Surah 5. Al-Maida, Ayah 3
| حُرِّمَتْ عَلَيْكُمُ الْمَيْتَةُ وَالدَّمُ وَلَحْمُ الْخِنْزِيرِ وَمَا أُهِلَّ لِغَيْرِ اللَّهِ بِهِ وَالْمُنْخَنِقَةُ وَالْمَوْقُوذَةُ وَالْمُتَرَدِّيَةُ وَالنَّطِيحَةُ وَمَا أَكَلَ السَّبُعُ إِلَّا مَا ذَكَّيْتُمْ وَمَا ذُبِحَ عَلَى النُّصُبِ وَأَنْ تَسْتَقْسِمُوا بِالْأَزْلَامِ ۚ ذَٰلِكُمْ فِسْقٌ ۗ الْيَوْمَ يَئِسَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ دِينِكُمْ فَلَا تَخْشَوْهُمْ وَاخْشَوْنِ ۚ الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الْإِسْلَامَ دِينًا ۚ فَمَنِ اضْطُرَّ فِي مَخْمَصَةٍ غَيْرَ مُتَجَانِفٍ لِإِثْمٍ ۙ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ |
| Asad | : | FORBIDDEN to you is carrion, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and that over which any name other than God's has been invoked,7 and the animal that has been strangled, or beaten to death, or killed by a fall, or gored to death, or savaged by a beast of prey, save that which you [yourselves] may have slaughtered while it was still alive; and [forbidden to you is] all that has been slaughtered on idolatrous altars.8 And [you are forbidden] to seek to learn through divination what the future may hold in store for you:9 this is sinful conduct. Today, those who are bent on denying the truth have lost all hope of [your ever forsaking] your religion: do not, then, hold them in awe, but stand in awe of Me! Today have I perfected your religious law for you, and have bestowed upon you the full measure of My blessings, and willed that self-surrender unto Me shall be your religion.10 As for him, however, who is driven [to what is forbidden] by dire necessity11 and not by an inclination to sinning - behold, God is much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace. |
| Malik | : | You are forbidden to eat the meat of any animal that dies by itself (dead body), blood, the flesh of swine (pork) and that on which any name other than Allah has been invoked; also that which is strangled to death , killed by a violent blow, killed by a headlong fall and of those beaten or gored to death; and that which has been partly eaten by a wild animal unless you are able to slaughter it before its death; also that which is sacrificed on altars or is divided by raffling of arrows. All these are sinful acts. Today the unbelievers have given up all their hope of vanquishing your religion. Have no fear of them, fear Me. Today I have perfected your religion for you, completed my favor upon you and approved Al-Islam as a Deen (way of life for you). Anyone who is compelled by hunger to eat what is forbidden, not intending to commit sin, will find Allah Forgiving, Merciful. |
| Pickthall | : | Forbidden unto you (for food) are carrion and blood and swine flesh, and that which hath been dedicated unto any other than Allah, and the strangled, and the dead through beating, and the dead through falling from a height, and that which hath been killed by (the goring of) horns, and the devoured of wild beasts, saving that which ye make lawful (by the death stroke), and that which hath been immolated unto idols. And (forbidden is it) that ye swear by the divining arrows. This is an abomination. This day are those who disbelieve in despair of (ever harming) your religion; so fear them not, fear Me! This day have I perfected your religion for you and completed My favor unto you, and have chosen for you as religion AL- ISLAM. Whoso is forced by hunger, not by will, to sin: (for him) lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. |
| Yusuf Ali | : | Forbidden to you (for food) are: dead meat blood the flesh of swine and that on which hath been invoked the name of other than Allah that which hath been killed by strangling or by a violent blow or by a headlong fall or by being gored to death; that which hath been (partly) eaten by a wild animal; unless ye are able to slaughter it (in due form); that which is sacrificed on stone (altars); (forbidden) also is the division (of meat) by raffling with arrows: that is impiety. This day have those who reject faith given up all hope of your religion: yet fear them not but fear Me. This day have I perfected your religion for you completed my favor upon you and have chosen for you Islam as your religion. But if any forced by hunger with no inclination to transgression Allah is indeed Oft-Forgiving Most Merciful. 691 692 693 694 |
| Transliteration | : | yaa 'ayyuhaa 'alladhena 'aamano laa tuh.illo shacaa'ir 'allaah wa- laa ash- shahr al- h.araam wa- laa al- hady wa- laa al- qalaa'id wa- laa 'aammen al- bayt al- h.araam yabtaghon fad.l(an) min rabb -him wa- rid.waan(an) wa- 'idhaa h.alaltu fa- is.t.aado wa- laa yajrimanna -kum shana'aan qawm 'an s.addo -kum can al- masjid al- h.araam 'an tactado wa- tacaawano calaa al- birr wa- at- taqwaa wa- laa tacaawano calaa al- 'ithm wa- al- cudwaan wa- ittaqo 'allaah 'inna 'allaah shaded al- ciqaab |
Note - 7See 2:173.
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Note - 8The nusub (sing. nasibah) were the altar-stones set up in
pre-Islamic times around the Ka'bah on which the pagan
Quraysh used to sacrifice animals to their idols.
However, from the story of Zayd ibn 'Amr ibn Nufayl
(Bukhari) it appears that not only sacrificial animals
but also such as were destined for common consumption
were often slaughtered there for the sake of a supposed
"blessing" (see Fath al-Bari VII, 113). Some philologists
consider the form nusub a singular, with ansab as its
plural (cf. verse {90} of this surah). In either case the
term denotes an association with all manner of practices
which could be described as "idolatrous", and should not
be taken merely in its literal sense. Cf. in this respect
also verse {90} of this surah, and the corresponding note
[105].
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Note - 9Lit., "to aim at divining [the future] by means of
arrows". This is a reference to the divining-arrows
without a point and without feathers used by the
pre-Islamic Arabs to find out what the future might hold
in store for them. (A comprehensive description of this
practice may be found in Lane III, 1247.) As is usual
with such historical allusions in the Qur'an, this one,
too, is used metonymically: it implies a prohibition of
all manner of attempts at divining or foretelling the
future.
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Note - 10According to all available Traditions based on the
testimony of the Prophet's contemporaries, the above
passage - which sets, as it were, a seal on the message
of the Qur'an - was revealed at 'Arafat in the afternoon
of Friday, the 9th of Dhu 'l-Hijjah, 10 H., eighty-one or
eighty-two days before the death of the Prophet. No legal
injunction whatsoever was revealed after this verse: and
this explains the reference to God's having perfected the
Faith and bestowed the full measure of His blessings upon
the believers. Man's self-surrender (islam) to God is
postulated as the basis, or the basic law, of all true
religion (din). This self-surrender expressed itself not
only in belief in Him but also in obedience to His
commands: and this is the reason why the announcement of
the completion of the Qur'anic message is placed within
the context of a verse containing the last legal
ordinances ever revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.
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Note - 11Lit., "in [a condition of] emptiness' (fi makhmasah).
This is generally taken to mean in extreme hunger"; but
while this expression does, in the first instance,
signify "emptiness caused by hunger", the reference to
divination in the above verse points to a metonymical use
of the term makhmasah as well: that is to say, it covers
here not merely cases of actual, extreme hunger (which
makes the eating of otherwise prohibited categories of
meat permissible, as is explicitly stated in 2:173) but
also other situations in which overwhelming, extraneous
forces beyond a person's control may compel him, against
his will, to do something that is normally prohibited by
Islamic Law - as, for instance, to use intoxicating drugs
whenever illness makes their use imperative and
unavoidable.
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Note - 691Cf. ii. 173 and nn. 173 and 174. The prohibition of dead
meat, blood, the flesh of swine, and that on which other
names than that of Allah have been invoked, has been
there explained.
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Note - 692If an animal dies by strangling, or by a violent blow, or
a headlong fall, or by being gored to death, or by being
attacked by a wild animal, the presumption is that it
becomes carrion, as the life-blood is congealed before
being taken out of the body. But the presumption can be
rebutted. If the life-blood still flows and the solemn
mode of slaughter (zabh in the name of Allah is carried
out, it becomes lawful as food.
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Note - 693This was also an idolatrous rite, different from that in
which a sacrifice was devoted to a particular idol or a
false god.
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Note - 694Gambling of all kinds is forbidden; ii. 291. A sort of
lottery or raffle practised by Pagan Arabs has been
described in n. 241. Division of meat in this way is here
forbidden, as it is a form of gambling.
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The nusub (sing. nasibah) were the altar-stones set up in pre-Islamic times around the Ka'bah on which the pagan Quraysh used to sacrifice animals to their idols. However, from the story of Zayd ibn 'Amr ibn Nufayl (Bukhari) it appears that not only sacrificial animals but also such as were destined for common consumption were often slaughtered there for the sake of a supposed "blessing" (see Fath al-Bari VII, 113). Some philologists consider the form nusub a singular, with ansab as its plural (cf. verse {90} of this surah). In either case the term denotes an association with all manner of practices which could be described as "idolatrous", and should not be taken merely in its literal sense. Cf. in this respect also verse {90} of this surah, and the corresponding note [105]. |
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Lit., "to aim at divining [the future] by means of arrows". This is a reference to the divining-arrows without a point and without feathers used by the pre-Islamic Arabs to find out what the future might hold in store for them. (A comprehensive description of this practice may be found in Lane III, 1247.) As is usual with such historical allusions in the Qur'an, this one, too, is used metonymically: it implies a prohibition of all manner of attempts at divining or foretelling the future. |
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According to all available Traditions based on the testimony of the Prophet's contemporaries, the above passage - which sets, as it were, a seal on the message of the Qur'an - was revealed at 'Arafat in the afternoon of Friday, the 9th of Dhu 'l-Hijjah, 10 H., eighty-one or eighty-two days before the death of the Prophet. No legal injunction whatsoever was revealed after this verse: and this explains the reference to God's having perfected the Faith and bestowed the full measure of His blessings upon the believers. Man's self-surrender (islam) to God is postulated as the basis, or the basic law, of all true religion (din). This self-surrender expressed itself not only in belief in Him but also in obedience to His commands: and this is the reason why the announcement of the completion of the Qur'anic message is placed within the context of a verse containing the last legal ordinances ever revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. |
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Lit., "in [a condition of] emptiness' (fi makhmasah). This is generally taken to mean in extreme hunger"; but while this expression does, in the first instance, signify "emptiness caused by hunger", the reference to divination in the above verse points to a metonymical use of the term makhmasah as well: that is to say, it covers here not merely cases of actual, extreme hunger (which makes the eating of otherwise prohibited categories of meat permissible, as is explicitly stated in 2:173) but also other situations in which overwhelming, extraneous forces beyond a person's control may compel him, against his will, to do something that is normally prohibited by Islamic Law - as, for instance, to use intoxicating drugs whenever illness makes their use imperative and unavoidable. |
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Cf. ii. 173 and nn. 173 and 174. The prohibition of dead meat, blood, the flesh of swine, and that on which other names than that of Allah have been invoked, has been there explained. |
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If an animal dies by strangling, or by a violent blow, or a headlong fall, or by being gored to death, or by being attacked by a wild animal, the presumption is that it becomes carrion, as the life-blood is congealed before being taken out of the body. But the presumption can be rebutted. If the life-blood still flows and the solemn mode of slaughter (zabh in the name of Allah is carried out, it becomes lawful as food. |
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This was also an idolatrous rite, different from that in which a sacrifice was devoted to a particular idol or a false god. |
