Tafheem ul Quran

Surah 6 Al-An'am, Ayat 145-150

​قُل لَّاۤ اَجِدُ فِىۡ مَاۤ اُوۡحِىَ اِلَىَّ مُحَرَّمًا عَلٰى طَاعِمٍ يَّطۡعَمُهٗۤ اِلَّاۤ اَنۡ يَّكُوۡنَ مَيۡتَةً اَوۡ دَمًا مَّسۡفُوۡحًا اَوۡ لَحۡمَ خِنۡزِيۡرٍ فَاِنَّهٗ رِجۡسٌ اَوۡ فِسۡقًا اُهِلَّ لِغَيۡرِ اللّٰهِ بِهٖ​​ۚ فَمَنِ اضۡطُرَّ غَيۡرَ بَاغٍ وَّلَا عَادٍ فَاِنَّ رَبَّكَ غَفُوۡرٌ رَّحِيۡمٌ‏ ﴿6:145﴾ وَعَلَى الَّذِيۡنَ هَادُوۡا حَرَّمۡنَا كُلَّ ذِىۡ ظُفُرٍ​​ ۚ وَمِنَ الۡبَقَرِ وَالۡغَـنَمِ حَرَّمۡنَا عَلَيۡهِمۡ شُحُوۡمَهُمَاۤ اِلَّا مَا حَمَلَتۡ ظُهُوۡرُهُمَاۤ اَوِ الۡحَـوَايَاۤ اَوۡ مَا اخۡتَلَطَ بِعَظۡمٍ​ ؕ ذٰ لِكَ جَزَيۡنٰهُمۡ بِبَـغۡيِهِمۡ​​ ۖ وَاِنَّا لَصٰدِقُوۡنَ‏ ﴿6:146﴾ فَاِنۡ كَذَّبُوۡكَ فَقُلْ رَّبُّكُمۡ ذُوۡ رَحۡمَةٍ وَّاسِعَةٍ​ ۚ وَلَا يُرَدُّ بَاۡسُهٗ عَنِ الۡقَوۡمِ الۡمُجۡرِمِيۡنَ‏ ﴿6:147﴾ سَيَـقُوۡلُ الَّذِيۡنَ اَشۡرَكُوۡا لَوۡ شَآءَ اللّٰهُ مَاۤ اَشۡرَكۡنَا وَلَاۤ اٰبَآؤُنَا وَلَا حَرَّمۡنَا مِنۡ شَىۡءٍ​ ؕ كَذٰلِكَ كَذَّبَ الَّذِيۡنَ مِنۡ قَبۡلِهِمۡ حَتّٰى ذَاقُوۡا بَاۡسَنَا​ ؕ قُلۡ هَلۡ عِنۡدَكُمۡ مِّنۡ عِلۡمٍ فَتُخۡرِجُوۡهُ لَـنَا ؕ اِنۡ تَتَّبِعُوۡنَ اِلَّا الظَّنَّ وَاِنۡ اَنۡـتُمۡ اِلَّا تَخۡرُصُوۡنَ‏ ﴿6:148﴾ قُلۡ فَلِلّٰهِ الۡحُجَّةُ الۡبَالِغَةُ​ ۚ فَلَوۡ شَآءَ لَهَدٰٮكُمۡ اَجۡمَعِيۡنَ‏  ﴿6:149﴾ قُلۡ هَلُمَّ شُهَدَآءَكُمُ الَّذِيۡنَ يَشۡهَدُوۡنَ اَنَّ اللّٰهَ حَرَّمَ هٰذَا ​ۚ فَاِنۡ شَهِدُوۡا فَلَا تَشۡهَدۡ مَعَهُمۡ​​ ۚ وَلَا تَتَّبِعۡ اَهۡوَآءَ الَّذِيۡنَ كَذَّبُوۡا بِاٰيٰتِنَا وَالَّذِيۡنَ لَا يُؤۡمِنُوۡنَ بِالۡاٰخِرَةِ وَهُمۡ بِرَبِّهِمۡ يَعۡدِلُوۡنَ‏ ﴿6:150﴾

(6:145) Tell them (O Muhammad!): 'I do not find in what has been revealed to me anything forbidden for anyone who wants to eat unless it is carrion, outpoured blood and the flesh of swine, all of which is unclean; or that which is profane having been slaughtered in a name other than that of Allah.121 But whosoever is constrained to it by necessity - neither desiring to disobey nor exceeding the limit of necessity - your Lord is surely AllForgiving, All-Compassionate. (6:146) And to those who had Judaized We have forbidden all beasts with claws, and the fat of oxen and sheep except the fat which is either on their backs or their entrails, or that which sticks to the bones. Thus did We requite them for their rebellion.122 Surely We state the Truth. (6:147) 'Then if they give you the lie, say: 'Your Lord is of unbounded mercy; but His punishment shall not be averted from the guilty folk.'123 (6:148) Those who associate others with Allah in His divinity will now surely say: 'Had Allah willed, neither we nor our forefathers would have associated others with Allah in His divinity, nor would we have declared anything (which Allah did not forbid) as forbidden.'124 Even so those who had lived before them gave the lie (to the Truth) until they tasted Our chastisement. Tell them: 'Have you any sure knowledge that you can produce before us? In fact you are only following idle fancies, merely conjecturing.' (6:149) 'Then say to them: '(As against your argument) Allah's is the conclusive argument. Surely, had He willed, He would have guided you all to the Truth.125 (6:150) Say to them: 'Call your witnesses to testify that Allah forbade such-and-such.' Then if they do testify, neither testify with them126 nor follow the desires of those who have given the lie to Our signs and who do not believe in the Hereafter and set up equals with their Lord.

Notes

121. See for this (Surah al-Baqarah 2: 173), (Surah al-Md'idah 5: 3) and (Surah al-Nahl 16: 115.) The slight difference between this verse and (Surah al-Baqarah 2:173 )is that whereas the latter mentions 'blood' as prohibited, the present verse qualifies it with 'outpoured', i.e. the blood which has flowed as a result of either injuring or slaughtering an animal. This, in fact, constitutes an elucidation of the former injunction rather than the revelation of a different one. Likewise,( Surah al-Ma'idah 5: 3 )mentions the prohibition of certain other categories - animals strangled or killed by blows, those which have died from either falling or goring, and those devoured by a beast of prey, in addition to the four classes mentioned here. This is not an independent, divergent injunction; it is rather an explanation signifying that the animals thus killed fall into the category of 'carrion'.
There is a group of Muslim jurists who believe that prohibition is confined to these four classes of animal food, and that the eating of everything else is lawful. This was also the view of 'Abd Allah b. 'Abbas and 'A'ishah. Several traditions, however, indicate that the Prophet (peace be on him) either told people not to eat certain things or expressed his disapproval at their eating them, for example, domesticated donkeys, beasts with canine teeth and birds with claws. It is for this reason that the majority of jurists do not consider prohibition confined to these four classes but extend it to several others. These jurists disagree, however, on which of those things are unlawful and which are lawful. Abu Hanifah, Malik and Shafi'i, for example, consider domesticated donkeys to be unlawful. Others argue that the Prophet (peace be on him) forbade them on a special occasion and because of a special reason. To cite another example, the Hanafi jurists hold wild beasts, birds of prey and animals which feed on carrion to be absolutely unlawful, whereas Milik and Awza'i hold birds of prey to be lawful. Layth considers the cat to be lawful. In the same way, Shafi'i considers prohibition to be confined only to those beasts which actually attack man, such as lion, wolf, tiger and so on. In the opinion of another jurist, 'Ikrimah, both crow and badger are lawful. Likewise, whereas the Hanafi jurists declare all crawling creatures to be prohibited, Ibn Abi Layla, Malik and Awza'i hold the snake to be lawful.
Upon reflection of these divergent opinions and the arguments adduced in support of them, it becomes clear that categorical prohibition embraces only those four classes mentioned in the Qur'an. As for other types of animal food, regarding which the jurists have expressed a negative view, they seem to carry varying degrees of religious disapprobation. The things whose disapprobation is established by statements of the Prophet (peace be on him) transmitted to us through sound traditions, are relatively close to 'prohibition'. As for things regarding which them is disagreement among jurists, their religious disapprobation becomes doubtful.
Temperamental dislike, however, is quite a different matter. The Law Of God does not force anyone to eat everything which is not prohibited. At the same time, the Law does not entitle anybody to exalt his personal likes and dislikes into a criterion of what is lawful and unlawful. No one is justified in reproaching others for consuming lawful things which offend his tastes.

122. This is discussed at three places in the Qur'an. (Surah AI 'Imran 3:93 ) states: 'All food was lawful to the Children of Israel except what Israel made unlawful to themselves before the revelation of the Torah. Tell them: "Bring the Torah and recite any passage of it if you are truthful".' (Surah al-Nisa' 4:160) mentions that because of the misdeeds of the Children of Israel: 'We forbade them many clean things which had earlier been made lawful to them.' And now the present verse says that because of the transgression of the Jews, God forbade unto them 'all beasts with claws; and the fat of oxen and the sheep except the fat which is either on their backs or their entrails or that which sticks to the bones'. If these three verses are taken together, it becomes clear that the differences between Islamic law and Jewish law with regard to what is lawful and what is unlawful in animal foods stem from two considerations. First, that several centuries before the revelation of the Torah, Isra'il (Jacob, peace be on him) had given up the use of certain things, which his descendants also abstained from consuming. The result was that Jewish jurists considered them to be absolutely unlawful and recorded their prohibition in the Torah. They included the camel, the hare and the rock-badger, the prohibition of which is mentioned in the fragments of the Torah embodied in the Bible. (See Leviticus ll: 4; Deuteronomy 14: 7) But the Our'an challenges the Jews to come forward with the Torah itself and show where any of those things had been declared unlawful. Their inability to do so shows that those interdictions must have been later interpolations into the Torah.
Second, when the Jews rebelled against the Law revealed by God and set themselves up as their own law-givers, they made several things unlawful for themselves, and as a punishment God allowed them to remain a prey to that misunderstanding. These include birds with claws such as the ostrich, seagull and water-hen, and also the fat of oxen and sheep. In the Bible prohibitions of these kinds have been interpolated among the injunctions of the Torah. (See Leviticus 3:17; 7:22-3; ll:16-18; Deuteronomy 14:14-16.) But (Surah al-Nisa' 4:160) shows that those things had not been made unlawful by the Torah itself. They had rather been prohibited after the time of Jesus, and history bears witness to the fact that the present Jewish law was given a definitive formulation by the Jewish jurist, Yehudah, towards the end of the second century of the Christian calendar.
It might be asked in view of what has been mentioned above, why the expression 'We forbade for them' is employed in (Surah al-Nisa' 4:160) The answer is that declaration through a Prophet or a heavenly Book is not God's only way of prohibiting. Another way is to allow fraudulent law-makers and sham jurists to gain predominating influence upon God's rebels. These in turn deprive them of many good, clean things of life by making them believe that they are prohibited. The first kind of prohibition is an act of His mercy, whereas the second kind is in the nature of a curse and punishment from God.

123. If they could still give up their disobedience and return to the true service of God, they would find Him ready to embrace them with His mercy. But if they persisted, they should remember that no one could save them from His wrath.

124. Their apology for their crimes and misdeeds would be that which has always been advanced by criminals and wrong-doers - an apology based on the assumption of absolute determinism. They would plead that when they associated others with God in His divinity, or unwarrantedly regarded certain things as prohibited, they did so because those acts had been willed for them by God. Had He not so willed, they would not have been able to do what they did. Hence, since they were doing everything according to the will of God, everything was proper. If anyone was to blame, it was God and not they. They were under compulsion to do what they did, for the ability to do otherwise lay beyond their power.

125. This provides a complete refutation of their apology. In order to appreciate it fully, careful analysis is required. In the first place they are told that citing God's will to justify one's errors and misdeeds, and making it a pretext for refusing to accept true guidance was the practice of the evil-doers before them. But they should remember that this had led to their ruin and they themselves were witnesses to the evil consequences of deviation from the Truth.
Furthermore, it is being clarified that the plea of the unbelievers that the only reason for their error was that God had not willed that they be guided to the Truth, is based on fancy and conjecture rather than on sound knowledge. They refer to God's will without understanding the relationship between God's will and man's action. They entertain the misconception that if a man commits theft under the will of God, that does not mean that he will not be reckoned a criminal. For the fact is that whichever path a man chooses, be it that of gratitude or ungratitude to God of guidance or error, obedience or disobedience, God will open that path for him, and thereafter God will permit and enable him within the framework of His universal scheme, and to the extent that He deems fit - to do whatever he chooses to do whether it is right or wrong.
If their forefathers had been enabled by God's will to associate others with Him in His divinity and prohibit clean things, that did not mean that they were not answerable for their misdeeds. On the contrary, everyone will be held responsible for choosing false ways, for having a false intent, and for having striven for false ends.
The crucial point is succinctly made at the end in the words: 'Then say to- them, (As against your argument) Allah's is the conclusive argument. Surely, had He willed, He would have guided you all to the Truth.' The argument which they put forward, viz. 'If Allah had willed, neither we nor our forefathers could have associated others with Allah in His divinity', does not embody the whole truth. The whole truth is that 'had He willed, He would have guided you all to the Truth'. In other words, they were not prepared to take the Straight Way of their own choice and volition. As it was not God's intent to create them with inherent right guidance like the angels, they would be allowed to persist in the error they had chosen for themselves.

126. A person who is conscious that he should testify only to that which he knows, can never testify that the taboos regarding food and other customs prevalent in their society had been enjoined by God. But if some people are brazen enough to feel no compunction in bearing false witness, then at least the believers should not become their partners in lying. The real purpose in asking them to testify honestly whether their customs and practices had in fact been sanctioned by God, is to stimulate those with some sense of honesty to reflect on the character of their customs and practices. Perhaps when they realize that there is no evidence of those prohibitions having been prescribed by God, some of them may decide to get rid of them.