Ahsan Hanif – Quran Tafseer – Page 107 – Laws In Islam
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The Surah Al Mahida is the fifth chapter of the Bible and presents exclusions and restrictions on the church's religion, including exclusions of eating or drinking from animals and the use of force to kill animals. The holy month is a day of celebration for Islam, where individuals are killed and breathing, and animals are not eligible for eating or drinking. The importance of necessity and hunting methods is emphasized, as it is a need for individuals to live or function. The Sharia of Islam provides guidance on the common practice of hunting, and individuals are warned not to seeking to eat illegal food and to not take animals as a means of presentation.
AI: Summary ©
Welcome to another episode of our tafsir page
by page. InshaAllah ta'ala. Today we are on
page 107 which is still at the very
beginning of Surah Al Mahida in the 6th
juz. In the previous episode, we took the
final verse of Surah Al Nisa and that
was to do with the specific issue of
inheritance called Al Kalara, which
is where a person doesn't have any
surviving parents or grandparents, nor any children or
descendants, and they have only surviving siblings
from the, either full siblings or from half
siblings from the father's side. And Allah Azzawajal
told us the warnings concerning that particular issue
of inheritance. And then we began with the
tafsir of Surah Al Maidah which is the
5th chapter of the Quran
and Allah gave us the instruction
in the surah that sets the tone for
the whole surah and that is that we
should fulfill our covenants and our pledges to
Allah
and then to those around us as well.
And by from those
or from the fulfillment of pledges and covenants
is then what Allah azza wa jal has
commanded within the Surah of the different rules
and laws concerning food and concerning
what is permissible to eat and when it
is permissible to eat and what isn't permissible
to eat and also when it comes to
honouring the sights of Allah Azza wa Jal
and the rights of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
the symbols of this religion.
We begin today with verse number 3
And that is the statement of Allah Azza
wa Jal.
You are forbidden to eat carrion, blood, pig's
meat, any animal over which any other name
any name other than Allah's has been invoked,
any animal strangled or victim of a venom
blow or a fall,
oh god, or savage by beasts of prey,
unless you still slaughter it in the correct
manner, or anything sacrificed on adulterous
altars.
You are also forbidden to allot shares of
meat by drawing marked arrows, a heinous practice.
Today the disbelievers have lost all hope that
you will give up your religion. Do not
fear them but fear me. Today I have
perfected your religion, for you completing my blessing
upon you, and chosen as your religion is
slammed. But if any of you is forced
by hunger to eat forbidden food with no
intention of of doing wrong, then God or
Allah is Most Forgiving
and Most Merciful.
Allah
in this verse will give to us the
exceptions
that he alluded to in the first verse
of this Surah.
So in the first verse in the last
episode, if you remember Allah
told us,
all of the livestock animals are made halal
for you. Illa ma yutlaa alaykum except for
that which will be recited upon you. Where
is that exception? It is now here in
verse number 3. These are the things that
Allah
has made haram.
From amongst them is, Hurlimata'alaikum
ul Maita. Allah says in verse number 3:
He has made Haram for you carry
on. Carry on meat is anything which dies
of its own accord.
It was sick. It was old. It just
died without any ritual slaughter.
Once
it has died in that way, it is
called in Arabic Maitre,
And Maita is not allowed or permissible to
consume.
Number 2,
adam,
blood, meaning flowing blood.
And so flowing blood is something which is
haram.
And therefore it is not permissible for the
Muslim to eat or to drink from that
type of flowing blood. Number 3, lahmulkhinzir,
pig's meat. That is something which as we
know, as we made Haram by Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. And that includes all of the
types or all of the parts of the
pig and the swine, not just its meat,
but anything to do with it is something
which is considered to be Haram.
And anything
over which other than Allah's name has been
invoked. So it may be a sheep that
has been slaughtered, and he may be slaughtered
with a knife and by severing of the
arteries. But other than Allah's name was invoked
upon it because that person doesn't believe in
Allah, they're mentioning some idol's name, some false
God's name and so therefore Allah says that
meat is no longer halal for you. And
that is why other than the meat of
the people of the book as we know
the people the scripture which will be mentioned
later on in today's episode in the forthcoming
verse inshallah ta'ala.
All other meat that is sacrificed is not
halal for the Muslim. If you sacrifice from
someone
who follows Hinduism or Sikhism or for example
is an atheist, then those people their sacrifice
is not permissible for the Muslim to consume.
Likewise, from that which Allah has made haram
is the animal which is al Munhaaniqah.
It's been strangled.
And there were different ways that the Arabs
used to kill their their their animals and
their meat in order to
consume. From those methods was that they would
strangle them. Either with their hands sometimes or
with an implement, like for example, a wire
or some type of a rope that they
would use to strangle the animal or sometimes
they would have those snares that would essentially
take up the animal from its neck and
it would it would strangle the animal in
that way. That is something which is not
allowed. An animal which has been strangled, it
is not permissible for you to consume.
Or the animal that has been struck by
a blow,
meaning that you come for example with a
rock or you come with a a stick
or something or a bat and you strike
the animal on his head and it dies
as a result. That is not something which
is permissible to consume. So therefore, what is
only permissible to consume for us as Muslims
in terms of ritual slaughter is that over
which Allah 'Azza wa Jal's name has been
mentioned and it has been sorted in terms
of using something to sever the arteries, an
implement that severs the arteries and allows the
blood to flow out from it. Likewise, from
that which Allah has made Haram, so we
have mentioned the strangled animal, the one that
is killed by a violent blow, 1 mutaradiyyah
or the one that dies as a result
of a fall. Like animals, for example, that
are upon a mountain or upon a high
elevated place and they fall. They lose their
footing, they fall and they fall down and
they break their neck or they die as
a result of that fall. It's not permissible
for you now to come,
to come
and to eat that animal.
Or a natiha.
The natiha is the animal that has been
gored or savaged by another beast of prey.
So for example, an animal, a wolf, a
tiger, a lion comes and kills that animal
and eats from it or kills it and
leaves it. Is it permissible for you not
to go and eat it? No. Because again
it hasn't been richly distorted. It has been
gorged upon by that animal that is a
beast of prey.
Allah Azzawajal then gives an exception and says,
unless you still slaughter it in the correct
manner. How does that work? For example, the
animal is still living. So it may have
for example been
subject to a fall, but it still has
life in it. Or he may have been
brought down by an animal, a beast of
prey, but he didn't finish it off. He
left it for one reason or another, or
you scared her away and he left it.
But the animal now is injured, but it's
still breathing, still has life within it, isn't
dead and is a is a is a
is a,
life hasn't left it. It is still breathing.
And so you are allowed then to ritual
distort it by mentioning Allah's name and serving
his artifice and then it becomes halal for
you. And it becomes halal for you. So
Allah makes that exception. So Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala in the previous, 4 or 5 things
that Allah mentions is speaking about those animals
that would normally be halal because their animals
are always haram. Like for example, swine.
That's always Haram. But there are certain animals
which are Halal, like for example a sheep,
a goat, but if those animals are subject
to one of these methods of killing or
dying, then they become haram.
Unless you are able to reach them in
time before they actually die and you are
able to literally store to them. And likewise
from that which Allah has made haram. So
these are the exceptions that Allah is referring
to in verse number 1. Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala then speaks about other things that are
not necessarily to do with food that are
also haram. And from those things is Allah
Azzawajal says,
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, and that
in which you draw or allot shares, which
is a heinous practice. And nusob
was sticks that they used to have in
the times of Jahidiya. 3 sticks that they
would have.
And what they would do,
wamaydubihayal
nusob means
as they would do in their rituals, the
pagan rituals. They have times when they sacrifice
to their gods besides Allah Azzawajal, their idols,
that is called Nusl. Allah Azzawajal says that
which is slaughtered upon the Nusl also isn't
allowed and that is similar to invoking other
than Allah's name upon it Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
because that is a religious practice which goes
against the Sharia of Islam. Allah Azzawajal mentions
one to stalk Seemobile Islam and that you
draw marked arrows.
Marked arrows means that the Arabs used to
have these sticks or these arrows that they
would have 3 of them often
and they would use them to determine their
affairs,
whether they should do something or don't do
something. So normally those 3 sticks, one of
the sticks upon it would say, go ahead
and do it, If I'll do it. And
the other one would say, Leitefahl. Don't do
it. And the third one would just be
blank. So they would pick a stick all
of the same height. They don't know which
one is which. They would pick out a
stick. And depending on what it says, they
would take that as a means of
going ahead or not going ahead. So for
example, someone wants to get married, someone wants
to start a business, someone wants to do
whatever they want to do, they would pick
one of those sticks. The stick says do
it, you go ahead and do it. The
stick says don't do it, You don't do
it. The stick is blank, which is the
3rd stick. It means start again. Do another
round until you pick one of those 2
that tells you to do or don't do
something. Allah says that these are from the
practices of jahiliyyah. Essentially that they're looking for
some type of omen or they're looking for
some type of of divine divinity that will
come and give them like what people often
do when they have all of these superstitions
and all of these different ways of of
trying to determine whether something should be done
or not. And they look for these signs
and importance around them to see them. That
is something which isn't allowed in Islam. Instead,
what our religion gave to us, as we
know from the sunnah is the prayer that
is called istikhara dua that you make to
Allah azza wa jal. That if Allah azza
wa jal has decreed good for you in
something, Allah makes it easy for you. And
if Allah Azzawajal has decreed something bad for
you in it, that Allah Azzawajal keeps you
away from it. And then Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala will guide you to that which is
better. All of these practices, therefore, are something
which Allah describes as being fisk. They are
heinous practices.
Allah
says, Today the disbelievers
have lost all hope that you will give
up your religion,
so do not fear them and fear me.
And it is said
that this part of the verse and the
part that comes after it which speaks about
the completion of the religion of Islam,
These were revealed to the Prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam in his farewell Hajj.
So towards the very end of his life,
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. And that is because
in the farewell Hajj, when the prophet salallahu
alaihi wa sallam came to perform pilgrimage in
Mecca, he had approximately a 100,000
people coming to make Hajj with him from
all over Arabia.
Because more or less, all of Arabia by
that time had come under the leadership and
the control of the Muslims and the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam. So all of Arabia now
more or less is Muslim. And all of
these people are coming from all of the
different corners of Arabia to come and make
Hajj with the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Those
people that are still amongst them, because they
were still amongst them, disbelievers
and they are still amongst them hypocrites. They
know now that this religion is here to
stay. Not like the early days in Mecca
when the Muhajirun were few and they are
weak and you don't know what's going on
and people think oh these people will will
soon be wiped out or they won't last
very long or even those early days in
Medina when the battles are raging between Badr
and Uhad in the trench and things are
still very, you know, people for the outside
look at them. You look and they say,
oh, these people are weak or they only
have limited time or their enemies are too
many and too great in number. Now the
Muslims are strong.
100,000 of them so many of them in
terms of number and they
rule much of Arabia. They control Mecca and
Medina and the major cities of Arabia.
So don't fear them and fear me Allah
says.
Allah Azzawajal says a Allah Azzawaj then says,
a beautiful part of this verse, Today I
have perfected your religion for you, completed my
blessing upon you and chosen as your religion
Islam.
Meaning Islam is perfect. It doesn't need anything
to be added to it, it doesn't need
anything to be taken away from it, it
doesn't need anyone's opinions or logic to come
and improve it or better it. Allah has
made it perfect and from the perfection of
this religion is that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
has chosen for its people. So if Allah
has chosen Islam for you, guided you to
Islam, that is the greatest blessing of Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala upon you. So to acknowledge
that blessing, to recognize it, to appreciate it,
to thank Allah azza wa Jal for it
and then to appreciate it
by adhering to that religion and following it
and being from its people. It is something
which shows
your gratitude to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. This
verse is the verse
about which a Jewish man once came to
the khalifa Umar radiAllahu anhu during his khilafa
Khattab radiAllahu an, the famous companion
and he said, O leader of the Muslims,
there is a verse in your Quran that
were it to have been revealed to us
the Jewish community
we would have taken that day as a
day of Eid, a day of celebration and
festival because it's an amazing verse
and so Umar radiAllahu anhu asked him what
verse is that and he recited this portion
of verse number 3 of Surah Al Maeda.
Allah azza wa Jal is saying today I
have perfected your religion for you, completed my
blessing upon you, chose it in Islam for
you as your religion. What an amazing verse.
That everything Allah has made perfect in terms
of this religion and Allah has perfected this
religion of Islam. That is in and of
itself a statement of such magnitude,
such importance,
such rejoice and happiness that this man is
saying that day, if that was to be
revealed to us, that would be a day
of celebration.
Ramuh
said to him I know exactly when that
verse was revealed. It was revealed on the
day of Arafa in the farewell Hajj of
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
on the Friday because Arafa on that day
or in that year happened to be on
a Friday. And so that day is a
day of celebration.
It's the day when the people but we
celebrate it in our way. And that is
that the people who want performed Hajj, they
should fast because Allah will forgive them a
year before
and a year after 2 years of expiation
and for the people making Hajj it is
the most important aspect of the Hajj when
they go to the plane of Arafah and
they raise their hands in Du'a and they
ask Allah for his mercy and his forgiveness
and that Allah azza wa Jal showers upon
them his blessings. What greater way of celebrating
that day and rejoicing
this blessing of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala then
thanking Allah Azzawajal and showing your need before
him Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And so that is one of the greatest
days of our of our religion as we
know and after it comes the day of
Eid which is the day of Eid
al Adha. Allah Azzawaj then concludes this verse
by saying, but if any of you is
forced by hunger to eat the forbidden food.
So that which we mentioned before, someone is
doesn't have any food and they're about to
die. They're in extreme circumstances. They're travelling in
the middle of the desert, and they've lost
all of their provisions, for example. And now
they come across an animal that's died of
its own accord or an animal that died
because a beast of prey gourd
it and savaged it. Or for example, an
animal that they find a brook, a snake
because of a fall. Allah says now because
of the situation of necessity,
it is permissible for you to eat what
you need of it. So long as you
don't
you don't want to seek to do Haram.
Meaning you don't just go and eat it
and eat more and more than you need.
Doesn't become something which you go and and
purposefully
look, put yourselves in those situations so that
you can eat haram. Like someone only goes,
for example, to a place where he knows
that he will find pork and he places
himself in that situation where there is no
other food or drink and that's the only
thing left for him. No. That's Allah knows
people's intentions. He knows that which they intend
in their hearts. But if a person genuinely
is in a situation
of dire need or necessity,
than that which is usually haram for a
limited time and scenario becomes haram for that
particular individual until they are able then to
go and continue on their way. For In
Allah, for for * Allah is after forgiving,
Most Merciful to those people. And this final
portion of this verse gives to us a
very important principle of our religion and that
is that the Sharia from its mercy
to people from the generosity of Allah is
that in times of necessity
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala makes things easy for
people. So Allah
makes things halal for you because of necessity.
Necessity means
that it's a dire need, that it's actually
something which you need. That's the definition of
the word necessity, that it's something which you
actually need in order for you to be
able to live or to continue
or,
to function. Those are things of necessity. And
they are limited in terms of their scope
because it is only for that period so
long as that necessity remains. Once the necessity
is no longer there, then it is something
which you no longer are eligible for. And
again, you go back to the default ruling
of whatever the issue may be.
In the next verse, verse number 4, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala then says,
they ask you meaning the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam what is lawful for them.
Say all good things are lawful for you.
This includes what you have taught your birds
and beasts of prey to
catch, teaching them as Allah has taught you.
So eat what they catch for you but
first pronounce Allah's name over it. Be mindful
of Allah. He is swift to take account.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says here that they
ask you, O Muhammad salallahu alayhi wasalam concerning
what is halal for their meaning in terms
of food, what is permissible for them to
consume.
Say all that is good and lawful is
halal for you and that shows that everything
that is halal is tayib and tayib means
that it is halal. And so Allah says
that that which is good for you, that
which is permissible for you, that which Allah
has made halal for you within the confines
of the Sharia. That is something which is
lawful for you to consume. And that also
includes
what you have taught your
beasts of
prey to catch. You're hunting animals. So whether
that be a dog that's a hunting dog
because it is permissible for people to have
dogs for the purposes of hunting. Or other
animals and birds that are used to hunt
with that express
express,
purpose of hunting.
So the animal, when it hunts, it doesn't
hunt for itself. That's the difference between a
trained animal and an untrained animal. You send
out a dog to go and catch something,
or an animal to go and catch something,
a bird or prey to catch something. If
it is untrained, it will eat it and
kill it for itself, and it will consume
from it. That then becomes haram for you
to consume. But a trained animal, a trained
hunting dog is the one, as is mentioned
in some narrations, that if you tell it
to go and hunt, it hunts. If you
tell it to stop, it will stop. You
tell it to sit, it will sit. And
so it obeys the commands of its master.
And so those dogs or those animals are
trained to hunt. Allah says that it is
permissible to use them for hunting purposes whether
it be a dog or whether it be
another animal from that which the shari'a is
made halal. Those animals that they are hunting
are halal animals also that they are hunting,
it is permissible for you to do so.
This is mentioned in detail in the books
of hadith such as in the Roshan al
Adi, Ibnu Hatim radiAllahu
an, the animal when it catches the prey
and how it should be caught and whatever.
Those details are mentioned in the books of
the sunnah and in the books of fiqh.
The point here being the general principle that
Allah has made
this one of the easy ways for people.
So just as you can shoot and implement,
so you can hunt with an arrow, you
can hunt with a spear. These are all
implements
that you use to hunt. Likewise, the dog
that is that is therefore
hunting is also used as an implement to,
slaughter.
That is permissible. But Allah says as they
hunt, then mention the name of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala because that is from the etiquettes
of of this. Waqumumima,
Waqumima am Sakhna 'alaikum
waqumumma Allahi Alaihi. Eat from that which they
catch for you but first pronounce the name
of Allah 'Azza wa Jal offer it. And
that shows to you the importance of this
aspect that is repeated and is repeated, elsewhere
in the Quran. For example, in Surat Al
Anaim faqulu mimadukhi rasmunllahhi ali. Eat from that
which Allah Azzawaj's name has been made or
pronounced over. And that is at the time
of ritual slaughter. But it is also therefore
from the etiquette of eating as we know
that you say Bismillah before you eat as
the prophet told us salallahu alayhi wasalam in
the sunnah and in the Hadith.
And so Allah ajawajal has made a halal
for a person
to take a dog
for the purposes of hunting because otherwise dogs
normally are something which are disliked or prohibited
in the sharia depending on the position of
the scholars that you follow. But it's something
which isn't encouraged because the prophet told us
salallahu alaihi wasallam that the angels don't enter
into the house in which there is a
dog. And that's something that we should be
mindful of because to have a dog then
as a pet for no reason, for no
purpose other than there is a pet is
something which is frowned upon in the Sharia
and it's not from the practice of the
Muslims.
However, for a purpose, like for example, a
shepherd dog, like for example a guide dog
for someone who is blind, like for example
a hunting dog, as is mentioned here, that
is something which is permissible as is mentioned
not only here in this verse, but also
in the sunnah of the prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam.
And therefore those animals because they are trained,
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has given to them
different rulings
than other dogs, for example, that you would
have otherwise.
Allah makes it halal to eat from that
food that they have hunted if you pronounce
the name of Allah upon it, and Allah
ajawal then concludes the verse by saying, and
be mindful of Allah for Allah ajawal is
swift to take people into account.
In the following verse, verse number 5, which
is the final verse that we will take
today,
Allah then says
Today,
all good things have been made lawful for
you. The food of the people of the
book is lawful for you as your food
is lawful for them. So I chaste believing
women as well as chaste women of the
people who were given the scripture before you,
as long as you have given to them
their bridal gifts and married them, not taking
them as lovers or secret mistresses.
The deeds of anyone who rejects faith will
come to nothing and in the hereafter
he will be one of the losers. Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala again says that everything which
is Halal and Qayb has been made Halal
in this religion. Everything which Allah has made
Halal
is pure and good.
And everything which Allah has made Haram, it
has been made Haram because there is something
which is harmful in it. Whether you appreciate
it or don't, whether you know it or
not, it is something which is harmful to
you or to those around you or to
the Ummah in general. Allah says that from
the food that is made halal is the
food of the people of the scripture as
opposed to other than them. And that is
because the people of the scripture generally are
people who slaughter to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
They don't slaughter to idols or to,
or to other than Allah
They slaughter to Allah subhanahu ta'ala and in
the name of Allah azza wa jal generally.
And so therefore the food is halal for
you just as your food is halal for
them. And likewise, it is permissible to marry
as well as the believing women for the
men who are Muslims to marry from the
women of the people of the book, so
long as they give to them their diaries
and they fulfill their rights. And this is
something which is also therefore permissible for men
to do. However, there is discussion amongst the
scholars of Islam as to whether that is
something which should be recommended or not. And
clearly that depends upon the situation of a
person, depends upon their circumstances,
the time, the place, the generation that they
live in. And that is because if the
man who is normally the leader of the
household
has the power over his children in terms
of influence and making sure that they are
firm upon their religion and that they follow
the sharia of Allah azza wa Jal, then
that mitigates
the issue of marrying someone from the people
of the scripture. But if that's not the
case or there will be undue influence upon
the children and in the household and in
that marriage, as sometimes happens and is the
case, then that is something which is not
allowed because it is detrimental to a person's
religion and the religion of their children and
their descendants. And so the Sharia makes these
things allowed within those circumstances in which they
are going to be fulfilling the objectives of
the Sharia. And from the greatest of the
objectives of the Sharia is the preservation of
the religion and the person's Islam. So if
that's not going to be something
where that's going to take place and that
is something which a person needs to bear
in mind. Allah says this is permissible meaning
marrying from the people of the scripture their
women so long as you give to them
their bridal gifts, meaning you give them their
dowry, which means therefore that you've entered into
a contract of marriage with them. It is
a valid marriage.
These are chaste women. And these aren't just
girlfriends
as unfortunately sometimes you hear certain people doing
thinking, oh it's halal so therefore I'll just
take them as a girlfriend. No, that's not
the meaning of the verse. Allah
specifically says, can't be secret marriages, can't be
girlfriends, can't be just people messing around just
because they happen to be from the people
of the scripture. You enter into a marriage
contract. You're serious. This is something which you
make a commitment for and Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala says speaking about this issue that we
are referring to and that is that if
anyone's deeds or the deeds of anyone who
rejects faith
will come to nothing, which shows therefore the
importance that in these marriages, where there are
people of more or different religions,
the religion the the person that is upon
the religion of Islam is to ensure that
he himself and his children will be firm
upon that religion. Because if they were to
fall out of Islam into disbelief,
Allah says the rule of their deeds will
be rendered null
and void and and
in the hereafter
they will be from amongst the losers. And
with that, we come to the end of
today's episode.