Surah Al-Ma'idah 5:1-5 - Quran Translation Commentary

1. O you who believe! Fulfil the obligations (of the Shariah). Animals,¹ of the cattle kind, have been made lawful for you² (as food), except those about which you are being informed herein³; game⁴ hunting being unlawful when you are in state of ‘Ihram’⁵. Verily, Allah ordains whatever He pleases.⁶

2. O you who believe ! Violate not the Sanctity of the symbols⁷ of Allah, nor of the sacred month⁸, nor of the animals of sacrifice, nor of the animals having symbolic collars of sacrifice around their necks⁹, nor of the people proceeding to Sacred House (Ka’ba) seeking the grace and pleasure of their Lord¹⁰. And when you have put off ‘Ihram’ (pilgrim garb), you may go hunting. And let not your enmity of a people, who (once) stopped you from going to the Sacred Mosque¹¹ incite you to commit excesses¹². Help one another in righteousness and piety, and help not one another in sin and aggression¹³. Fear Allah. Verily, Allah is severe in punishment¹⁴.

3. Forbidden to you are: Carrion¹⁵, blood,¹⁶ the flesh of swine¹⁷, and that (animal) on which is invoked the name of other than Allah¹⁸, that which has been killed by strangling¹⁹, or by a violent blow²⁰, or by fall²¹, or by being gored to death²², that which has been (partly) eaten by a wild animal²³ unless you are able to slaughter it duly²⁴, and that which is sacrificed on stone²⁵ (altars). (Forbidden) also is the seeking of omen by means of arrows²⁶; that is impiety.Today²⁷ the disbelievers have despaired of (abolishing) your religion, so fear them not and fear Me²⁸. Today²⁹ I have perfected your religion³⁰ for you and completed My favour upon you³¹,and am pleased with Islam for you as your religion³². So whoever is forced by hunger, (and eats any of the forbidden things), not inclining to sin, then Allah is indeed Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful

4. They ask you what is lawful for them (as food); say: “Lawful to you are all clean and pure things;³⁴ and what you have taught your trained hunting animals³⁵ ³⁶ (to catch) as Allah has taught you;³⁷ eat what they catch for you,³⁸ but pronounce the name of Allah over it;³⁹ and fear Allah.⁴⁰” Verily Allah is swift in taking account.

5. This day the things that are clean and pure are made lawful for you⁴¹. The food of the people of the Book is lawful⁴² for you and your food is lawful for them⁴³. And so are the chaste women of the believers and the chaste women of those who were given the Book before you⁴⁴ (lawful for you) when you give them their due dowers and desire to take them in honoured wedlock, not for fornicating nor as secret paramours. Whoever denies faith after first accepting it, his work is in vain⁴⁵, and he will be among the losers in the Hereafter⁴⁶.

Commentary

1. Since this is the last Surah concerning the revelation of the commands of the Shariah, it begins with the direction: Fulfil the obligations of the Shariah, as if this is the last covenant that is being taken from the people of the Faith, so that they may observe all the restrictions and checks imposed by the Shariah scrupulously and that they may not deviate from them a wee bit.

If after this, Muslims ignore the laws of the Shariah or disobey them or give preference to their self-made laws, then it is not only insubordination against this heavenly guidance that has been given to them for the last time, but also it is a breach of the covenant that they had entered into with their Lord, by declaring their belief in the Last prophet and the holy Book, Quran.

2. ‘An’am’(cattle) is the word used in Arabic for creatures like camel, cows, bulls, sheep and goats, and the word “bahima” (animals) is of a more general nature, and other four-footed animals are also covered by this word. So by the word ‘Bahimatul An’am the animals meant here are those grazing four-footed animals, which chew cud, do not have canine teeth, and are like cattle in their eating habits, etc., e.g. deer, neel-gai (wild cow), etc.

Have been made lawful means that eating of their flesh, drinking of their milk and utilizing of their skins, bones, etc. have been made permissible, therefore there should not be any hestitation or any uneasiness in eating their flesh on account of some superstition.

3. That is: Exempted from this lawfulness are those animals whose being forbidden has been mentioned earlier in Qur’an and which is being mentioned further in verse no. 3

4. Those who go for pilgrimage to the House of Ka ‘aba are required to observe certain restrictions concerning dress, etc. To accept these restrictions is called as to enter into a state of ‘Ihram’. For further explanation, please see note no.284. Surah Baqarah.

5. In the state of Ihram, that is while on pilgrimage hunting on land is forbidden. Its clarification is given in verse no.96.

6. That is: Allah has full authority to give command and the slaves have no right to question or grumble about any of his commands. The commands of Allah are based on justice but it is likely that for the purpose of testing men the real wisdom and justice behind a certain command has been kept hidden. Therefore, the correct and proper policy for men is to obey Allah without hesitation and without grumbling.

The absolute authority of giving commands vests in Allah. Therefore, a person who considers himself or some other personality or the people as the absolute authority for giving command (making laws), then such a person is really denying the fact that the absolute power and authority for making laws vests in Allah alone. and the whole attitude of such a person is out and out polytheistic and like that of an infidel.

7. For the explanation of symbols note no. 190, Surah Baqarah may please be referred too.

8. For the explanation of the Sacred months. Surah Baqarah. note no 269 may be seen.

9. The animals which were carried towards the House of Ka’aba for the purpose of sacrifice had round their necks collars (belts) in order that they might be recognized as such and nobody should interfere with them. These collars were generally made of the bark of trees and were put around the necks of cows and camels. Ordinarily goats were exempt from this. Thus there were two kinds of animals for sacrifice, one which had collars round their necks and others which had no collars. Here instructions have been given not to violate the sanctity of both the kinds of animals. The mention of the animals with collars is by way of emphasis, since there can be no excuse for interfering with them when the symbols of sacrifice is around their necks.

It may be noted that at that time the caravans of pilgrims used to pass by Madina and on account of the prevailing tension it was quite likely that Muslims might act in a way that would amount to disrespect to the divine symbols. Therefore, it was emphatically forbidden.

10. That is: people who are proceeding for pilgrimage for Hajj or Umra are worthy of being respected as they have undertaken this journey for seeking the grace and pleasure of Allah. To put obstruction in their path or to hinder them from proceeding on their journey or to harm them in any way is a grave sin.

The generality in this command was in keeping with the conditions obtaining at that time, because then the pilgrimage for Hajj was being undertaken not only by Muslims but also by other Arabs also, who used to converge from every corner of Arabia on to Makkah. When subsequently the verse no.28 of Surah “Taubah” was revealed.

which stated that the polytheists are unclean and they should not be allowed near the Sacred Mosque after this year, this command under comment came specifically to be applied to Muslim pilgrims only.

11. Refers to the infidels of Makkah who had prevented Muslims from undertaking Hajj or Umra at that time.

12. That is: Neither cross the limits of the Shariah nor indulge into any act contrary to justice and fairplay.

13. This is a great point of principle that has been stated in this verse. The course of action for Muslims should be that they should help each other and co-operate in acts of righteousness and piety, and should not help any person or co-operate with him in acts of sin and aggression. They should adopt this principled stance in every field ‘of action and practice, in whatever country they may be living, and their problems may be either religious or moral, political or international. Their collective action should be based on this principle and not on the diplomacy of the hypocritical type.

14. That is: If you do not fear Allah and do not act righteously, He will punish you severely.

15. The explanation about carrion is given in note no. 210, Surah Baqarah.

16. For explanation, note no. 211, Surah Baqarah may be seen.

17. For explanation, please see Surah Baqarah, note no. 212

18. For explanation, please see Surah Baqarah, note no. 213.

19. One form of strangling may be accidental, where the animal’s neck gets stuck up in something, resulting in its death, and the other form is by throttling the animal causing its death.

20. There can be many forms of death by a violent blow, e.g. death of the animal by blows with the stick, falling of the wall or the ceiling on the animal or its being a victim of car accident etc.

In the modern times a new method of slaughtering the animal is being practised. The animal is first made unconscious by giving it an electric shock, which is known as ‘stunning’. This shock is of a very weak power, which generally does not kill the animal. It merely becomes unconscious, and in this state of unconsciousness it is slaughtered. But if the shock is more powerful, then there is a likelihood that the animal may die before it is slaughtered and in such an event it would be considered to have died from a violent blow, because its death has been caused by the shock and not by slaughtering.

21. Such a death may be caused by falling in to a well or from a hill, etc.

22. That is: The animal may die by being wounded by the horns of another animal.

23. That is: Some wild animal might have eaten away a part of its body.

“As regards the unlawfulness of the remains of the animals, some part of which has been eaten away by the wild animals; in this matter the superiority of man has been kept in view, and he has been kept free and clear from eating the left over of the wild animals. The people of the pre- Islamic days used to eat the flesh of the dead camels, cow, etc. killed by the wild animals. But Allah has made the leftover of the animals killed and eaten by the wild animals unlawful (haram) for the Faithful.”- (Al-Halal Wal-Haram Fil Islam by Dr. Yusuf Al-Qarzawi page 66).

24. It shows that an animal becomes lawful for being eaten only up an being slaughtered. Slaughtering means to sever that much part of the neck, of the animal that the blood vessels are cut, and the blood from the body is drained out. In the killing of the animal by the “jhutka” method, the brain (head) is suddenly severed from the body, because of which blood from the body is not fully drained out, and remains within. Therefore the jhutka method is a non-Shariah method.

25. These altars were of the stones on which the polytheists used to kill their animals as sacrifices to propitiate their gods. Since these places were reserved for the offerings to other beings other than Allah; the animals slaughtered in these places were forbidden, irrespective of the fact whether the name of any being other than Allah has been invoked on it or not for its being unlawful, it was sufficient that it was slaughtered on these altars.

That is why after mentioning the unlawfulness of the animals on which the name of a being other than Allah has been invoked, there is the mention of the animals being slaughtered on the altars separately. The Divine command also applies to the sacrifices which are offered on the “astanas” or the mausoleums of the ‘Awlia’ (saints and sages) in order to seek their pleasure and propitiation. This command also refutes the claim of the ‘ahle bida’t’ (innovators) that it is lawful to nominate an animal for the “Niyaz” to be offered to a particular wali or saint and slaughtering of such an animal is lawful, if the name of Allah is invoked on it when slaughtering. This is a deviation from the clear command of the Qur’an, for Qur’an has not only declared forbidden that animal on which the name of another being has been invoked but it has also declared that animal as haram which is slaughtered on altars, irrespective of the fact whether on it the name of a being other than Allah has been invoked or not. The very fact that it is being slaughtered on a particular altar is the proof that it is being slaughtered with the specific purpose of pleasing and propitiating a being other than Allah. Therefore, how can that animal, which is being slaughtered to please and propitiate some wali or saint, or as an offering to some jinn. etc., be lawful? Polytheism is after all polytheism, whether it be in the form of idolatry or saint worship.

26. In the Arabia of the pre-Islamic days, it was customary to seek omens for forecasting the future. For this purpose the polytheists had kept three kinds of arrows on the altar of their god, Hubal. On one arrow was written: “Do this work”. On another it was “Don’t do it” And the third arrow was blank. On seeking the omen or drawing the lot, the polytheists used to act according to the arrow drawn. If the arrow drawn was blank, they used to draw the lots again. These arrows were used for gambling also Thus this drawing of the lots, was a great source of polytheism, superstion and gambling. and for these reasons it was declared as forbidden.

This command also applies to all those methods which lead to polytheism or superstition, whether for this purpose the arrow may be used or some other thing, or whether it is to trace a thief or to know the condition of a sick person. To use the method of drawing lots for acquiring knowledge of unseen matters is nothing else but superstition.

27. “Today” means the time or the period when these verses were revealed.

28. By despairing of the disbelievers is meant that now that the Shariah has been perfected and Islam has gained power, the enemies of Islam have no hope of preventing it from reaching the zenith of progress or of destroying it. Therefore there is no question of adopting a compromising attitude in obeying the commands of Shariah due to the fear of the disbelievers. Now that Islam has come into its own your task is to observe the Shariah commands, scrupulously and to adopt the Islamic laws without any compromise.

29. By ‘Today’ does not mean a particular day, but the time or the period in which the Shariah was completed.

This stage of perfection begins after the treaty of Hudaibiyah, i.e. from the month of Zil Qa’adah 06 A.H. and which lasted till the beginning of 11 A.H. At the time of the’ Hajjatul Wada’ (the last Hajj of the Prophet, Zil Hijjah 10 A.H.) it had reached the stage of perfection and the declaration of the perfection of the religion was made with full grandeur, and the manifestation of the veracity of this holy verse was made in such a way as if this verse was revealed on that very day. That is why the narrators have considered this verse to have been revealed on the day of the last Hajj; otherwise from the context it is clear that this verse is a part of the statement pertaining to the commands of lawful and unlawful (halal and haram) things, and it was revealed much before the Hajjatul Wada.

30. Perfecting the religion means that the palace of the religion has been completed. Now there are no gaps left and there is no room for any addition. Whatever guidance Allah had intended to give to mankind has been given, and whatever system of worship and obedience He wanted to reveal. has been revealed. Now this religion is to remain in this very form till the last day and for the nations of the world this is the only minaret of guidance.

This perfection of Islam is indicative of two realities: First: This religion covers all the aspects of life. From the cradle to the grave whatever guidance was necessary, and for the individual as well as social life whatever direction were needed have been provided in this religion. Therefore its followers should also try to be as noble and decent as this religion is that is they should follow its teachings sincerely without creating any divisions and distinctions they should lead their individual and social life in its light and should try to fulfil all its demands.

The second reality is that when the religion is perfected the series of prophethood has been ended because after the perfection of the reli- gion, and when the provision has been made for its preservation till the last day, there remains no need for a new prophet to appear in the world. Therefore prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) has been called the last link in the chain of prophets and the holy Qur’an the last Divine Book. This reality has been mentioned in the hadith that his prophethood is the last brick in the edifice of the religion:

“It is narrated by Abu Hurairah (R) that the messenger of Allah (Sallal lahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) said: ‘My example and that of the other prophets is like that of a man who has built a beautiful and magnificent house, but in a corner left a place vacant for a brick, people used to go round it and wondered at its beauty, however (seeing the vacant place) used to say: what is the matter, a brick has not been placed here !’ The prophet said: ‘I am that brick and I am the last of the prophets”

31. That is: The perfection of religion is the completion or perfection of blessings and bounties for you, for a perfect and comprehensive Shariah has opened up for you countless vistas of the real progress in every section of life and it has provided for you such an exquisite garden that the sweet and balmy fragrance of its every flower will exhilarate your very soul.

32. This is the last declaration of Allah about Islam’s being the only desired religion. otherwise this contention has been stated in different ways at different places in the Qur’an. e.g. in Surah Ali- Imran it is stated with:

‘‘ Allah the real religion is Islam’’ (Al-i-Imran Verse No.19),

‘‘Adopting a religion other than Islam is not acceptable, and the person doing so, will be the loser.’’ (Al-i-Imran – 85).

Here with the declaration of the perfection of the religion there is also the mention of Islam’s being the desired religion as if this is the last. warning from Allah that if after the manifestation of Islam as a perfect religion people would contiue to adhere to other religions. then they themselves would be responsible for their straying. After the sunrise, flickering lamps become useless. But then a person loves his lamp so madly that he does not like even to look at the sunlight, then prejudiced attitude of his would go against him, and he will gain nothing except depravity.

33. That is: In the holy Shariah, extenuating circumstances have not been overlooked, and taking them into consideration concessions have been allowed. So in connection with the unlawfulness of the things mentioned here, permission is here granted to a person who is really starving to death to eat any of the unlawful things to the extent of his needs to save his life and in so doing he would not be considered a sinner. But it should be noted that any person who would try to take undue advantage of this concession, would be considered guilty.

And remember Allah’s favour on you, and His Covenant by which He bound you when you said: We have heard and we obeyed.’And fear Allah.Verily, Allah knows what is in men’s breasts (hearts ). (Al-Quran)

34. By clean and pure things (tayyebat) are meant all those things which have not been declared as haram or unlawful by the Shariah and which man’s healthy nature also does not consider filthy.

The question was regarding animals and from the answer given it becomes clear that it is neither right to be independent of the restrictions imposed by the Shariah nor is it proper to abstain from eating animal flesh due to superstition. The right thing for man is to give due consideration to the restrictions of the Shariah and he should only eat the flesh of those animals which are clean.

35. By hunting animals are meant those beasts and birds which are employed by men for hunting other animals. Such beasts and birds are dogs, panthers, hawks, etc.

36. What men have taught the hunting animals is that they do not eat away the animals hunted by them, but they keep it safe and uneaten for their masters. That is why the flesh of animals killed by the trained beasts or birds is lawful (Halal).

37. The training that man imparts to the beasts and birds is due to the knowledge that Allah has granted men. Therefore, man should be grateful to Allah for this divine favour.

38. That is: the hunted animals which the beasts or birds of prey do not eat but keep for you can be eaten by you.

39. That is: When setting the hunting animal for hunt say: Bismillah. It is mentioned in a hadith that A’di bin Hatim asked the Prophet (Sallal lahu Alaihi wa sallam) whether he could hunt for food with the dog? The prophet replied: “If while letting it loose you have uttered the name of Allah, then you can eat it, otherwise not; and if it has eaten something of the hunted animal, then do not eat, because it had hunted for itself and not for you.”- (Bukhari -Kitabuz Zabaih-was-Said).

The summary of the commands that have been mentioned here is this:‘As Islam has fixed a method of slaughtering the pet animals by cutting a part of their necks, as is done in the case of goats, sheep, or cutting of Labba (throat of an animal) as slaughtering to camel etc. Apart from this Islam has also fixed a special method for making the flesh of the hunted animal lawful, and that is to set for hunting the trained animal by pronouncing the name of Allah. If this hunting animal hunts a clean and pure animal. i.e. it kills the animal but does not eat its flesh, but keeps it for its master, then he can eat its flesh, and if this animal is found alive, then it would have to be slaughtered by invoking the name of Allah over it.”

“If it keeps the hunted animal for you and if you find it alive, then slaughter it”. –(Muslim -Kitabus Said).‘

It is worth noting that hunting was not some kind of sport for the Arabs but an important means of livelihood, particularly during their journeys when they used to live on that only. That is why Quran clarified the Shariah commands about the hunted animals so that men may get proper guidance. Accordingly Islam has fixed a definite method for slaughtering the pet animals, but a comparatively easier method for slaughtering the uncommon hunted animals.

40. This is a warning that if you did not care for Shariah restrictions in your enthusiasm for hunt, you will have to answer before Allah therefore fear Him and do not cross the limits of Shariah.

41.‘This day’ means that period or time when the religion of Islam entered its stage of perfection. On this occasion it was declared that in this last Shariah revealed by Allah all clean and pure things have been made lawful and only unclean and impure things have been made unlawful, therefore the restrictions imposed in the previous Shariahs in particular circumstances should be considered as terminated. Similar is the case of the restrictions imposed by the people of other religions on the basis of superstition, like not eating animal flesh at all, have become void automatically, after the perfection of the divine Shariah.

It is a distinctive feature of the Shariah “of Muhammad (Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wasallam) that it has, in the matter of halal and haram liberated men from the unnecessary restrictions and by spreading the table of clean and pure food wide, it has invited the entire mankind to enjoy God’s food to its heart’s content.

42. From the context it is clear that by the food of people of the Book is meant the flesh of their slaughtered animal, i.e. the animal slaughtered by the Jews and the Christians. if it is the flesh of a clean and pure animal and while slaughtering it the name of Allah was invoked over it. It does not mean that if they present the meat of an unclean and impure animal it would be acceptable for Muslims. Nor does it mean that even if they do not invoke the name of Allah over their slaughtered animal it would be lawful for the Muslims. There is absolutely no room for giving such a meaning to these verses for even if a Muslim deliberately stops invoking Allah’s name over his slaughtered animal, its meat will be unlawful for Muslims. So how the slaughtered animal of a Jew or a Christian would be halal, if he does not pronounce Allah’s name over it !

As regards slaughtering by machine, which is the invention of the modern times, it is merely an act of severing head, and this act is free from pronouncing the name of Allah over the animals. Therefore this cannot be said to have been slaughtered by the Shariah method, regardless of the fact whether the person operating the machine was a Muslim or one of the people of the Book.

43. It means that on account of the transgression of the Jews, the things which were declared unlawful for them are not now so after the appearance of the last prophet and the imposition of the last Shariah. Now only those restrictions in the matter of food and drinks are operative for them that have been imposed on Muslims by the Shariah of Muhammad (Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wasallam), therefore, there is no hitch for them according to the Divine Law in eating the flesh of the animals slaughtered by Muslims. In fact, this declaration is a means which opens up a new way of convenience for the people of the Book, if they are able to appreciate it.

44. Refers to the women of the Jews and Christians. Permission is granted to Muslims to marry them on the condition that they must be chaste. It is not permited for Muslims to marry women from the people of the Book (Jews and Christians) who may be lewd and of easy virtue.

Ibn Katheer writes that in view of this permission a number of the companions of the prophet married Christian women, and they did not find it objectionable. (Tafseer Ibn Katheer, Vol. 2, P. 20).

Permission to marry ‘women of the Book’ has been given on account of the fact that there are strong chances of their embracing Islam. But if contrary to this expectation. there is a danger of the husband or the offspring being influenced by the unIslamic culture, then in such a case it would not be proper to take advantage of this permission. Accordingly, further on there is a warning that whoever would reject faith, would be among the losers.

The reason for allowing Muslim men to marry women of Jews and Christians and not allowing Muslim women to marry Jewish or Christian men is that man has the position of a leader compared to woman, therefore he can influence a woman easily and can maintain the Islamic manner of living in the home, provided he is a Muslim, in the real sense of the word. Contrary to this, a woman is subordinate to man, and therefore, if a Muslim woman is the wife of a Jew or a Christian, then it would be difficult for her to adhere to her belief in oneness of God and to following the Islamic manner of living in her household. If even after this manifest reality some one finds this command unpalatable, he should understand that Islam’s nature wants ascendency and superiority, therefore it cannot accept any position of subordination in any sphere.

45. Denying Faith after accepting it means that a man may proclaim to be a Muslim but in actual practice he may behave like a rejector of faith.

46. This warning signifies that the man who wants to take advantage of the permission for marrying a woman from the people of the Book should take care that this wedlock may not prove to be a danger for his faith and belief.