Tafheem ul Quran

Surah 5 Al-Ma'idah, Ayat 101-108

يٰۤـاَيُّهَا الَّذِيۡنَ اٰمَنُوۡا لَا تَسۡـئَلُوۡا عَنۡ اَشۡيَآءَ اِنۡ تُبۡدَ لَـكُمۡ تَسُؤۡكُمۡ​ۚ وَاِنۡ تَسۡـئَـلُوۡا عَنۡهَا حِيۡنَ يُنَزَّلُ الۡقُرۡاٰنُ تُبۡدَ لَـكُمۡ ؕ عَفَا اللّٰهُ عَنۡهَا​ ؕ وَاللّٰهُ غَفُوۡرٌ حَلِيۡمٌ‏ ﴿5:101﴾ قَدۡ سَاَ لَهَا قَوۡمٌ مِّنۡ قَبۡلِكُمۡ ثُمَّ اَصۡبَحُوۡا بِهَا كٰفِرِيۡنَ‏  ﴿5:102﴾ مَا جَعَلَ اللّٰهُ مِنۡۢ بَحِيۡرَةٍ وَّلَا سَآئِبَةٍ وَّلَا وَصِيۡلَةٍ وَّلَا حَامٍ​ ۙ وَّلٰـكِنَّ الَّذِيۡنَ كَفَرُوۡا يَفۡتَرُوۡنَ عَلَى اللّٰهِ الۡـكَذِبَ​ ؕ وَاَكۡثَرُهُمۡ لَا يَعۡقِلُوۡنَ‏ ﴿5:103﴾ وَاِذَا قِيۡلَ لَهُمۡ تَعَالَوۡا اِلٰى مَاۤ اَنۡزَلَ اللّٰهُ وَاِلَى الرَّسُوۡلِ قَالُوۡا حَسۡبُنَا مَا وَجَدۡنَا عَلَيۡهِ اٰبَآءَنَا​ ؕ اَوَلَوۡ كَانَ اٰبَآؤُهُمۡ لَا يَعۡلَمُوۡنَ شَيۡـئًـا وَّلَا يَهۡتَدُوۡنَ‏ ﴿5:104﴾ يٰۤـاَيُّهَا الَّذِيۡنَ اٰمَنُوۡا عَلَيۡكُمۡ اَنۡفُسَكُمۡ​ۚ لَا يَضُرُّكُمۡ مَّنۡ ضَلَّ اِذَا اهۡتَدَيۡتُمۡ​ ؕ اِلَى اللّٰهِ مَرۡجِعُكُمۡ جَمِيۡعًا فَيُـنَـبِّـئُكُمۡ بِمَا كُنۡتُمۡ تَعۡمَلُوۡنَ‏ ﴿5:105﴾ يٰۤـاَيُّهَا الَّذِيۡنَ اٰمَنُوۡا شَهَادَةُ بَيۡنِكُمۡ اِذَا حَضَرَ اَحَدَكُمُ الۡمَوۡتُ حِيۡنَ الۡوَصِيَّةِ اثۡـنٰنِ ذَوَا عَدۡلٍ مِّنۡكُمۡ اَوۡ اٰخَرَانِ مِنۡ غَيۡـرِكُمۡ اِنۡ اَنۡـتُمۡ ضَرَبۡتُمۡ فِى الۡاَرۡضِ فَاَصَابَتۡكُمۡ مُّصِيۡبَةُ الۡمَوۡتِ​ ؕ تَحۡبِسُوۡنَهُمَا مِنۡۢ بَعۡدِ الصَّلٰوةِ فَيُقۡسِمٰنِ بِاللّٰهِ اِنِ ارۡتَبۡتُمۡ لَا نَشۡتَرِىۡ بِهٖ ثَمَنًا وَّلَوۡ كَانَ ذَا قُرۡبٰى​ ۙ وَلَا نَـكۡتُمُ شَهَادَةَ ۙ اللّٰهِ اِنَّاۤ اِذًا لَّمِنَ الۡاٰثِمِيۡنَ‏ ﴿5:106﴾ فَاِنۡ عُثِرَ عَلٰٓى اَنَّهُمَا اسۡتَحَقَّاۤ اِثۡمًا فَاٰخَرٰنِ يَقُوۡمٰنِ مَقَامَهُمَا مِنَ الَّذِيۡنَ اسۡتَحَقَّ عَلَيۡهِمُ الۡاَوۡلَيٰنِ فَيُقۡسِمٰنِ بِاللّٰهِ لَشَهَادَتُنَاۤ اَحَقُّ مِنۡ شَهَادَتِهِمَا وَ مَا اعۡتَدَيۡنَاۤ​ ​ۖ  اِنَّاۤ​ اِذًا لَّمِنَ الظّٰلِمِيۡنَ‏ ﴿5:107﴾ ذٰ لِكَ اَدۡنٰٓى اَنۡ يَّاۡتُوۡا بِالشَّهَادَةِ عَلٰى وَجۡهِهَاۤ اَوۡ يَخَافُوۡۤا اَنۡ تُرَدَّ اَيۡمَانٌۢ بَعۡدَ اَيۡمَانِهِمۡ​ؕ وَاتَّقُوا اللّٰهَ وَاسۡمَعُوۡا​ ؕ وَاللّٰهُ لَا يَهۡدِى الۡقَوۡمَ الۡفٰسِقِيۡنَ‏ ﴿5:108﴾

(5:101) Believers! Do not ask of the things which, if made manifest to you, would vex you;116 for, if you should ask about them while the Qur'an is being revealed, they will be made manifest to you. Allah has pardoned whatever happened in the past. He is All-Forgiving, All-Forbearing. (5:102) Indeed some people before you had asked such questions and in consequence fell into unbelief.117 (5:103) Allah has neither appointed (cattle devoted to idols such as) Bahirah, Sa'ibah, Wasilah nor Ham;118but those who disbelieve forge lies against Allah and of them most have no understanding (and therefore succumb to such superstitions). (5:104) When they are asked: 'Come to what Allah has revealed, and come to the Messenger', they reply: 'The way of our refathers suffices us.' (Will they continue to follow their forefathers) even though their forefathers might have known nothing, and might have been on the wrong way? (5:105) Believers! Take heed of your own selves. If you are rightly guided, the error of he who strays will not harm you.119 To Allah will all of you return; then He will let all of you know what you did. (5:106) Believers! When death approaches you, let two men of equity among you act as witnesses when you make your bequest;120 or let two of those from others than yourselves act as witnesses if you are on a journey when the affliction of death befalls you.121 Then if any doubt occurs you shall detain both of them (in the mosque) after the Prayer, and they shall swear by Allah: 'We shall neither sell our testimony in return for any gain even though it concerns any near of kin nor shall we conceal our testimony which we owe to Allah, for then we should become among sinners.' . (5:107) Then if it is discovered later that the two are guilty of such sin, then two others shall stand in their place from among those against whom the two had sinfully deposed, and swear by Allah: 'Our testimony is truer than the testimony of the other two, and we have not transgressed in our statement; for then indeed we would become wrong-doers.' (5:108) Thus it is more likely that they will either bear the right testimony or else they will at least fear that their oaths may be rebutted by other oaths. Have fear of Allah and pay heed. Allah does not direct the disobedient to the right way.

Notes

116. People used to ask the Prophet (peace be on him) many questions which were of no practical relevance to either religious or day-to-day affairs. Once, for instance, a person asked the Prophet (peace be on him) in the presence of a crowd: 'Who is my real father?' Likewise, many people used to ask unnecessary questions about legal matters. By these uncalled for inquiries they sought knowledge of matters which had for good reasons, been deliberately left undetermined by the Law-giver. In the Qur'an, for example. Pilgrimage had been declared obligatory. A person who became aware of this came to the Prophet (peace be on him) and inquired: 'Has it been made obligatory to perform it every year?' To this the Prophet (peace be on him) made no reply. When he inquired for the second time the Prophet (peace be on him) again stayed silent. On being asked for the third time, he said: 'Pity on you! Had I uttered "Yes" in reply to your question, it would have become obligatory to perform it every year. And then you would not have been able to observe it and would have been guilty of disobedience.' (See Bukhari, 'Riqaq', 22; 'Zakah', 53; I'tisam', 3; 'Adab', 6; Muslim, 'Aqdiyah', 10, 11, 13, 14; Darimi, 'Riqaq', 38; Muwatta', 'Kalam', 20; Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad, vol. 2, pp. 327, 360, 367; vol. 4, pp. 246, 249, 250, 251, 255 - Ed.)

The Prophet (peace be on him) discouraged people from being over-inquisitive and unnecessarily curious about every question. We find in the Hadith the following saying from the Prophet (peace be on him): 'The worst criminal among the Muslims is the one who inquired about something which had not been made unlawful, and then it was declared so, because of his inquiry.' (Bukhari, I'tisam', 3; Muslim, Fada'il', 132, 133; Abu Da'ud, 'Sunnah', 6 - Ed.) According to another tradition the Prophet (peace be on him) said: 'God has imposed upon you certain obligations, do not neglect them; He has imposed certain prohibitions, do not violate them; He has imposed certain limits, do not even approach them; and He has remained silent about certain matters - and has not done so out of forgetfulness - do not pursue them.' (See Towards Understanding the Qur'an, vol. I, (Surah 2, n. 110 - Ed.)

In both these traditions an important fact has been called to our attention. In matters where the Law-giver has chosen to lay down certain injunctions only broadly, without any elaborate details, or quantitative specifications, He has done so not because of neglect or forgetfulness. Such seeming omissions are deliberate, and the reason thereof is that He does not desire to place limitations upon people, but prefers to allow them latitude and ease in following His commandments. Now there are some people who make unnecessary inquiries, cause elaborately prescribed, inflexibly determined and restrictive regulations to be added to the Law. Some others, in cases where such details are in no way deducible from the text, resort to analogical reasoning, thereby turning a broad general rule into an elaborate law full of restrictive details, and an unspecified into a specified rule. Both sorts of people put Muslims in great danger. For, in the area of belief, the more detailed the doctrines to which people are required to subscribe, the more problematic it becomes to do so. Likewise, in legal matters, the greater the restriction, the greater the likelihood of violation.

117. Some people first indulged in hair-splitting arguments about their laws and dogma, and thereby wove a great web of credal elaborations and legal minutiae. Then they became enmeshed in this same web and thus became guilty of dogmatic errors and the violation of their own religious laws. The people referred to here are the Jews, and the Muslims who followed in their footsteps and left no stone unturned, despite the warnings contained in the Qur'an and in the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him).

118. Just as, in the Indian subcontinent, cows, oxen and goats are set free after being consecrated either to God or to some idol or shrine or to some saintly person, and just as people consider it prohibited either to put them to work, to slaughter them or to derive any other kind of benefit from them, so the Arabs of the Jahiliyah period also let loose certain animals after consecrating them. Such animals were variously named.

Bahirah was the name of a female camel which had already borne five young, the last of which was a male. The practice was to slit the ear of such a camel and then let her loose. Thereafter no one could ride her, use her milk, slaughter her or shear her hair. She was entitled to graze and drink water wherever she liked.

Sa'ibah was the name of either a male or female camel which had been let loose after consecration as a mark of gratitude in fulfilment of a vow taken for either the recovery from some ailment or delivery from some danger. In the same way the female camel which had borne ten times, and each time a female, was also let loose.

Wasilah. If the first kid born to a goat was a male, it was slaughtered in the name of the deities; but if it was a female, it was kept by the owners for themselves. If twins were born and one of them was a male and the other a female goat, the male was not slaughtered but rather let loose in the name of the deities. This male goat was called wasilah.

Ham. If the young of camels in the second degree of descent had become worthy of riding they were let loose. Likewise, if ten offspring had been borne by a female camel she was also let loose, and called ham.

119. What is stressed here is that rather than occupying himself unduly with examining faults in the belief and conduct of others, a man should pay greater attention to a critical examination of his own conduct. His primary concern should be with his own faith and conduct. If a man is himself obedient to God, observes his duties to Him and to His creatures including his duty to promote what is good and forbid what is evil, and lives according to the dictates of righteousness and honesty, he has fulfilled his obligation and if others persist either in false beliefs or in moral corruption their errors cannot harm him.

This verse in no way means that a man should care only for his own salvation and should remain unconcerned with the reform of others. Abu Bakr removed this misconception in one of his sermons when he remarked: 'You recite this verse but interpret it erroneously. I have heard the Messenger of Allah (peace be on him) say that when people see corruption but do not try to change it; and when they see a wrong-doer commit wrong but do not prevent him from doing so, it is not unlikely that God's chastisement will seize them all. By God, it is incumbent upon you that you bid what is good and forbid what is evil or else God will grant domination upon you to those who are the worst among you. They will greatly chastise you and then when your righteous ones pray to God, their prayers will not be answered.'

120. That is, pious, straightforward and trustworthy Muslims.

That is, non-Muslims - Ed.

121. This shows that the testimony of non-Muslim witnesses in cases involving Muslims is appropriate only when no Muslim is available as a witness.