ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib cast concerning Zamzam, concerning ʿAbd Allāh and concerning the camels.
8700 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kathīr, he said: we heard that the people of the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya) cast with the arrows for departing and staying, or for something they wished to undertake; if the arrow of departure came out, they departed, and that of staying, they stayed. And Ibn Isḥāq said concerning the azlām, as in:
8701 — Ibn Ḥumayd related it to me, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, he said: Hubal was the greatest idol of Quraysh in Mecca, and it stood over a pit inside the Kaʿba, and that pit was the one in which was gathered what was donated to the Kaʿba. And with Hubal were seven arrows; on each arrow of them was an inscription: an arrow on which was "the blood-money (al-ʿaql)" — when they differed about the blood-money, who of them should bear it, they cast with the seven arrows, and if "the blood-money" came out, the one upon whom it fell bore it. And an arrow on which was "yes", for the matter when they wished to cast with it; if the arrow "yes" came out, they acted upon it. And an arrow on which was "no"; when they wished to undertake a matter, they cast with it among the arrows, and if that arrow came out, they did not do that matter. And an arrow on which was "of you". And an arrow on which was "attached (mulṣaq)". And an arrow on which was "of other than you". And an arrow for the waters: when they wished to dig for water, they cast with the arrows among which that arrow was, and wherever it came out, there they acted. And when they wished to circumcise a boy, or to contract a marriage, or to bury a dead person, or doubted the lineage of one of them, they brought him to Hubal, with a hundred dirhams and a sacrificial camel, and gave them to the keeper of the arrows who cast with them. Then they brought forward their man with whom they wished to do what they wished, and said: O our god, this is so-and-so, son of so-and-so, we wish concerning him such and such, bring the truth about him to light! Then they said to the keeper of the arrows: cast. He cast, and if "of you" came out concerning him, then he was a member of the heart of the tribe; and if "of other than you" came out concerning him, then he was an ally; and if "attached" came out, then he remained in his position among them, without lineage and without alliance. And if something other than this came out by which they acted — "yes", then they acted upon it; and if "no" came out, they deferred him for that year, until they brought him another time, while they obeyed in their matters that with which the arrows came out.
8702 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, his word: and that you seek to determine your lot by the divining arrows, that is to say: the arrow, they sought to determine their lot by it in their matters.
That is moral corruption (fisq)
The explanation of His word, the Exalted: that is moral corruption (fisq). He, exalted is His praise, means by His word: that these matters that He has mentioned, namely the eating of the carrion, the blood, the flesh of swine and all the rest that has been mentioned in this verse whose eating is forbidden, and the seeking to determine the lot by the arrows. Is fisq, that is to say: a going out from the command of Allah and His obedience to that which He has forbidden and abhorred, and to His disobedience. As in:
8703 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: that is fisq, that is to say: whoever eats anything of all this, that is fisq.
This day those who disbelieve have despaired of your religion
The explanation of His word, the Exalted: This day those who disbelieve have despaired of your religion. He, exalted is His praise, means by His word: This day those who disbelieve have despaired of your religion: now the craving of the factions and the people of disbelief and denial has been cut off, O believers, regarding your religion — He says: regarding your religion, namely that you should abandon it and so become apostate (ridda) and return to the ascribing of partners to Allah (shirk). As in:
8704 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: his word: This day those who disbelieve have despaired of your religion, that is to say: that you should ever return to their religion.
8705 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, his word: This day those who disbelieve have despaired of your religion, he said: I think that they have despaired of your apostatizing from your religion.
If someone should ask: and which day is this day on which Allah has informed that those who disbelieve have despaired on it of the religion of the believers? The answer is: it has been mentioned that it was the day of ʿArafa, in the year in which the Prophet ﷺ performed the Farewell Pilgrimage (ḥijjat al-wadāʿ), and that was after the entry of the Arabs into Islam. The mention of who said that:
8706 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, Mujāhid said: This day those who disbelieve have despaired of your religion: this day I have perfected your religion for you; this was when I did it. Ibn Jurayj said: and others said: that was on the day of ʿArafa on a Friday, when the Prophet ﷺ looked and saw none but a monotheist (muwaḥḥid) and saw no polytheist (mushrik); he praised Allah, and Jibrīl, peace be upon him, descended upon him: This day those who disbelieve have despaired of your religion, that they should return as they were.
8707 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: This day those who disbelieve have despaired of your religion, he said: this is the day of ʿArafa.
So fear them not, but fear Me
The explanation of His word, the Exalted: So fear them not, but fear Me. He means by this: so fear not, O believers, these disbelievers who have despaired of your religion, namely that you should apostatize from it; and fear not that they will gain the upper hand over you and overpower you and turn you away from your religion. But fear Me, He says: but fear Me, if you should oppose My command and dare to disobey Me and transgress My limits — that I should then bring down My punishment upon you and send down My chastisement upon you. As in:
8708 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj: So fear them not, but fear Me: so fear not that they will gain the upper hand over you.
This day I have perfected your religion for you
The explanation of His word, the Exalted: This day I have perfected your religion for you. The people of exegesis differed regarding the interpretation of that. Some said: He, exalted is His praise, means by His word: This day I have perfected your religion for you: this day I have perfected for you, O believers, My obligations upon you and My limits, and My command to you and My prohibition, and My permitted and My forbidden, and My sending down of that which I have sent down in My Book, and My clarification of what I have clarified to you of it by My revelation through the mouth of My Messenger, and the indications that I have set up for you for everything that you need for your religion — all that I have made complete for you, so that after this day nothing is added to it. They said: and that was on the day of ʿArafa, in the year in which the Prophet ﷺ performed the Farewell Pilgrimage (ḥijjat al-wadāʿ). And they said: after this verse nothing more of the obligations was sent down upon the Prophet ﷺ, nor a permitting of anything nor a forbidding of it, and the Prophet ﷺ lived after the sending down of this verse only eighty-one nights. The mention of who said that:
8709 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, his word: This day I have perfected your religion for you, and that is Islam, he said: Allah informed His Prophet ﷺ and the believers that He has perfected for them the faith (īmān), so that they never again need any addition; and Allah, mighty is His mention, has completed it, so that He will never diminish it; and Allah has been pleased with it, so that He will never be displeased with it.
8710 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, his word: This day I have perfected your religion for you: this was sent down on the day of ʿArafa, and after it neither a permitted nor a forbidden thing was sent down, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ returned and died. Asmāʾ bint ʿUmays said: I performed that pilgrimage with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and while we were proceeding, Jibrīl ﷺ suddenly appeared to him on the riding-camel, and the riding-camel could not bear the weight of what was upon her of the Qurʾān, so that she knelt down. Then I came to him and covered him with a mantle that I was wearing.
8711 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: the Prophet ﷺ remained after the sending down of this verse eighty-one nights, his word: This day I have perfected your religion for you.
8712 — Sufyān related to us, saying: Ibn Fuḍayl related to us, on the authority of Hārūn ibn ʿAntara, on the authority of his father, he said: when there was sent down: This day I have perfected your religion for you, and that was on the day of the great pilgrimage (al-ḥajj al-akbar), ʿUmar wept, whereupon the Prophet ﷺ said to him: "What makes you weep?" He said: what makes me weep is that we were in an increase of our religion; but now that it is perfected — nothing is perfected save that it decreases thereafter. He said: "You have spoken truly."
— Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn Bashīr related to us, on the authority of Hārūn ibn Abī Wakīʿ, on the authority of his father, and he mentioned the like of it.
Others said: the meaning of it is: This day I have perfected your religion for you, namely your pilgrimage, for you have obtained the Sacred City for yourselves alone, so that you perform its pilgrimage, O believers, without the polytheists (mushrikīn); no polytheist mingles with you in your pilgrimage. The mention of who said that:
8713 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Abī ʿUtba related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Ḥakam: This day I have perfected your religion for you, he said: He perfected their religion for them in that they performed the pilgrimage and no polytheist performed the pilgrimage with them.
8714 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda: This day I have perfected your religion for you, he said: Allah purified their religion for them, and drove the polytheists from the House.
8715 — Aḥmad ibn Ḥāzim related to us, saying: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, saying: Qays related to us, on the authority of Abū Ḥaṣīn, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: This day I have perfected your religion for you, he said: the completion of the pilgrimage, and the driving of the polytheists from the House.
The most correct of the statements on this is that one says: Allah, mighty and exalted is He, informed His Prophet ﷺ and the believers with him, that He perfected for them, on the day on which He sent down this verse upon His Prophet, their religion, in that they obtained the Sacred City for themselves alone and the polytheists were driven out of it, so that the Muslims performed the pilgrimage without them, and the polytheists did not mingle with them. As for the obligations and the rulings, there is disagreement about them, whether they were perfected on that day or not. From Ibn ʿAbbās and al-Suddī has been related what we mentioned earlier from them. And from al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib it has been related that the last verse of the Qurʾān to be sent down was: They ask you for a ruling. Say: Allah gives you a ruling concerning the kalāla. And no knowledgeable person denies that the revelation did not cease coming to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ until he passed away — rather, the revelation was, before his death, in its most successive form. Since that is so, and since His word They ask you for a ruling. Say: Allah gives you a ruling concerning the kalāla was the last to be sent down, and that belonged to the rulings and the obligations, then it is known that the meaning of His word This day I have perfected your religion for you is other than the manner in which the one who interpreted it so interpreted it, I mean: the perfection of the prayers, the rulings and the obligations. If someone should ask: what makes the statement of him who said: an obligation was sent down after that, more deserving of precedence than the statement of him who said: nothing more was sent down? The answer is: because he who said that nothing more was sent down informs that he knows of no sending down of an obligation, and negation cannot be a testimony, whereas testimony is the statement of him who said: it was sent down; and it is not permissible to reject the report of the truthful person in that wherein he can be truthful.
And I have completed My favor upon you
The explanation of His word, the Exalted: and I have completed My favor upon you. He, exalted is His praise, means by it: and I have completed My favor, O believers, in that I have given you the upper hand over My enemy and your enemy among the polytheists (mushrikīn), and in that I have driven them out of your lands, and in that I have cut off their craving that you should return and relapse to that which you were in of the ascribing of partners (shirk). And in the sense of what we have said on this, the people of exegesis have also spoken. The mention of who said that:
— Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: the polytheists and the Muslims used to perform the pilgrimage together; and when Sūrat Barāʾa was sent down and the polytheists were driven from the House, the Muslims performed the pilgrimage without anyone of the polytheists sharing the Sacred City with them; and that belonged, as it were, to the completion of the favor: and I have completed My favor upon you.
8716 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, his word: This day I have perfected your religion for you and completed My favor upon you — the verse — it has been related to us that this verse was sent down upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on the day of ʿArafa, on a Friday, when Allah drove the polytheists from the Sacred Mosque and purified the pilgrimage for the Muslims.
8717 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, saying: Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, he said: this verse was sent down at ʿArafāt, when the beacon (al-manār) of the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya) was destroyed, and the ascribing of partners (shirk) vanished, and in that year no polytheist performed the pilgrimage with them.
— Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of ʿĀmir concerning this verse: This day I have perfected your religion for you and completed My favor upon you, he said: it was sent down upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ while he was standing at ʿArafāt, and the people surrounded him, and the beacon of the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya) and their rites had been destroyed, and the ascribing of partners (shirk) had vanished, and no one any longer walked naked around the House; then Allah sent down: This day I have perfected your religion for you.
— Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, the like of it.
And I have approved Islam as a religion for you
The explanation of His word, the Exalted: and I have approved Islam as a religion for you. He, exalted is His praise, means by it: and I have approved for you the submission to My command and the surrender to My obedience, according to what I have prescribed for you of His limits and obligations and characteristics, as a religion, by it He means: as obedience from you to Me. If someone should ask: was Allah then not pleased with Islam for His servants, except on the day on which He sent down this verse? The answer is: Allah was still pleased with Islam as a religion for His creation; but He, exalted is His praise, was constantly guiding His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ and his companions through its degrees and ranks, degree after degree and rank after rank and state after state, until He perfected for them His laws and characteristics and brought them to the highest of His degrees and ranks; then He said, when He sent down this verse upon them: and I have approved Islam as a religion for you in the form in which it is today, and in the state in which you find yourselves today regarding it, as a religion — so hold fast to it and do not abandon it. And Qatāda used to say concerning that, as in:
8718 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: it has been related to us that to the people of every religion their religion will be presented on the Day of Resurrection. As for the faith (īmān), it will give good news to its adherents and its people and promise them the good, until Islam comes and says: Lord, You are the Peace (al-Salām) and I am Islam, whereupon He says: you I accept this day, and through you I requite this day. And I suppose that Qatāda understood the meaning of the faith (īmān) in this narration in the meaning of holding true and acknowledgment with the tongue; for that is the meaning of īmān among the Arabs. And he understood the meaning of Islam in the meaning of the submission of the heart and its surrender to Allah by the affirmation of oneness (tawḥīd), and the surrender of the body to Him by obedience in what He commanded and forbade; therefore it was said to Islam: you I accept this day, and through you I requite this day. The mention of who said: this verse was sent down at ʿArafa during the Farewell Pilgrimage upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ:
8719 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, both of them saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Qays ibn Muslim, on the authority of Ṭāriq ibn Shihāb, he said: the Jews said to ʿUmar: you recite a verse that, if it had been sent down upon us, we would have made into a feast day. Then ʿUmar said: I know for certain when it was sent down, and where it was sent down, and where the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was when it was sent down; it was sent down on the day of ʿArafa, while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was standing at ʿArafa — Sufyān said: and I doubt whether it was a Friday or not — This day I have perfected your religion for you and completed My favor upon you and approved Islam as a religion for you.
— Abū Kurayb and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, both of them saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, saying: I heard my father, on the authority of Qays ibn Muslim, on the authority of Ṭāriq ibn Shihāb, he said: a Jew said to ʿUmar: if we, the community of the Jews, knew when this verse was sent down: This day I have perfected your religion for you and completed My favor upon you and approved Islam as a religion for you — if we knew that day, we would make that day a feast day. Then ʿUmar said: I know for certain the day on which it was sent down and the hour, and where the Messenger of Allah was when it was sent down; it was sent down on the night of Friday, while we were with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ at ʿArafāt. The wording of the narration is that of Abū Kurayb, and the narration of Ibn Wakīʿ is the like of it.
— Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Jaʿfar ibn ʿAwn related to us, on the authority of Abū al-ʿUmays, on the authority of Qays ibn Muslim, on the authority of Ṭāriq, on the authority of ʿUmar, the like of it.
8720 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Ḥammād ibn Salama, on the authority of ʿAmmār, the freedman of Banū Hāshim, he said: Ibn ʿAbbās recited: This day I have perfected your religion for you, and with him was a man of the People of the Book (ahl al-kitāb), who said: if we knew on which day this verse was sent down, we would make it a feast day. Then Ibn ʿAbbās said: it was sent down on the day of ʿArafa, on a Friday.
— Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Qabīṣa related to us, saying: Ḥammād ibn Salama related to us, on the authority of ʿAmmār: that Ibn ʿAbbās recited: This day I have perfected your religion for you and completed My favor upon you and approved Islam as a religion for you, whereupon a Jew said: if this verse had been sent down upon us, we would make its day a feast day. Then Ibn ʿAbbās said: it was sent down on a day of two feasts: a feast day and a Friday.
— Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: al-Ḥajjāj ibn al-Minhāl related to us, saying: Ḥammād related to us, on the authority of ʿAmmār ibn Abī ʿAmmār, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the like of it.
— Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Rajāʾ ibn Abī Salama related to us, saying: ʿUbāda ibn Nusayy informed us, saying: our emir Isḥāq related to us — Abū Jaʿfar said: Isḥāq is Ibn Kharasha — on the authority of Qabīṣa, he said: Kaʿb said: if this verse had been sent down upon a community other than this one, they would have looked to the day on which it was sent down upon them and made it a feast day on which they gather. Then ʿUmar said: which verse, O Kaʿb? He said: This day I have perfected your religion for you. Then ʿUmar said: I know for certain the day on which it was sent down, and the place where it was sent down: a Friday and the day of ʿArafa, and both are — praise be to Allah — for us a feast day.
— Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAnbasa, on the authority of ʿĪsā ibn Ḥāritha al-Anṣārī, he said: we were sitting in the registry office (al-dīwān), when a Christian said to us: O people of Islam, there has been sent down upon you a verse that, if it had been sent down upon us, we would make that day and that hour a feast day, as long as there are two of us remaining: This day I have perfected your religion for you. None of us answered him, whereupon I met Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī and asked him about that. He said: would that you had answered him! And he said: ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb has said: it was sent down upon the Prophet ﷺ while he stood on the mountain on the day of ʿArafa, and that day will continue forever to be a feast day for the Muslims, as long as one of them remains.
8721 — Ḥumayd ibn Masʿada related to us, saying: Bishr ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of ʿĀmir, he said: there was sent down upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: This day I have perfected your religion for you and completed My favor upon you and approved Islam as a religion for you on the eve of ʿArafa, while he was at the standing-place (al-mawqif).
8722 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, saying: Dāwūd related to us, saying: I said to ʿĀmir: the Jews say: how is it that the Arabs have not remembered this day on which Allah perfected their religion for them? Then ʿĀmir said: have you then not remembered it? I said to him: which day then? He said: the day of ʿArafa; Allah sent it down on the day of ʿArafa.
8723 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: it has reached us that it was sent down on the day of ʿArafa, and it coincided with a Friday.
8724 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Ḥabīb, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of ʿIkrima: that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb said: Sūrat al-Māʾida was sent down on the day of ʿArafa, and it coincided with a Friday.
8725 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Ibn ʿUyayna informed us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Shahr ibn Ḥawshab, he said: Sūrat al-Māʾida was sent down upon the Prophet ﷺ while he was standing at ʿArafa on his riding-camel, and it sank down by its foreleg because of the weight.
8726 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Shahr ibn Ḥawshab, on the authority of Asmāʾ bint Yazīd, she said: Sūrat al-Māʾida was sent down in its entirety while I was holding the rein of the camel of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, al-ʿAḍbāʾ; she said: and the camel almost broke the foreleg of the camel by its weight.
8727 — Abū ʿĀmir Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAmr al-Sakūnī related to me, saying: Hishām ibn ʿAmmār related to us, saying: Ibn ʿAyyāsh related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Qays al-Sakūnī related to us, that he heard Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān on the pulpit reciting this verse: This day I have perfected your religion for you until he completed it, and he said: it was sent down on the day of ʿArafa, on a Friday.
Others said: rather, this verse, I mean His word This day I have perfected your religion for you, was sent down on a Monday; and they said: Sūrat al-Māʾida was sent down at Medina. The mention of who said that:
8728 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Ḥarb informed us, saying: Ibn Lahīʿa related to us, on the authority of Khālid ibn Abī ʿImrān, on the authority of Ḥanash, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: your Prophet ﷺ was born on a Monday, and he left Mecca on a Monday, and he entered Medina on a Monday, and Sūrat al-Māʾida was sent down on a Monday This day I have perfected your religion for you, and the mention (of the Prophet) was raised on a Monday.
8729 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: al-Ḥajjāj ibn al-Minhāl related to us, saying: Hammām related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: al-Māʾida is Medinan.
Others said: it was sent down upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ during his march in the Farewell Pilgrimage. The mention of who said that:
8730 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, he said: Sūrat al-Māʾida was sent down upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ during the march in the Farewell Pilgrimage, while he was sitting upon his riding-camel, and his riding-camel knelt down with him because of her weight.
Others said: that is not a day known among the people; the meaning of it is rather: the day which I know, and not My creation — this day I have perfected your religion for you. The mention of who said that:
8731 — 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: This day I have perfected your religion for you, he says: it is not a known day that the people know.
And the most correct of the statements about the time of the sending down of the verse is the statement that has been related from ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, that it was sent down on the day of ʿArafa, on a Friday, on account of the soundness of its chain of transmission (isnād) and the weakness of the other chains.
Whoever is then driven by hunger in a state of starvation
The explanation of His word, the Exalted: Whoever is then driven by hunger in a state of starvation (makhmaṣa). He, exalted is His mention, means by His word: Whoever is then driven by hunger: whoever is then afflicted by need in a state of makhmaṣa, that is to say in a famine. It is a mafʿala form like al-majbana (cowardice), al-mabkhala (miserliness) and al-manjaba (the begetting of noble children), derived from khamṣ al-baṭn, which is the shrinking of it; and I suppose that by it in this place the shrinking of it by hunger and the severity of starvation is meant. And it may in another place be the shrinking that does not come from hunger and starvation, but by nature, as Nābigha of Banū Dhubyān said in the description of a woman with a shrunken belly: "And the belly, with skin-folds, shrunken and supple, and the breast thrusts forward with a firm nipple." It is known that by his word "shrunken" he did not mean to describe her with leanness and need from hunger, but he meant to describe her with the fineness of the folding of what lay over her hips and thighs of her body; for that belongs to what is praised in women. But as for the meaning of the description with the shrinking and the leanness from need, from it comes the verse of Aʿshā of Banū Thaʿlaba: "You spend the winter with your bellies filled, while your neighbor-women spend the night hungry, shrunken." He means by it: they spend the night with bellies that are shrunken from hunger and starvation and need. And in this meaning is His word: in a makhmaṣa. And some grammarians of Basra said: al-makhmaṣa is the verbal noun (maṣdar) of khamaṣa-hu al-jūʿ (hunger made it shrink). And another of the scholars of the Arabic language was of the opinion that it is a noun for the verbal noun and not a verbal noun; therefore the mafʿala occurs among the verbal nouns as a noun for both the feminine and the masculine. And in the sense of what we have said on this, the people of exegesis have also spoken. The mention of who said that:
8732 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of (Ibn) ʿAbbās: Whoever is then driven by hunger in a state of starvation, that is to say: in a famine.
8733 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, his word: Whoever is then driven by hunger in a state of starvation, that is to say: in a famine.
— Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, the like of it.
8734 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad [related to us] [here the text breaks off].
