Tafseer of The Cattle · Al-An'aam · 6:146
And to those who are Jews We prohibited every animal of uncloven hoof; and of the cattle and the sheep We prohibited to them their fat, except what adheres to their backs or the entrails or what is joined with bone. [By] that We repaid them for their injustice. And indeed, We are truthful.
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: وَعَلَى الَّذِينَ هَادُوا حَرَّمْنَا كُلَّ ذِي ظُفُرٍ ("And to those who are Jews We forbade every animal having claws") (6:146).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is sublime, says: And We forbade to the Jews = "everything that has claws," and those are, among livestock and birds, the ones that do not have split toes, such as the camel, the ostrich, the goose, and the duck.
* * *
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of those who said that:
14092 – Al-Muthannā and ʿAlī ibn Dāwūd related to me, both saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement: (And to those who are Jews We forbade every animal having claws), and that is the camel and the ostrich.
14093 – 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: (And to those who are Jews We forbade every animal having claws), he said: The camel and the ostrich and animals of that kind.
14094 – Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Ādam related to us, on the authority of Sharīk, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Saʿīd: (And to those who are Jews We forbade every animal having claws), he said: That is what does not have split toes.
14095 – ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Azdī related to me, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Sharīk, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning His statement: (And to those who are Jews We forbade every animal having claws), he said: Everything whose toes are joined together (not split), and the rooster belongs to that as well.
14096 – 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, he said: (Everything that has claws), the ostrich and the camel.
14097 – Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, the same.
14098 – Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement: (And to those who are Jews We forbade every animal having claws), they used to say: The camel and the ostrich and what resembles them of birds and fish.
14098 – Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, saying: Maʿmar related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: (Everything that has claws), he said: The camels and the ostriches; the claw of the hand and of the leg of the camel, and the ostrich is likewise so; and He also forbade them, among birds, the duck and what resembles it, and everything whose toes are not split.
14099 – 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: "As for everything that has claws," those are the camels and the ostriches.
14100 – Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, saying: A shaykh related to us, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His statement: (And to those who are Jews We forbade every animal having claws), he said: The ostrich and the camel, "split for split" (shaqqan shaqqan). He (the narrator) said: I asked: "What does 'split for split' mean?" He said: Everything whose feet are not split, the Jews did not eat that, such as the camel and the ostrich. But chickens and sparrows the Jews did eat, because those are indeed split.
14101 – 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 Mujāhid: (Everything that has claws), he said: The ostrich and the camel, "split for split." I said to al-Qāsim ibn Abī Bazza — and he related it to me —: What does "split for split" mean? He said: Everything whose feet, among livestock, are not split. He said: And what is split, that the Jews ate. He said: The feet of the chickens and the sparrows are split, so the Jews eat them. He said: But the foot of the camel — its footpad — is not split, nor is the footpad of the ostrich, nor the foot of the goose; so the Jews do not eat camels, nor ostriches, nor geese, nor any animal whose foot is not split. And likewise they do not eat the wild ass.
* * *
And Ibn Zayd said concerning that what:-
14102 – Yūnus related to me concerning that, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement: (And to those who are Jews We forbade every animal having claws), the camels, nothing else.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The more correct of the two statements concerning this is the statement that we have mentioned on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās and those who spoke as he did; for Allah, whose praise is sublime, has informed that He forbade to the Jews everything that has claws. It is therefore not permissible to except anything from the generality of this report, except that which the scholars are agreed is excepted from it. Since that is so, and since the ostrich and everything among livestock and birds that has a claw with un-split toes falls within the literal meaning of the revelation, it is obligatory to judge that it falls within the report, since no report has come from Allah nor from His Messenger that any part of it does not fall within the verse, while the overwhelming majority of the community is agreed that it falls within it.
* * *
The discourse on the explanation of His statement: وَمِنَ الْبَقَرِ وَالْغَنَمِ حَرَّمْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ شُحُومَهُمَا إِلا مَا حَمَلَتْ ظُهُورُهُمَا ("And of the cattle and the small livestock We forbade them the fat thereof, except what their backs carry") (6:146).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The exegetes differed concerning "the fat" of which Allah, whose praise is sublime, informed that He forbade it to the Jews from the cattle and the small livestock.
Some of them said: That is exclusively the fat of the caul/peritoneum (thurūb).
* Mention of those who said that:
14103 – Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: (And of the cattle and the small livestock We forbade them the fat thereof), the caul-fat. We were told that the Prophet of Allah, may Allah's blessings and peace be upon him, used to say: May Allah fight the Jews! Allah forbade them the caul-fat, and then they sold it and ate its proceeds!
* * *
And others said: No, that was rather all the fat that was not mixed with bone or that was not upon bone.
* Mention of those who said that:
14104 – Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, saying: Ibn Jurayj said concerning His statement: (We forbade them the fat thereof), he said: He only forbade them the caul-fat and all the fat that was like that, that was not upon bone.
* * *
And others said: No, that is the fat of the caul/peritoneum and the kidneys.
* Mention of those who said that:
14105 – Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His statement: (We forbade them the fat thereof), he said: The caul-fat and the fat of the kidneys. And the Jews said: Israel (Jacob) only forbade it to himself, so we forbid it.
14106 – Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement: (We forbade them the fat thereof), he said: He only forbade them the caul-fat and the kidneys = thus it stands in my note on the authority of Yūnus, and I suspect that it is "the kidneys" (al-kulā).
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct view concerning this is to say: Allah informed that He forbade to the Jews, from the cattle and the small livestock, the fat thereof, except what He excepted of it, namely what their backs carry, or the entrails (al-ḥawāyā), or what is mixed with bone. So all the fat, except what Allah excepted in His Book, of the cattle and the small livestock, was forbidden to them.
And along these lines the reports on the authority of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah's blessings and peace be upon him, are in agreement, and that is his statement: "May Allah fight the Jews! The fat was forbidden to them, so they rendered it down, sold it, and ate its proceeds."
* * *
And as for His statement: (except what their backs carry), by it He means: except the fat of the flank and what is attached to the back, for that was not forbidden to them.
* * *
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of those who said that:
14107 – 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: (except what their backs carry), that is to say: the fat that is attached to the back.
14108 – Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: As for "what their backs carry," those are the fat-tails (of the sheep).
14108m – Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Abū Usāma related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, he said: The fat-tail belongs to what their backs carry.
* * *
The discourse on the explanation of His statement: أَوِ الْحَوَايَا ("or the entrails") (6:146).
Abū Jaʿfar said: And "al-ḥawāyā" is a plural, whose singular is "ḥāwiyāʾ," "ḥāwiya," and "ḥawiyya"; and that is what is coiled up of the belly, gathered together and curved round, and those are the "bint al-laban" (the small intestines), and those are the "mabāʿir" (intestines/entrails), and they are also called "marābiḍ," and in them are the entrails.
* * *
And the meaning of the statement is: and of the cattle and the small livestock We forbade them the fat thereof, except what their backs carry, or what the entrails carry. So "al-ḥawāyā" is in the nominative (rafʿ), connected to "the backs," and the particle "mā" that comes after "illā" (except) is in the accusative (naṣb) as an exception to "the fat."
* * *
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of those who said that:
14109 – Al-Muthannā related to me, 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: (or the entrails), and that is the gut (al-mabʿar).
14110 – 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 statement of Allah: (or the entrails), he said: The gut.
14111 – 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: "al-ḥawāyā," the gut and the marbaḍ.
14112 – Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Abū Usāma related to us, on the authority of Shibl, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: (or the entrails), he said: The gut.
14113 – Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: (or the entrails), he said: The guts.
14114 – Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Ādam related to us, on the authority of Sharīk, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: (or the entrails), he said: The guts.
14115 – Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: (or the entrails), he said: The gut.
14116 – Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: (or the entrails), he said: The gut.
14117 – Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Abū Usāma and al-Muḥāribī related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, he said: The gut.
14118 – It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His statement: (or the entrails), by it he means: the bellies, except the caul-fat.
14119 – 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, concerning His statement: (or the entrails), that is the gut.
14120 – 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: (or the entrails), he said: The guts.
* * *
And Ibn Zayd said concerning that what:-
14121 – Yūnus related to me concerning that, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement: (or the entrails), he said: "al-ḥawāyā," those are the marābiḍ in which the entrails are located, which are situated in the middle of them, and those are the "bint al-laban," and in the speech of the Arabs they are called "al-marābiḍ."
* * *
The discourse on the explanation of His statement: أَوْ مَا اخْتَلَطَ بِعَظْمٍ ("or what is mixed with bone") (6:146).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose mention is sublime, says: And of the cattle and the small livestock We forbade to those who are Jews the fat thereof, except what their backs carry, or what their entrails carry — for that We have made lawful to them — and except what is mixed with bone, for that too is lawful for them.
* * *
So His statement: (or what is mixed with bone) is referred back to His statement: إِلا مَا حَمَلَتْ ظُهُورُهُمَا (except what their backs carry). So the particle "mā" in His statement: (or what is mixed with bone) is in the accusative, connected to the "mā" in His statement: إِلا مَا حَمَلَتْ ظُهُورُهُمَا (except what their backs carry).
* * *
And by His statement: (or what is mixed with bone) He meant the fat of the fat-tail and the flank, and what resembles that, as:-
14122 – Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj: (or what is mixed with bone), he said: The fat of the fat-tail at the tailbone, that is lawful. And everything in the feet, the flank, the head, and the eye that is mixed with bone, that is lawful.
14123 – 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: (or what is mixed with bone), namely what of fat was upon bone.
* * *
The discourse on the explanation of His statement: ذَلِكَ جَزَيْنَاهُمْ بِبَغْيِهِمْ وَإِنَّا لَصَادِقُونَ ("That We repaid them for their insolence, and We are surely truthful") (6:146).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose mention is sublime, says: This which We forbade to those who are Jews of livestock and birds with un-split claws, and of the cattle and the small livestock what We forbade them of the fat thereof — that which We have named in this verse — We forbade to them as a punishment from Our part to them and as a recompense for their evil deeds and their insolence (baghy) against their Lord, as:-
14124 – Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: (That We repaid them for their insolence, and We are surely truthful), He only forbade them that as a punishment because of their insolence.
14125 – Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement: (That We repaid them for their insolence), We did that to them because of their insolence.
* * *
And His statement: (and We are surely truthful), He says: And we are surely truthful in this report of Ours concerning these Jews, regarding what We forbade them of the fat and the flesh of the livestock and the birds of which we have mentioned that We forbade it to them, and likewise in all the rest of Our reports; while they are the liars in their claim that Israel (Jacob) only forbade it to himself, and that they only forbade it because of the fact that Israel forbade it to himself.
