Surah 6. Al-An'am, Ayah 138

The pre-Islamic Arabs falsely claimed that these taboos were ordained by God, as is made clear in the last part of this verse. One of these supposed, arbitrary "ordinances" laid down that only the priests of the particular idol and some men belonging to the tribe could eat the flesh of such dedicated animals, while women were not allowed to do so (Zamakhshari).

I.e., while sacrificing them to their idols (see also 5:103 and the corresponding note). It would seem from this allusion that, as a rule, the pagan Arabs did pronounce the name of God - whom they regarded as the supreme deity - over the animals which they slaughtered; in the abovementioned exceptional cases, however, they refrained from doing so in the belief that God Himself had forbidden it.

A taboo of certain foods is sometimes a device of the priesthood to get special things for itself. It has to be enforced by pretending that the prohibition for others is by the Will of God. It is a lie or invention against God. Most superstitions are.

Cattle dedicated to heathen gods may be reserved from all useful work; in that case they are a dead loss to the community, and they may, besides, do a great deal of damage to fields and crops.

If meat is killed in the name of heathen gods, it would naturally not be killed by the solemn rite in God's name, by which alone the killing can be justified for food. See n. 698 to v. 5.