Tafseer of The Table · Al-Maaida · 5:90
O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to other than Allah], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful.
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 statement: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنَّمَا الْخَمْرُ وَالْمَيْسِرُ وَالأَنْصَابُ وَالأَزْلامُ رِجْسٌ مِنْ عَمَلِ الشَّيْطَانِ فَاجْتَنِبُوهُ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ (90) (O you who believe, indeed wine (khamr), gambling (maysir), the sacrificial stones (anṣāb), and the divining arrows (azlām) are an abomination from the work of Satan; so avoid it, that you may be successful.) (90)
Abū Jaʿfar said: This is a clarification from Allah, exalted is His mention, addressed to those among the companions of the Prophet ﷺ who had forbidden to themselves women, sleep, and meat, imitating therein the priests and monks. Then Allah revealed concerning them to His Prophet ﷺ His Book, in which He forbade them this, and said: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لا تُحَرِّمُوا طَيِّبَاتِ مَا أَحَلَّ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ [Surah Al-Māʾidah: 87] (O you who believe, do not forbid the good things that Allah has made lawful for you).
By this He forbade them from forbidding what Allah had made lawful for them of good things. Then He said: and do not transgress My limits either, by making lawful what I have forbidden you, for that is not lawful for you, just as it is not lawful for you to forbid what I have made lawful; indeed, I do not love the transgressors. Then He informed them about that which He had forbidden them, regarding which, were they to make it lawful and venture upon it, they would be among the transgressors of His limits. He said to them: O you who have believed in Allah and His Messenger, indeed the wine (khamr) that you drink, the gambling (maysir) that you play with one another, the sacrificial stones (anṣāb) at which you slaughter, and the divining arrows (azlām) by which you seek the verdict of fortune — that is "rijs," that is to say: sin and filth that Allah abhors and that He detests for you — "from the work of Satan," that is to say: your drinking of wine, your gambling for the slaughtered camels, your slaughtering for the sacrificial stones, and your consulting of fortune by the divining arrows, that belongs to Satan's beautification of it for you, and his urging of you toward it, and his making it seem fair to you; it does not belong to the deeds to which your Lord has urged you, nor to that which pleases Him for you, but rather it belongs to that which angers Him concerning you — "so avoid it," that is to say: abandon it, reject it, and do not do it — "that you may be successful," that is to say: that you may prosper and attain salvation with your Lord by your abandoning that.
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We have already previously expounded the meaning of "khamr," "maysir," and "azlām," and we deemed it undesirable to repeat this.
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As for "al-anṣāb," that is the plural of "nuṣub," and we have already previously expounded the meaning of "al-nuṣub" with its evidentiary citations.
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And it has been narrated from Ibn ʿAbbās concerning the meaning of "al-rijs" in this place, the following:
12510 - Al-Muthannā related this to me, he said: ʿAbdallāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement: "an abomination from the work of Satan," he said: it is something that is abhorred (sakhaṭ).
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And Ibn Zayd said concerning that the following:
12511 - Yūnus related this to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement: "an abomination from the work of Satan," he said: "al-rijs," that is evil (al-sharr).
