The Cattle (Al-An‘am) الأنعام 143–145
143
ثَمَانِيَةَ أَزْوَاجٍ مِّنَ الضَّأْنِ اثْنَيْنِ وَمِنَ الْمَعْزِ اثْنَيْنِ قُلْ آلذَّكَرَيْنِ حَرَّمَ أَمِ الأُنثَيَيْنِ أَمَّا اشْتَمَلَتْ عَلَيْهِ أَرْحَامُ الأُنثَيَيْنِ نَبِّؤُونِي بِعِلْمٍ إِن كُنتُمْ صَادِقِينَ
God has created four kinds of livestock of either sex: two of sheep and two of goats. Ask them, ‘Is it the two males He has forbidden or the two females or what the wombs of the two females contain? Tell me on the basis of knowledge, if you are truthful.’
144
وَمِنَ الإِبْلِ اثْنَيْنِ وَمِنَ الْبَقَرِ اثْنَيْنِ قُلْ آلذَّكَرَيْنِ حَرَّمَ أَمِ الأُنثَيَيْنِ أَمَّا اشْتَمَلَتْ عَلَيْهِ أَرْحَامُ الأُنثَيَيْنِ أَمْ كُنتُمْ شُهَدَاء إِذْ وَصَّاكُمُ اللّهُ بِهَـذَا فَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّنِ افْتَرَى عَلَى اللّهِ كَذِبًا لِيُضِلَّ النَّاسَ بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ إِنَّ اللّهَ لاَ يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ
Again, of the camels there are two, and of the oxen two. Ask them, ‘Is it the two males He has forbidden, or the two females or what the wombs of the two females contain? Were you present when God enjoined this on you?’ Who is more unjust than one who, without knowledge, fabricates a lie against God, so that he may lead people astray without knowledge? Surely, God does not guide the wrongdoers.
145
قُل لاَّ أَجِدُ فِي مَا أُوْحِيَ إِلَيَّ مُحَرَّمًا عَلَى طَاعِمٍ يَطْعَمُهُ إِلاَّ أَن يَكُونَ مَيْتَةً أَوْ دَمًا مَّسْفُوحًا أَوْ لَحْمَ خِنزِيرٍ فَإِنَّهُ رِجْسٌ أَوْ فِسْقًا أُهِلَّ لِغَيْرِ اللّهِ بِهِ فَمَنِ اضْطُرَّ غَيْرَ بَاغٍ وَلاَ عَادٍ فَإِنَّ رَبَّكَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ
Say [O Prophet], ‘In all that has been revealed to me, I do not find a ban on anything to eat, except for carrion, flowing blood and pork, all these being unclean or profane, on which the name of someone other than God has been invoked.’ But if anyone is forced by necessity, being neither disobedient nor exceeding the limit, then surely your Lord is most forgiving and merciful.
No class discussions published for this verse group yet.
(a) By nature, there is in man the consciousness of God and the realisation of what is permitted and what is forbidden. Man, in pursuance of his internal urge, wants to make a Supreme Being his God and wants to distinguish between permitted and forbidden things. Satan knows this fact very well. He knows that if a man is allowed to go his own way under normal conditions, he will adopt the straight path of nature. So, in order to blunt man’s natural instinct, he introduces different types of false customs. In the name of God, he invents some imaginary gods. In the name of what is permitted and forbidden, he devises some baseless prohibition. In this way, Satan tries to entangle man in these imaginary matters, so that he should not arrive at the real truth, but stray from the right path; then, seeing himself apparently progressing, he should think that he is on the right path, even though it might be a crooked line and not the straight right path. Those who fall a victim to Satan’s misleading, are transgressors in the eyes of God. God had given them the understanding by which they could have differentiated between Truth and falsehood. But their prejudices warp their minds and, in spite of having the capacity to understand, they remain far removed from the truth. (a) Among the animals reared by the Arabs for the sake of their meat and milk, etc., four kinds were very well known—sheep, goats, camels and cows. With reference to them, they had framed different types of prohibitory regulations. But they had no authority to back these up save their polytheistic customs. The banning of the meat of the sheep, goat, camel or cow, whether male or female, has no rationality in it. All the meat on them is the best food for man. They do not even have any dirty habits which could make them undesirable for human consumption. Even in the teachings coming down from heaven there is no mention of their being forbidden. Then, why does it happen that different types of restrictive regulations gain currency? The reason for this is satanic inducements.