Tafseer of The Cattle · Al-An'aam · 6:151
Say, "Come, I will recite what your Lord has prohibited to you. [He commands] that you not associate anything with Him, and to parents, good treatment, and do not kill your children out of poverty; We will provide for you and them. And do not approach immoralities - what is apparent of them and what is concealed. And do not kill the soul which Allah has forbidden [to be killed] except by [legal] right. This has He instructed you that you may use reason."
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of His word: قُلْ تَعَالَوْا أَتْلُ مَا حَرَّمَ رَبُّكُمْ عَلَيْكُمْ أَلا تُشْرِكُوا بِهِ شَيْئًا وَبِالْوَالِدَيْنِ إِحْسَانًا ("Say: Come, I will recite what your Lord has forbidden you: that you associate nothing with Him, and goodness towards the parents") (6:151).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: Say, O Muḥammad, to these who set up idols and images as equals to their Lord, who claim that Allah has forbidden them that which they themselves declare forbidden of their crops and their cattle — in accordance with what I have communicated to you in My revelation to you: Come, O people, and I will recite to you what your Lord has truly and with certainty forbidden, not the falsehood through fabrication — your fabrication by which you ascribe to Allah the lie and the invention out of mere conjecture — but as a revelation from Allah which He has revealed to me, and a sending-down which He has sent down to me: namely that you associate with Allah nothing of His creation as partners, that you do not set up idols and images as equals to Him, and that you worship nothing besides Him. وبالوالدين إحسانًا ("and goodness towards the parents"), He says: and He has enjoined goodness towards the parents — where "He has enjoined" and "He has commanded" have been omitted, because the statement points to it and the listener knows its meaning. We have already explained that with its supporting evidences in what preceded in this book.
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As for the word "an" (أن) in His word أن لا تشركوا به شيئًا ("that you associate nothing with Him"): this is in the nominative (rafʿ), for the meaning of the statement is: "Say: Come, I will recite what your Lord has forbidden you, namely that you associate nothing with Him."
And when that is the meaning, then for His word تشركوا ("you associate") there are two possibilities:
= The jussive (jazm) on the basis of prohibition, where "lā" (لا) is taken in the sense of prohibition.
= And the accusative (naṣb), by taking the statement as an assertion, where "tushrikū" is in the accusative through "an lā" (أن لا), as one says: "I commanded you that you not stand" (amartuka an lā taqūma).
And if you wish, you may place "an" (أن) in the position of the accusative, as a reference to "mā" (ما) and as an explanation of it; and then for His word تشركوا likewise one of the two forms of conjugation applies, like that which applied before it. And "an" then stands in the position of the nominative.
The import of the statement is then: "Say: Come, I will recite what your Lord has forbidden you; I will recite that you associate nothing with Him."
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If someone were to say: How is it permissible for His word تشركوا to be in the accusative through "an lā", or how is it permissible to take His word "allā tushrikū bihi" ("that you associate nothing with Him") in the sense of an assertion, while it is followed by His word وَلا تَقْتُلُوا أَوْلادَكُمْ مِنْ إِمْلاقٍ ("and do not kill your children out of poverty") and what comes after it, which is in the jussive of prohibition? Then the answer is: that is permissible, just as the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, has said: قُلْ إِنِّي أُمِرْتُ أَنْ أَكُونَ أَوَّلَ مَنْ أَسْلَمَ ("Say: Indeed I have been commanded to be the first who submits"), where He made "an akūna" an assertion and "an" a noun, and then followed it with وَلا تَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ ("and do not be one of the polytheists") [Sūra al-Anʿām: 14]. And as the poet said:
"He performed the pilgrimage and commanded the slaves (al-aʿbud) concerning Sulaymā, that she should see no one nor speak with anyone, and that her drink should remain continuously cooled."
Here he made his word "an lā tarā" ("that she should not see") an assertion, and then followed it with the prohibition and said: "wa-lā tukallim" ("and do not speak") and "wa-lā yazal" ("and may not cease").
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The explanation of His word: وَلا تَقْتُلُوا أَوْلادَكُمْ مِنْ إِمْلاقٍ نَحْنُ نَرْزُقُكُمْ وَإِيَّاهُمْ ("and do not kill your children out of poverty; We provide for you and for them") (6:151).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, means by His word ولا تقتلوا أولادكم من إملاق ("and do not kill your children out of poverty"): do not bury your children alive and do not kill them out of fear of poverty for yourselves on account of their maintenance, for it is Allah who provides for you and for them; their maintenance does not rest upon you, such that by their staying alive you would fear for yourselves the inability to provide for their maintenance and their needs of life.
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And "al-imlāq" (الإملاق) is a verbal noun, derived from the saying: "I have run out of provision, so I run out of provision, with imlāq" (amlaqtu mina al-zād, fa-anā umliqu imlāqan), and that is when a person's provision runs out, his money is gone, and he goes bankrupt.
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And in accordance with what we have said about it, the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
14135 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word ولا تقتلوا أولادكم من إملاق ("and do not kill your children out of poverty"): "al-imlāq" is poverty; they killed their children out of fear of poverty.
14136 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word ولا تقتلوا أولادكم من إملاق ("and do not kill your children out of poverty"): that is, out of fear of want.
14137 — 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: ولا تقتلوا أولادكم من إملاق ("and do not kill your children out of poverty"), he said: "al-imlāq" is poverty.
14138 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, saying: Ibn Jurayj said concerning His word من إملاق ("out of poverty"), he said: it is their devils who command them to bury their children alive out of fear of want.
14139 — 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, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning His word من إملاق ("out of poverty"): that is, out of fear of poverty.
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The explanation of His word: وَلا تَقْرَبُوا الْفَوَاحِشَ مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا وَمَا بَطَنَ ("and do not approach the immoralities, the open of them nor the hidden") (6:151).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: do not approach the open of the matters that are forbidden to you, which occur openly among you and the committing of which you do not mutually reprove, nor the hidden of them which you commit secretly in concealment and which you do not flaunt openly, for all of that is forbidden.
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And it has been said: it was only said "do not approach the open of the immoralities, nor the hidden," because they reproved some meanings of fornication (zinā) [and not others].
And what they have said about it is not to be rejected, except that the outward indication of the revelation points to the prohibition of both the open and the hidden of every immorality, and there is no report that cuts off the excuse by stating that a part and not the whole is intended by it. And it is not permissible to bend the outward meaning of the Book of Allah towards a hidden meaning, except on the basis of a proof to which one must submit.
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* Mention of who said what we have mentioned of the statement of him who says: the verse is specific in meaning:
14140 — 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: ولا تقربوا الفواحش ما ظهر منها وما بطن ("and do not approach the immoralities, the open of them nor the hidden"): as for "the open of them," those are the fornicating women of the brothels (zawānī al-ḥawānīt), and as for "the hidden," that is what remains concealed.
14141 — 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, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning His word ولا تقربوا الفواحش ما ظهر منها وما بطن ("and do not approach the immoralities, the open of them nor the hidden"): the people of the pre-Islamic age (al-jāhiliyya) committed fornication in secret and regarded that as permissible so long as it was concealed. Then Allah forbade both the secret and the open of it. ما ظهر منها ("the open of them"), that means: the public; وما بطن ("nor the hidden"), that means: the secret.
14142 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word ولا تقربوا الفواحش ما ظهر منها وما بطن ("and do not approach the immoralities, the open of them nor the hidden"), he said: in the pre-Islamic age they saw no harm in fornication in secret, but reproved it in public; then Allah forbade fornication in secret and in public.
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And others have said about it the same as what we have said about it.
* Mention of who said that:
14143 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: ولا تقربوا الفواحش ما ظهر منها وما بطن ("and do not approach the immoralities, the open of them nor the hidden"): the secret of it and the public of it.
14144 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, something similar.
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And others have said: "the open" is marriage with the mothers and with the wives of the fathers, and "the hidden" is fornication.
* Mention of who said that:
14145 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Khuṣayf, on the authority of Mujāhid: ولا تقربوا الفواحش ما ظهر منها وما بطن ("and do not approach the immoralities, the open of them nor the hidden"), he said: "the open" is the joining of two sisters [in marriage] and that a man should marry after him [the father] the wife of his father; "the hidden" is fornication.
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And others have said about it what follows:
14146 — Isḥāq ibn Ziyād al-ʿAṭṭār al-Naṣrī related to me, saying: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq al-Balkhī related to us, saying: Tamīm ibn Shākir al-Bāhilī related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā ibn Abī Ḥafṣa, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word ولا تقربوا الفواحش ما ظهر منها وما بطن ("and do not approach the immoralities, the open of them nor the hidden"), he said: "the open" is wine, "the hidden" is fornication.
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The explanation of His word: وَلا تَقْتُلُوا النَّفْسَ الَّتِي حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ إِلا بِالْحَقِّ ذَلِكُمْ وَصَّاكُمْ بِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ ("and do not kill the soul which Allah has forbidden, except by right; that He has enjoined upon you, that you may understand") (6:151).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: قُلْ تَعَالَوْا أَتْلُ مَا حَرَّمَ رَبُّكُمْ عَلَيْكُمْ أَلا تُشْرِكُوا بِهِ شَيْئًا ("Say: Come, I will recite what your Lord has forbidden you: that you associate nothing with Him"), ولا تقتلوا النفس التي حرم الله إلا بالحق ("and do not kill the soul which Allah has forbidden, except by right"): by the soul whose killing Allah has forbidden He means the soul of a believer or of one with whom a covenant exists (muʿāhid). And His word إلا بالحق ("except by right") means: except for that by which He has permitted its killing: namely that it kills a soul and is killed for it in retaliation (qawad), or that it commits fornication while being married (muḥṣana) and is therefore stoned, or that it apostatizes from its true religion and is therefore killed. That, then, is "the right" by which Allah, exalted is His praise, has permitted the killing of the soul whose killing He had forbidden for the believers. ذلكم ("that"), that is to say: these matters which our Lord has charged us, that we should not commit them nor neglect them — these are the matters which He has enjoined upon us and upon the unbelievers that we should act upon them together. لعلكم تعقلون ("that you may understand"), He says: He has enjoined that upon you so that you may understand what your Lord has enjoined upon you.