النص المفهرس

25
Surah Al-Ma'idah : 5 : 2
tention of doing Hajj or 'Umrah, hunting becomes a crime and sin.
Stay away from it.
Living under the Authority and Wisdom of the Creator
Towards the end of the verse, it was said: Rukauft which
means that Allah Almighty ordains what He wills. Nobody has the
right to ask questions or take exception in obeying it. This statement
is perhaps indicative of an element of wisdom - that the permission
given to human beings to slaughter and eat some animals is no act of
injustice. The Creator and Master who has made all these life forms is
also the One who has formulated, in His perfect wisdom and insight,
the law that the lower form shall be the sustenance of the higher. The
soil of the earth is food for trees and trees are food for animals and an-
imals are food for human beings. There is no higher form of creation
in this world, therefore, human beings cannot become food for anyone.
Verse 2
◌َّيُّهَا الَّذِيْنَ امَنُوا لَا تُحِلُّوا شَعَائِرَاللّهِ وَلَا الشَّهْرَ الْحَرَامَ وَلَ
الْهَدُىَ وَلَا الْقَلَئِدَ وَلَ أَقِّيْنَ الْبَيْتَ الْرَامَ يَبْتَغُونَ فَضْلًا مِنُ
تَّبِّهِمْ وَرِضْوَانًا، وَإِذَا خَلَلُهُمْ فَاصْطَادُوا، وَلَا يَجْرِ مَنَّكُمُ شَكَانُ
قَؤٍُّ أَنْ صَدُّوْكُمْ عَنِ الْمُسَُجِدِ الْحُرَامِ أَنْ تَعْتَدُوا، وَتَعَاوَنُوا
عَلَّى الْبِّرِّ وَالتَّغْوِىءٌ، وَلَا تَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الْإِثُمِ وَالْعُدْوَانِ.
وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ إِنَّ اللَّهُ شَدِيْدُ الْعِقَابِ ﴿٢﴾
O those who believe, do not violate (the sanctity) of the
Marks of Allah, nor of the sacred month, nor of the sac-
rificial animal, nor of the garlands, nor of those pro-
ceeding to the Sacred House, seeking the grace of their
Lord, and Pleasure. When you are out of Ihram, you
may hunt. And malice against a people for their having
prevented you from al-Masjid al-Haram, should not
cause you to cross the limits. Help each other in right-
eousness and piety, and do not help each other in sin
and aggression. And fear Allah. Surely, Allah is severe
at punishment. [2]

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Surah Al-Ma'idah : 5 : 2
Linkage of Verses
The first verse of Surah al-Ma'idah emphasized the fulfillment of
contracts. Included among these contracts is the contract or pledge to
abide by the restrictions of the lawful and the unlawful as ordained by
Allah Almighty. The second verse cited here describes two important
articles of this contract. The first relates to the sanctity of the signs,
symbols or hallmarks of Allah with the specific instruction to stay
away from desecrating them. The second article recommends an even-
handed dispension of justice to everyone, your own or not your own,
friend or foe, which has been combined with a corresponding prohibi-
tion of any counter injustice inflicted in return for some injustice done.
Background
There are some events which form the background of the revelation
of these verses. Let us go to them first so that the subject of the verse
becomes fully clear to us. One of these is the event of Hudaybiyah the
details of which have been taken up by the Holy Qur'an elsewhere.
This relates to the sixth year of Hijrah when the Holy Prophet and
his noble Companions decided to perform 'Umrah.
The Holy Prophet & entered into the Ihram of 'Umrah with more
than one thousand of his Companions and left for Makkah al-
Mu'azzamah. After having reached Hudaybiyah close to Makkah al-
Mu'azzamah, he sent a message to the Makkans that he was coming in
with his group to perform 'Umrah and not for any aggressive designs.
He requested that they be allowed to perform 'Umrah. The disbeliev-
ers of Makkah, not only that they refused it, they put forward many
hard conditions and challenged them to agree to a treaty which stipu-
lated that all Muslims will undo their Ihram they were in at that time
and go back. When they come next year to perform their 'Umrah, they
would be required to come without any arms, stay for three days only,
perform 'Umrah and leave. Besides these conditions, there were many
others agreeing to which was obviously very much against the self-
respect of Muslims. But, obeying the orders of the Holy Prophet ,
everyone returned in peace. After that, it was in the month of Dhu-al-
Qa'dah of the Hijrah year 7 that this missed 'Umrah was performed
again with full observance of the conditions imposed under the Treaty.
However, the events at Hudaybiyah and the insulting conditions

27
Surah Al-Ma'idah : 5 : 2
imposed there had planted seeds of discord in the hearts of the Com-
panions against the disbelievers of Makkah. Then there came up the
other incident when Hatim ibn Hind, one of the disbelievers of Mak-
kah, came to Madinah al-Tayyibah with his trading goods. After hav-
ing sold his goods, he left his baggage and his attendant outside Madi-
nah and came to visit the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and expressed his
desire to enter the fold of Islam, in all hypocricy, so that Muslims are
satisfied. But, the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم had, well before he came
to him, told his Companions on the strength of revelation that a man
was coming to them who would talk in the words of the Satan. And
when he went away, he said that the man came with disbelief and re-
turned with deception and treason. Leaving the company of the Holy
Prophet , this man went straight out of Madinah where the live-
stock of the people of Madinah were grazing. He drove them away with
him. The noble Companions came to know about this somewhat late.
When they went out after him, he was gone out of their reach. Then it
was in the seventh year of Hijrah, when they were going with the Holy
-
Prophet & to perform the Qa da' of 'Umrah they had missed at Huday-
biyah, they heard someone reciting Talbiyyah at some distance. When
they looked, they discovered that the same Hatim ibn Hind who had
decamped with the animals belonging to the people of Madinah was
right there going for 'Umrah with the same animals going with him as
sacrificial animals. At that time, the noble Companions thought of at-
tacking him and taking their animals back by killing him off right
there.
The third event came to pass in the eighth year of Hijrah when
Makkah al-Mukarramah was conquered in Ramadan al-Mubarak and
the entire Arabian peninsula came under Islamic rule. The disbeliev-
ers of Makkah were set free by the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم without
any revenge. They went about doing everything they used to do with
complete freedom to the extent that they even kept observing their pa-
gan customs of Hajj and 'Umrah too. At that time some noble Compan-
ions thought of taking their revenge for what had happened at Huday-
biyah. These people had stopped them from doing 'Umrah to which
they were entitled on all counts, as permissible and justified. Why,
they thought, should they now allow their Hajj and 'Umrah on any
count which were all impermissible and unjustified? Why not attack

28
Surah Al-Ma'idah : 5 :2
them, take their animals and finish them off?
These events have been narrated by Ibn Jarir on the authority of
'Ikrimah and al-Suddi. It was on the basis of some of these events that
the present verse was revealed. Through it, Muslims were told that
holding the signs of Allah in esteem was their own bounden duty. Mal-
ice and hostility against an enemy was no reason to disturb this stand-
ing rule. This was absolutely impermissible. Even fighting during the
sacred months was not permissible. Also not permissible was stopping
sacrificial animals from reaching the Haram or taking them away for-
cibly. As for the disbelievers who have donned the Ihram garments
and who, in their estimation, have embarked on their pilgrimage to
seek the good pleasure of Allah Almighty (though, because of their dis-
belief, this is a mistaken notion, yet) the sanctity of the signs of Allah
demands that they should not be confronted in any way. Then there
was the case of people who had stopped Muslims from performing
their 'Umrah. Any effort to avenge their past hostility against Mus-
lims in the form of Muslims stopping them from entering into Makkah
or from performing their rites of Hajj was not permissible. This is so
because this amounts to Muslims doing an injustice in return for an
injustice to them which was not permissible in Islam. We can now go
to a detailed explanation of the verse.
Commentary
The first sentence of the Verse says : ◌ِكَأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا يُحِلّوْا شَعَانِرَ اللَّه (O those
who believe, do not violate [the sanctity of] the Marks of Allah). Here
the word, Sha'a'ir has been translated as 'Marks.' This is the plural
form of Sha'irah which means mark, sign or symbol. Therefore, Sha'a'ir
and Sha irah signify things perceptible through the senses which sym-
bolize something. As such the Marks (Sha'a'ir) of Islam would be
deeds and actions recognized as symbolic of one's being Muslim in
faith. These are quite common such as Salah, Adhan, Hajj, Circumcis-
sion and Beard in accordance with the Sunnah. The Tafsir or explana-
tion of the Qur'anic expression wrts (Sha'a'irullah: The Marks of Al-
lah) as it appears in this verse has been reported in varying words.
But, the clearest of them is what has been reported from Hasan al-
Başri and 'Ata' on whom both be the mercy of Allah. Imam al-Jassas
finds their statement as a compedium of all explanations. According

29
Surah Al-Ma'idah : 5 : 2
to this statement, "Sha'a'irullah" means all obligations the limits of
which have been set forth by the Shari'ah of Islam. In this verse, the
essence of the meaning is that one should not violate the sanctity of
the marks of Allah. One form of such violation could be a total dismis-
sal of what one has been obligated with. Under the second form, one
may act in accordance with these obligations by electing to obey some
injunctions and leave out others ending up with a compliance which
remains incomplete. A third form could be that one starts transgress-
ing the appointed limits and keeps going farther beyond. The Qur'anic
statement : ◌ِلَايَحِلّوا شَعَائِرَ اللّه (do not violate [the sanctity of] the Marks of
Allah) forbids all these three forms.
The Holy Qur'an gives the same instruction elsewhere in a differ-
ent mode as follows:
وَمَنْ تُعَظِّمْ شَعَانِرَ اللّهِ فَإِنَّهَا مِنْ تَغْوَى الْقُلُوبِ
And whoever exalts the Marks of Allah, then this is from the
fear of Allah in hearts. (22:32)
The part of the sentence which follows in the verse under study
gives details of a particular kind of the Marks of Allah, that is, the
Marks that concern the rites of Hajj.
The text says:
وَلَا الشَّهْرَ الْخَرَامَ وَلَ الْهَدُىَ وَلَ الْقَلاَئِدَ وَلََّ أْقِيْنَ الْبَيْتَ الْحَرَامَ يَبْتَغُونَ
فَضْلاً مِنُ تَّبِهِمْ وَرِضْوَانًا
It means: Do not violate its sanctity by fighting and killing during
the months in which it is prohibited. This refers to the four months
during which mutual fighting was legally prohibited. They are Dhul-
Qa'dah, Dhul-Hijjah, Muharram and Rajab. Later on, this injunction
was abrogated as agreed under the overwhelming consensus of
'Ulama'. In addition to this, command was given that there should be
no violation of the sanctity of sacrificial animals within the Haram of
Makkah, specially of the band round their necks placed there as a
symbol of sacrifice. One form of violating the sanctity of these animals
could be that they are stopped from reaching the Haram or are
snatched away. The second form could be that of using the animals for
a purpose other than sacrifice, such as using them to ride or milk. The

30
Surah Al-Ma'idah : 5 : 2
verse has declared all these form as impermissible.
The text then prohibits the violation of the sanctity of those who
have left their homes to embark on a journey to al-Masjid al-Haram
with the intention of performing Hajj - for their purpose on this jour-
ney is to seek the blessing and pleasure of their Lord. Not violating
the sanctity of such people means that they should neither be stopped
during their journey nor should any pain be caused to them.
After that it was said: BURG6 ;. It means: And when you get
released from the Ihram, you may hunt. In other words, the limit of
the prohibition of hunting during the state of Ihram appearing in the
first verse has been declared by saying that your release from the
Ihram neuteralizes the in-Ihram prohibition of hunting which has now
become permissible.
Being deliniated in the verse under reference is a particular part of
the contract which is operative between every human being and the
Lord of all the worlds. Some of it has already been identified upto this
point. The first out of these is the instruction to uphold the invoilable
dignity of the Marks of Allah as sacrosanct and to guard against any
chances of their being desecrated. Then come some details concerning
the Marks of Allah which belong to Hajj. Here, the instruction given is
that nothing should be done to stop them and that effort should be
made to stay away from any action which desecrates them.
The statement which follows after that takes up the second part of
وَلَا يَجْرِ مَنَّكُمْ شَتَأْنُ قَوْمٍ أَنٌ صَدُّرُكُمْ عَنِ المُسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ آَنُ : the contract in the following words
ER's It means: There were those people who had stopped you from en-
tering Makkah and performing your 'Umrah and after that event at
Hudaybiyah, you were returning all sad and angered. Now that you
have power in your hands, let things not turn in a way that you start
taking revenge for what happened in the past by stopping them from
entering the House of Allah and the Sacred Mosque and performing
their Hajj - because this is injustice and Islam does not favour aveng-
ing injustice by inflicting counter injustice. Instead of that, it teaches
the doing of justice in return for injustice done and upholding it under
all odds. It is true that those people, under the sway of their power.
and position at that time, had stopped Muslims from entering the Sa-
cred Mosque and performing 'Umrah, quite unjustly indeed. But, the

31
Surah Al-Ma'idah : 5 : 2
retaliation for this injustice can hardly be that Muslims now go about
using their power to stop them from carrying out their Hajj rites.
The Qur'an teaches that friend and foe should be treated equally
on the scale of justice. It commands Muslims to do nothing but justice
as a matter of obligation, no matter how deadly the enemy and no
matter how serious the pain inflicted. That Islam guards the rights of
enemies is certainly one of the peculiar qualities of Islam which does
not answer one injustice by another, rather elects to do justice in re-
turn.
The Qur'anic Principle of Mutual Cooperation and Assistance
وَتَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الْبِرِّ وَالتَّقْوَى وَلَا تَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الإِثْمِ وَالْعُدْوَانِ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهِ ﴿ إِنَّ
اللَّهَ شَدِيْدُ الْعِقَابِ.
And help each other in righteousness and piety, and do not
help each other in sin and aggression. And fear Allah. Sure-
ly, Allah is severe at punishment.
This is the last sentence of the second verse of Surah al-Ma'idah.
Here, the Holy Qur'an has given such a wise verdict on an elemental
question of human life that it can be confidently taken as the moving
spirit behind any reliable world order on which depends the prosperity
and survival of all human beings. As such, acting in accordance with
the Qur'anic principle of Mutual Cooperation and Assistance is the
only way to the betterment of the human beings. Every sensible per-
son already realizes that things get done in our world through the
cooperative efforts of all human beings. This is how the system keeps
running. A solitary person, no matter how smart, powerful or rich,
cannot procure what he needs to sustain his life single-handedly. One
lone person cannot go through all the stages of growing and processing
his ready-to-eat food, nor can he cope up with the countless steps re-
quired in growing cotton, manufacturing cloth and having a dress pre-
pared to fit his measurements, nor can he move his things from one
place to the other. Thus, it is not difficult to see that every human be-
ing needs hundreds and thousands of others to run his life. This mu-
tual cooperation of theirs is what keeps the whole system going. Inci-
dentally, this cooperation is not limited to the life of the world of our
experience, it is also needed in the stages from death to burial - even

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Surah Al-Ma'idah : 5 : 2
beyond, when one remains depending upon those he left behind and
who may pray for his forgiveness and do things the reward of which
keeps reaching him after his death.
Great is the majesty of Allah who, in His perfect wisdom and pow-
er, set up such a formidable system of this world, a system where eve-
ry human being needs the other. The poor man needs the rich while
the richest of the rich need the poor worker to handle jobs with labour
and skill. The traders need consumers and consumers need traders.
The home owner needs a team of technicians having expertise in many
areas in order to build a house and they, in turn, need him. If this
universal element of need was not there and mutual assistance re-
mained dependant on moral superiority of persons and parties, just
imagine who would have been working for whom. The whole thing
would have fallen flat for we have been seeing what has happened to
common moral virtues and ethical values in this world of ours. Even if
this division of labour could have been enforced as some law made by
some government or international organization, the fate it would have
met would have been no different than the fate of all sorts of laws pro-
liferating the many national and international forums of the world
where the law rests at peace in acts while the bazars and offices are
run by shadow laws of bribery, nepotism, neglect of duty and apathy of
application. We have to salute the framework of doing things given to
us by the wisest of the wise, the power of the powers, who placed in
the hearts of people of different inclinations to have the ability and de-
sire to run their lives with a particular line of work as its pivot. Had it
been otherwise and some international organization or a government
chose to assign fields of work among people making someone a carpen-
ter, others iron-mongers or janitors or managers of water and food
supplies, who would have become so obedient to such commands from
governments and institutions as to sacrifice all personal considera-
tions and jump right into the line of work chosen for them?
So, it is Allah Almighty who has put into man's heart the inclina-
tion towards and liking for whatever work or role for which He has
created him. Now he takes the service he is doing as his lifework
without any legal compulsion and it is through this that he earns his
living. The end product of this firmly established system is that all

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Surah Al-Ma'idah : 5 : 2
human needs are easily satisfied at the cost of small cash. It may be
ready-to-eat food or ready-to-wear clothes or ready-to-use furniture or
a turn-key home - one can buy all this at some affordable price. With-
out the benefit of this system, even a billionare would have failed to
acquire a single grain of wheat despite being ready to stake all his
wealth. In order to visualize the outcome of this natural system, think
of one of your stays in a hotel where you enjoy the benefit of so many
things without blinking. Only if you were to analyse how this works,
you will notice that the food you eat there is comprised of courses fea-
turing eatables and seasonings from many countries, china and cut-
lery and furniture from many more, and managers, chefs and stewards
from still others. The tiny morsel of food which reaches your mouth is
the result of the combined contribution of millions of machines, ani-
mals and human beings - and it is only after that, that you have been
able to pamper your palate. Take another example. You come out of
the house to go to some place a few miles away. You may either can-
not walk all that distance or you do not have the time to do so. You
find a taxi cab or a bus nearby without realizing that these vehicles
have been assembled with components from many parts of the world
and with drivers and conductors from as many. What things and what
people stand there to wait on you and serve you! Just pay the fare and
be on your way! No government has forced them to provide these for
you. Working behind this scheme of things is the natural law in-
grained into the human heart as a creational imperative by none but
the great master of all hearts Himself.
Not far is the example of what the socialist countries did when
they did away with this natural arrangement by taking over the func-
tion of telling people what they will do in their lives. In order to do
this, they had to, first of all, do away with human freedom through co-
ercion and injustice resulting in the killing and imprisonment of thou-
sands and thousands of people. Those who remained behind were
coerced into working like the parts of a machine, as a result of which,
it can be conceded that production did increase at some places, but it
must also be granted at the same time that this increase came at the
cost of a gross demolition of the free choice of human beings. Thus, the
deal did not turn out to be economical. Look at the natural arrange-
ment in contrast. Here, everyone is free and restricted at the same

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Surah Al-Ma'idah : 5:2
time - restricted in the sense of being devoted to particular jobs and
roles on the basis of natural dispension of dispositions. Since this re-
striction or compulsion comes from nowhere but from natural disposi-
tion, nobody feels being coerced. People who would themselves come
forward to do the toughest labour or the most menial job, people who
would even make efforts to get such jobs, are found everywhere during
all times. The same people would, if a government started forcing
them to do these jobs, just start running away from it enmasse.
In a nutshell, the universal world order revolves round mutual
cooperation. But, let us not forget the other side of the picture which
is very much there. For example, if this mutual cooperation were to be
seriously practiced to carry out activities of crime, theft, robbery, kill-
ing and vandalization resulting in big, powerful and organized associa-
tions of thieves and robbers, then, this very mutual cooperation can
destroy the whole system. This tells us that mutual cooperation is a
two-edged sword which cannot only hurt you but it can also knock out
the universal order of things. Since the world we live in a mix of good
and bad, it was not unlikely that people would start using the power of
mutual cooperation to infest human society with crimes, killings, de-
struction and general loss. Incidentally, this is no more a matter of
likelihood, instead, it is an open fact of life for the whole world to see.
Thus, it was as a reaction to this situation that theorists of the world
laid the foundation of groups and nations based on different ideologies
in order to have security for themselves. The idea was to use the pow-
er of mutual cooperation in favour of a particular group or people by
offering an allied defence against another group or people who at-
tacked them.
The Formation of Separate Nations
According to 'Abd al-Karim al-Shahristani in Al-Milal-wa-al-Nihal,
in the beginning when human population was not much, four nations
came into being in terms of East, West, North and South. People liv-
ing in each of these directions started taking themselves as one nation
while taking others as other nations. And it was on this basis that
they established their mutual cooperation. Later, when the population
of the world became larger, the idea of nationalism and multilaterism
on the basis of geneology, family ties and tribal affiliations became a

35
Surah Al-Ma'idah : 5 : 2
working principle among peoples of all directions. The whole system
of Arabia rested on the basis of such tribal and geneological affinities,
so much so that these were sufficient grounds to go to wars against
each other. Banu Hashim was one nation, Banu Tamim was another
and Banu Khuza'ah still another. Among the Hindus in India, this di-
vision on the basis of the high caste and the low caste still persists un-
changed.
The modern period of European nations did nothing to retain their
geneological distinction, nor did they give any credence to the geneo-
logical peculiarities of the rest of the world. When they gained ascen-
dency in the world, all geneological and tribal groupings were elimi-
nated, separate nations were raised on the basis of regions, provinces,
homelands and languages - almost by placing a piece of humanity on
each such altar. The fact is that this is the form that prevails in most
parts of the world. The limit is that Muslims too - of all the peoples
the least likely - fell a victim to this modern voodoo of community or-
ganization. As if the division as Arabs, Turks, Iraqis and Sindhis were
not enough, they went on dividing and sub-dividing themselves into
Egyptians, Syrians, Hijazis, Najdis, Panjabis, Bangalis, and so many
others who started identifying themselves as separate nations or na-
tionalities or peoples. Since all affairs of their governments were run
on this basis, regional or provincial prejudice went deep into their re-
sponse patterns and peoples of all regions or provinces began relating
to each other on this basis - that became their idea of mutual coopera-
tion.
The Teaching of the Qur'an about Nationalism
and Universalism
Then came the Holy Qur'an reminding human beings of the lesson
they had forgotten. The initial verses of Surah al-Nisa' clearly declared
that all human beings are the children of one father and mother. The
noble Prophet, Sayyidna Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم made this all the
more clear when he publicly announced during the famous address of
his last Hajj that no Arab is superior to a non-Arab nor a white to a
black. Superiority depends on nothing but Taqwa, on the fear of Allah
and obedience to Him. It was this teaching of the Qur'an which gave
the call of " "215; " (Believers are brothers - 49:10) and it was in

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Surah Al-Ma'idah : 5 : 2
one stroke that the jet blacks of Ethiopea were related to the reds of
Turkey and Byzantium and the lineally less endowed non-Arabs to the
Qurayshi and Hashmi Arabs as brothers to each other. The concept of
nation and brotherhood was established on the basis that those who
believe in Allah and His Rasul are one nation and those who do not so
believe are the other. It was this foundation which cut asunder the
family ties of Abu Jahl and Abu Lahab from the noble Prophet & while
joining it with Sayyidna Bilal from Ethiopea and Sayyidna Şuhayb
from Byzantium. Finally, came the proclamation of the Qur'an: as
,It means that Allah created all human beings .(64:2) فَمِنْكُمْ كَافِرٌ وَّ مِنْكُمْ تُمُؤُمِرٌ
then, they split in two groups - some became disbelievers and some
others became believers. A practical demonstration of this Qur'anic
classification was visible during the battles of Badr, Uhud, Ahzab and
Hunayn when a blood brother who elected to stay away from the obe-
dience of Allah and His Rasul found that his bond of mutual coopera-
tion with his believing brother stood severed and he could no longer es-
cape the stroke of his believing brother's sword.
وَتَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الْبِرِوَالتَّقُوَى وَلاَ : Stated in the verse of the Qur'an cited above
-is this very principle of mutual cooperation and assis تَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الإِثْمِ وَالْعُدْوَانِ
tance. Being so reasonable and correct, it exhorts people to cooperate
in deeds which are righteous and matters which are motivated by the
fear of Allah and forbids them from extending their cooperation to any-
thing sinful and aggressive. Just consider that the noble Qur'an has
not suggested here that one should cooperate with Muslim brothers
and not with non-Muslims. Instead of that, it declares that righteous-
ness and the fear of Allah are the bases on which cooperation is to be
extended for this is the real foundation on which rests any cooperation
among Muslims themselves. It clearly means that no help is to be ex-
tended even to a Muslim brother if he is acting contrary to truth or is
advancing towards injustice and aggression. Rather than help him in
what is false and unjust, effort should be made to hold his hands
against indulging in the false and the unjust for this, in reality, is
helping him at its best - so that his present life as well as his life in
the Hereafter is not ruined.
According to a narration from Sayyidna Anas appearing in the Sa-
hih of al-Bukhari and Muslim, the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم has been

:37
Surah Al-Ma'idah : 5 : 2
reported to have said: "انصر أخاك ظالماً اومظلومًا" (That is: Help your brother,
just or unjust). His Companions who were soaked in the teaching of
the Qur'an were surprised. They asked: 'Ya Rasul Allah (O Messenger
of Allah) as for helping the oppressed brother, that we understand.
But, what does 'helping the oppressor' mean?' He said: 'Stop him from
doing injustice - this is helping him.'
This teaching of the Qur'an helped establish that righteousness
(birr) and the fear of Allah (Tagwa) are the real criterions on which it
raised the edifice of Muslim nationalism and to which it invited the
peoples of the world as the common denominator of mutual coopera-
tion and assistance. Contrary to this were sin and aggression (ithm
and 'udwan) which were declared to be serious crimes and cooperation
in these was prohibited. To describe the positive criterions, two separ-
ate words of Birr and Taqwa were used. According to a consensus of
commentators, the word, Birr at this place means the doing of deeds
which are good. This has been translated here as righteousness. The
word, Taqwa means abstinence from what is evil. The word, Ithm has
been used here in an absolute sense meaning sin and disobedience,
whether it relates to rights or acts of worship. As for 'Udwan, it lexi-
cally means the crossing of limits, that is, injustice and aggression.
About cooperating in what is righteousness and the fear of Allah,
the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said : الدال على الخير كفاعله which means: The
reward of the person who shows someone the path of righteousness is
very much the same as if it was taken personally. Ibn Kathir has re-
ported this hadith with reference to al-Bazzar. In addition to that, it
appears in the Sahih of al-Bukhari that the Holy Prophet @ said that
whoever invites people to true guidance and righteous conduct shall
receive a reward equal to all those who would heed to the call and act
right - without the least cut from the reward of such people. As for the
one who invites people to the path of error or sin, he or she will be
earning the same amount of sin fully equal to the sins of all those who
got involved with the filth of sin because of the inviter to sin - without
any decrease in the count of such sins.
Citing Tabarani, reports Ibn Kathir: The Holy Prophet said that
anyone who joins up with an unjust person to assist him goes out of
the fold of Islam. It is on the basis of this guidance that the righteous

38
Surah Al-Ma'idah : 5 : 2
elders of the community have strictly abstained from accepting any of-
fice or service in the courts of unjust rulers - for this amounts to assist-
ing them in their acts of injustice. Tafsir Ruh al-Ma'ani, while explain-
ing the noble verse : ◌َفَلَنْ آَكُونَ ظَهِيْرًا لِلْمُجْرِمِين :'I will never be a helper for the
criminals - 28:17', has reported a hadith in which the Holy Prophet
has said that a call will go forth on the Day of Judgement citing the
oppressors and the unjust and their helpers, so much so that all those
who have handled chores even as insignificant as setting up the pens
and inkpots of the unjust and the oppressive will all be rammed into a
steel coffin and thrown into the Hell.
This is the teaching of the Qur'an and Sunnah which aimed at
spreading the virtues of righteousness, justice, sympathy and good-
mannerliness throughout the world by presenting every single individ-
ual of the community as a living herald and model of the truth. And
conversely, in order to eradicate crimes, injustices and oppressions,
the same teaching had converted every member of the community into
a kind of soldier who was bound to do his duty under all circumstanc-
es, whether watched or unwatched - because of the fear of Allah in his
heart. The whole world saw the outcome of this wise teaching and
grooming during the blessed period of the noble Companions and their
Successors. Even in our day, when war threatens a certain country,
departments of civil defence are established which impart some level
of training for all its citizens. But, nothing of the sort gets done when
it comes to the eradication of crimes, to making people promoters of
good and blockers of evil. It is obvious that an objective like this can-
not be achieved by military parades or civil defence exercises. This is
the ultimate art of living which can only be learnt and practiced in ed-
ucational institutions which, unfortunately, seem to have become
strangers to spiritual and social refinements. This is very much true
about the great qualities of righteousness and the fear of Allah which
seem to be all banned in modern day educational institutions while
the admittance of sin and high-handedness is all too open. What can
the police do when a whole people throw away the concerns of the law-
ful and the unlawful and the right and the wrong on their backs and
turn crime-oriented? Today we see the graph of crime rising high -
theft, robbery, sexual offences, killings and destructions are taking
place everywhere. That the legal machinery can do nothing to root out

39
Surah Al-Ma'idah : 5 : 3
these crimes is because of their failure to take advantage of the
Qur'anic solution suggested above, that is, the governments are far re-
moved from this Qur'anic system, and that they, particularly those
who hold power into their hands, demur from adopting the principle of
righteousness and the fear of Allah as the aim of their life - even
though they have to face a thousand other hardships as a result of
such avoidance. It may be interesting if such deviationists would
swallow their pride at least for once, even if this be on a trial basis.
Let them, then, witness the spectacle of the power of Allah and how it
blesses them and their people with good life filled with the best of
peace and comfort.
On the other side, there were the masses of people who took it for
granted that the eradication of crimes is the exclusive responsibility of
the government. In fact, they have become used to keeping crimes cov-
ered up. The idea of coming up with true witnesses to confirm truth
and eliminate crime is no more a favoured practice among them. Such
people must understand that covering up the crime of the criminal and
avoiding to put their witness on record is an abetment of crime which,
according to the Holy Qur'an, is Haram (unlawful) and a grave sin in-
deed. Furthermore, it is also a flagrant disobedience of the Divine com-
mand: ◌ِوَلا تَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الْإِثْمِ وَالْعُدْوَان (And help each other in righteousness and
piety, and do not help each other in sin and aggression) (5:2).
Verse 3
حُرِّمَتْ عَلَيْكُمُ الْمَيْنَةُ وَالدَّمُ وَحُمُ الْخِنْزِيْرِ وَمَا أُهِلَّ لِغَيْرِ اللهِ
◌ِهِ وَالْمُنْخَيِقَةُ وَالْمُؤْقُؤْذَةُ وَالْتُرَدِيَهُ وَالتَّطِيْحَةُ وَمَا آَكَلَ السَُّ
إِلَّ مَاذَكَّبْتُمْه وَمَاذُبِعَ عَلَى النُّصُبِ وَأَنْ تَسْتَقُسِمُوْا
◌ِالْأَزْلامِ ذُلِكُمْ فِسْقٌهَ اَلْيَوْمَ بِئِسَ الَّذِيْنَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ دِيْنِكُمُ
فَلاَ تَخْشَرُهُمْ وَاخْتَنْنٍ ﴿ اَلْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلُتُ لَكُمْ دِيْنَكُمْ وَ آَتْيُتُ
عَلَيْكُمُ نِعْمَتِىْ وَرَضِيْتُ لَكُمُ الْإِسْلَامَ دِيْنَاء فَمَنِ اضْطُرَّ فِىُ
مَخْمَصَةٍ غَيْرَ مُتَجَانِفٍ لِّثُمِ ؟ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ ﴿٣﴾
Prohibited for you are: the carrion, the blood, the flesh

40
Surah Al-Ma'idah : 5 :3
of swine, and what has been invoked upon with (a
name) other than that of Allah, and the animals dead
by strangulation, dead by blow, dead by a fall, dead by
goring, and that which a beast has eaten unless you
have properly slaughtered it; and that which has been
slaughtered before the idols and that you determine
shares through the arrows. This is sin.
Today those who disbelieve have lost hopes of
(damaging) your faith. So, do not fear them, and fear
Me. Today, I have perfected your religion for you, and
have completed My blessing upon you, and chosen Is-
lam as Din for you. But whoever is compelled by severe
hunger with no way out, having no inclination, then Al-
lah is Most-Forgiving, Very-Merciful. [3]
Commentary
This is the third verse of Surah al-Ma'idah where a number of fun
damental and subsidiary injunctions and rulings have been described.
The first problem relates to lawful and unlawful animals. As for ani-
mals whose meat is harmful for human beings - whether physically,
for it may pose the danger of disease in the human body, or spiritually,
for it may hold the danger of spoilage in human morals or its many
emotional states - these the Qur'an has classed as evil declaring them
to be unlawful. Then there are animals which have no physical or spir-
itual harmfulness, these the Qur'an has declared to be good, pure and
lawful.
The first prohibition in this verse is that of dead animals. These
refer to animals which die without having been slaughtered, either be-
cause of some sickness or because of their natural death. The meat of
such dead animals is extremely harmful for human consumption, not
simply 'medically', but spiritually as well.
However, the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم has exempted fish and lo-
cust as reported in Ahadith narrated in the Musnad of Ahmad, Ibn Ma-
jah, Darqutni and al-Baihaqi and elsewhere.
The second thing declared unlawful in this verse is blood. By say-
ing: upaf esji (Or, flowing blood - 6:145) in another verse of the Holy
Qur'an, it was made clear that blood here means blood which flows.
For this reason, liver and spleen, despite being blood, stand exempted

41
Surah Al-Ma'idah : 5 : 3
from the purview of this injunction. The Hadith referred to a little ear-
lier where fish and locust have been exempted from the purview of
'Maitah' or carrion also carries the exemption of liver and spleen from
the definition of blood.
The third thing declared unlawful is the flesh of swine. 'Lahm' or
flesh means the whole body of the swine which includes fat, ligaments,
everything.
The fourth prohibition is that of an animal which has been invoked
upon with (a name) other than that of Allah (dedicated in this manner,
or slaughtered). And, at the time of slaughtering it as well, the act of
invoking any name other than that of Allah will amount to flagrant
Shirk, which is the ascribing of partners, sharers or associates in the
pure divinity of Allah. This animal, thus slaughtered, shall fall under
the injunction of a dead animal with the consens is of Muslim jurists.
This is what was done by the disbelievers of Arabia when they slaugh-
tered animals invoking the name of their idols, or as some ignorant
people would do when they would slaughter animals in the name of
some saint or savant. It is also possible that someone does invoke the
name of Allah at the time of slaughtering but actually offers it for one
other than Allah making that sacrifice for the pleasure of whatever
that non-Allah is. If so, this too, according to a consensus of Muslim
jurists, is unlawful under the injunction of :ِمَّا أُهِلَ لِغَيْرِ اللَّهِبِه (what has
been invoked upon with [a name] other than that of Allah).
The fifth category made unlawful is that of an animal which has
been strangulated to death, or which has choked itself to death while
struggling out of some trap. Though Munkhaniqah (dead by strangu-
lation) and Mawqudhah (dead by blow) are included under the broad
Qur'anic term of 'Maitah'(carrion), but they have been mentioned here
particularly because the people of Jahiliyyah took them to be permissi-
ble.
The sixth category of animals is Mawqudhah (dead by blow). It
means an animal which has been killed by some hard blow, the kind of
blow that comes from being hit by a staff, rod or rock. Should an ar-
row strike and kill its game in a manner that the arrow does not hit it
with the sharp arrow head but does end up killing it just the same
from the force of the blow itself, then, this too will be counted as Maw-

42
Surah Al-Ma'idah : 5: 3
qudhah and will, as such, be unlawful. Sayyidna 'Adi ibn Hatim All ,
There are times when I hunt': صلى الله عليه وسلم said to the Holy Prophet عنه
with an arrow heavy in the middle. If the game is killed with this ar-
row, can I eat it?' He said: 'If the animal has been killed by a blow
from the heavy side of the arrow, it is included under Mawqudhah - do
not eat it (and if it has been hit by the sharp-edged point and it has
wounded the game, then, you can eat it). Al-Jassas has reported this
narration in Ahkam al-Qur'an citing his own chain of authorities.
Here, the condition is that the arrow should have been released from
the bow after having said Bismillah.
The game killed by a gun bullet has also been ruled by Muslim
Jurists as included under the category of 'Mawqudhah' and is, there-
fore, unlawful. Imam al-Jaşşaş reports from Sayyidna 'Abdullah ibn
'Umar that he used to say: المقتولة بالبندقة تلك الموقوذه which means that an ani-
mal killed by gun shot is the 'Mawqudhah'; therefore, it is unlawful.
Imams Abu Hanifah, Shafi'i, Malik and others are all in agreement
with this view (al-Qurtubi).
The seventh category is called 'al-Mutaraddiyah' (killed by a fall).
It means that an animal which dies by falling from a mountain,
mound or a high building, or which dies by falling into a well or some
similar depth is also unlawful. Therefore, says a report from Sayyidna
'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud: If you see a game standing on top of a mountain
and you shoot your arrow at it after reciting Bismillah and the hit of
the arrow causes the game to fall down and die, then, do not eat it.
Because, here too, the probability exists that the animal did not die
with a hit from the arrow. May be, it died from the shock of the fall - if
so, it will be counted under the category of 'Mutaraddiyah' (dead by a
fall). Similarly, if an arrow is shot at a bird and it falls down in water,
its eating has also been prohibited for the same reason that probability
exists that the hunted bird had died by drowning (al-Jassas).
It should also be noted that Sayyidna 'Adiyy ibn Hatim too has re-
ported the same ruling from the Holy Prophet - (al-Jassas).
The eighth category is that of 'An-Natihah' (dead by goring). It re-
fers to an animal which has died in some collision such as by bumping
against a train or vehicle, or it has been gored by butting against an-

43
Surah Al-Ma'idah : 5 : 3
other animal.
The ninth category is of an animal which died when torn apart by
some beast.
After describing the unlawfulness of these nine categories, an ex-
ception has been mentioned. It was said: 250 .. It means: If you find
any of these animals alive and you slaughter it properly, then, it be-
comes lawful - eating it is permissible.
This exemption cannot be applied to the first four categories, be-
cause in Maitah (carrion) and Dam (blood), the very possibility does
not exist; and as for Khinzir (swine) and what falls under 0, 25 Lic :
ma uhilla li-ghayrillah (what has been invoked upon with [a name]
other than that of Allah), they are unlawful in themselves - slaughter-
ing or not slaughtering them is equally irrelevant. Therefore, there is
a consensus of Sayyidna 'Ali, Ibn 'Abbas, Hasan al-Basri, Qatadah and
other righteous elders on the view that this exemption applies to cate-
gories after the first four, that is, to the 'Munkhaniqah' (dead by stran-
gulation) and what comes after it. So, it comes to mean that, should
the animal be found alive under all these circumstances with common-
ly discernable signs of life, and slaughtered with the name of Allah
while in the same condition, then, it is lawful - whether dead by stran-
gulation, dead by blow, dead by a fall, dead by goring or that which a
beast has eaten. Any of these slaughtered while sensing signs of life
in it shall become lawful.
Under the tenth category, an animal which has been slaughtered
at an altar is unlawful. The altar refers to slabs of rocks placed around
the Ka'bah which the people of Jahiliyyah took as objects of worship
and they would bring animals near the altars and sacrifice them dedi-
cated to these rock slabs. They thought it was worship.
The people of Jahiliyyah used to eat all these kinds of animals, ani-
mals which are evil. The Holy Qur'an declared all of them to be unlaw-
ful.
The eleventh practice declared unlawful in this verse is the deter-
mining of shares with arrows: al-istiqsam bi al-azlam. The Arabic
word, 'al-azlam' used in the Qur'an is the plural of zalam. This was an
arrow used to determine shares during the days of Jahiliyyah. They

44
Surah Al-Ma'idah : 5: 3
were seven in number. One would have 'yes' and the other would have
'no' or some similar words written on them. These arrows were kept in
the custody of the keeper of the Ka'bah.
When someone wanted his fortune told or wished to find out
whether doing something in the future will be beneficial or harmful,
they would go to the keeper of the Ka'bah, present money gift to him
in anticipation of his service, who would, then, take out these arrows
from the quiver one by one. If the arrow so drawn turned out to be the
one with the word 'yes' on it, they thought that doing what they want-
ed to do was beneficial; and if, the arrow drawn had a 'no' on it, they
drew the conclusion that they should not do what they wanted to do.
The reason why this has been mentioned in the context of unlawful
animals is that small groups of pagan Arabs used to have a joint
slaughter of a camel or some other animal but, rather than divide up
shares from the meat to all participants in accordance with the num-
ber of shares originally subscribed to, they would decide it by drawing
these arrows. Obviously, by doing that, someone would remain totally
deprived, someone else would get too much and there would be some-
one getting less than what was his right. Therefore, the unlawfulness
of this procedure was explained alongwith the unlawfulness of ani-
mals.
'Ulama' say that all methods used to divine future happenings or to
find out what is 'Ghayb' (Unseen) - whether divination through num-
bers ('ilm al-Jafr or Jafar), or palm-reading, or the taking of omen -
fall under the injunction of 'determining shares with arrows.'
The Arabic term for 'determining shares with arrows' is sometimes
used for Qimar or gambling as well wherein rights are determined by
the methods of lots or lottery. This too is Haram (unlawful) on the au-
thority of the Qur'an which prohibits it under the name, 'Maisir'
(gambling). Therefore, righteous early elders Said ibn Jubayr, Mujah-
id and Al-Sha'bi said that the way the pagan Arabs used arrows to de-
termine shares, people of Persia and Asia Minor used chessmen and
pieces of backgammon for the same purpose. They all fall under the
injunction about arrows.
After explaining the unlawfulness of determining shares with ar-
rows al-Tafsir al-Mazhari has particularly pointed out that the