Al-Baqarah Section 21 - To Take Only Lawful And Clean Food
Injunction about the use of foodstuffs, Blind following disallowed, Concealing of truth and corrupting the Word of God and bartering it for worldly gains, amounts to eating of fire.
Al-Baqarah Verses 168 - 176
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ كُلُوا مِمَّا فِي الْأَرْضِ حَلَالًا طَيِّبًا وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُبِينٌ
“O’ ye men! eat of what is in the earth lawful and good and follow not the footsteps of Satan; for verily he is an open enemy unto you” (2:168).
إِنَّمَا يَأْمُرُكُمْ بِالسُّوءِ وَالْفَحْشَاءِ وَأَنْ تَقُولُوا عَلَى اللَّهِ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ
“For, verily, verily he commandeth unto you what is evil and shameful and that ye should say against God that which ye know not” (2:169).
وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمُ اتَّبِعُوا مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ قَالُوا بَلْ نَتَّبِعُ مَا أَلْفَيْنَا عَلَيْهِ آبَاءَنَا أَوَلَوْ كَانَ آبَاؤُهُمْ لَا يَعْقِلُونَ شَيْئًا وَلَا يَهْتَدُونَ
“And when it is said unto them, “Follow what God hath sent down” They say, “Nay! We follow that which we found our fathers upon” What! even though their fathers had no sense at all, nor were (they) guided aright?” (2:170).
وَمَثَلُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا كَمَثَلِ الَّذِي يَنْعِقُ بِمَا لَا يَسْمَعُ إِلَّا دُعَاءً وَنِدَاءً صُمٌّ بُكْمٌ عُمْيٌ فَهُمْ لَا يَعْقِلُونَ
“The parable of those that disbelieve is the likeness of one who shouteth to (one) which heareth not but a call and a cry; deaf, dumb, blind (are they) wherefore they do not understand” (2:171).
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُلُوا مِنْ طَيِّبَاتِ مَا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ وَاشْكُرُوا لِلَّهِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ إِيَّاهُ تَعْبُدُونَ
“O’ ye who believe! eat of the good things We have provided you with and thank God if Him it is ye worship” (2:172).
إِنَّمَا حَرَّمَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْمَيْتَةَ وَالدَّمَ وَلَحْمَ الْخِنْزِيرِ وَمَا أُهِلَّ بِهِ لِغَيْرِ اللَّهِ فَمَنِ اضْطُرَّ غَيْرَ بَاغٍ وَلَا عَادٍ فَلَا إِثْمَ عَلَيْهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ
“Verily, verily He hath but prohibited that which dieth of itself and blood and the swine flesh and whatsoever hath other name than God’s invoked upon it, but whoever is forced to it without the desire (for it) nor to transgress (the limits) then it is no sin on him; Verily God is Forgiving, Merciful” (2:173).
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَكْتُمُونَ مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ مِنَ الْكِتَابِ وَيَشْتَرُونَ بِهِ ثَمَنًا قَلِيلًا ۙ أُولَٰئِكَ مَا يَأْكُلُونَ فِي بُطُونِهِمْ إِلَّا النَّارَ وَلَا يُكَلِّمُهُمُ اللَّهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ وَلَا يُزَكِّيهِمْ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ
“Verily, those that conceal that of the Scripture which God hath sent down and barter for a small price, these, they eat nothing but fire into their bellies, and God will not speak to them on the Day of Resurrection nor will He purify them, and for them there shall be grievous torment” (2:174).
أُولَٰئِكَ الَّذِينَ اشْتَرَوُا الضَّلَالَةَ بِالْهُدَىٰ وَالْعَذَابَ بِالْمَغْفِرَةِ فَمَا أَصْبَرَهُمْ عَلَى النَّارِ
“These are they who have purchased error in barter for the right guidance and the torment for forgiveness, Oh! how (bold) they are to endure the Fire” (2:175)
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ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّ اللَّهَ نَزَّلَ الْكِتَابَ بِالْحَقِّ وَإِنَّ الَّذِينَ اخْتَلَفُوا فِي الْكِتَابِ لَفِي شِقَاقٍ بَعِيدٍ
“This is (their doom) because God hath sent down the Book with the truth; Verily, those who differ in (the matter of) the Book are in a wide gap” (2:176).
Commentary
Verse 168
Man eats so many things that to determine a food being lawful or unlawful becomes a very vast subject and an intricate and difficult question. Lawful are not only those things which law has not prohibited but even unforbidden things acquired unlawfully viz. by theft, cheating and bribery etc. Those who lay too much stress upon the ceremonial aspect of religion get utterly indifferent to internal purity. They make a show of abhorrence to forbidden things but devour things unlawfully acquired1.
There is undoubtedly an undeniable relation between the physical being and the soul or the spirit of man and every animate being. Who can deny the fact that food plays an important and a very effective part in conditioning the character of man. The brain and heart are undoubtedly affected differently by different kinds of food. This same phenomenon works in the whole of the animal kingdom. As Islam is meant for the preservation of the human life on earth in its normal and desirable state, and also for the uplift of the human soul by promoting healthy character and conduct, it prescribes through Holy Qur’an rules and regulations for the necessary control of the physical life of man on earth through the control of the food which man has to essentially consume.
The best and the surest course for faithful believers (i.e. true Muslims) will be to follow the footsteps of the Holy Prophet and the Holy Imams also in food as in other matters of practical life for the godly souls were given advent into this world only to serve as the best models of the correct way of human life on earth. This is clearly hinted by the words ‘follow not the footsteps of Satan’ which means follow the way of God which has been shown by the Holy Prophet and further explained by the Holy Imams.
Verse 169
A warning against what Satan does and how he leads men astray imputing to God fictitious beliefs like Trinity and setting up of legal and disciplinary injunctions without any authority from God or His apostles.
Verse 170
Blind following of the ancestors is condemned.
This verse read along with the previous one (Verse 169) gives the clear idea as to how much it is abhorred by Islam to be licentious in deeds as well as in thought, attributing to God things without any authority or certainty. It is compared to following blindly any traditions of the ancestors which do not tally with sound reasoning and the divine guidance. (A.P.)
Verse 171
The infidels are compared to cattle or a people who hear the cry and do not at all understand the meaning of the call. To the infidels, the call of the Apostle of God is a mere cry, and the higher realities of the faith are unintelligible to them.
Verse 172
Unless the food is taken with thankfulness the eating will be an act of infidelity. The Holy Prophet and the Holy Imams have repeatedly enjoined to start eating with ‘Bismillah’ and to conclude it with ‘Al-Hamdu li ‘Llah. If the food is eaten with these words of remembrance of God’s bounties, and gratitude to Him even the act of eating the food becomes a veritable function of devotion.
Verse 173
The Jews objected to certain food allowed to Muslims which the Jews themselves had forbidden to themselves without any authority2. The Law of Moses had also forbidden that which dies of itself and that which was tom by beasts3. There are things prohibited to the Jews and not prohibited to the Muslims4 . The flesh of swine has been held in great detestation and Jesus has also expressed equal abhorrence against its use. The same prohibition has been repeated in 16:115 and in 5:3.
The force of ‘Innama’ is ‘nothing but’ excluding everything besides.
The animals slaughtered invoking the name of the idols or the name of anybody else other than God.
This impresses the fact that everything in the universe belongs only to God and Holy is only His Name which alone shall be invoked when we consume anything in this world.
‘Ghaira Baghin’ denotes not for enjoyment but forced by the unavoidable necessity and ‘Aadin’ means without any intention to revolt against the prescribed laws of God or not exceeding the bare limits of the actual want or the bare necessity. If anyone under circumstances beyond his control or forced by necessity to save his life, takes such things it will not be a sin upon him.
When a prohibited food is allowable under circumstances beyond one’s control, to save one’s life, it is logically inferred that under such similar circumstances of helplessness reconciling temporarily with the situation with an external declaration suiting the circumstances, having the real faith in fact at heart, called ‘Taqiah’ by the Shi’a School, will also be logically permissible.
Here and in the similar other passages, is laid down the principle of the Islamic law to be observed in the normal conditions and the law of exception for the state of emergency. The things forbidden in the normal conditions may be permissible in the emergency. The spirit of the law to be observed in both the cases is the sense of obedience, and sticking to the prescribed limits. Under no circumstances any revolt against any law is allowed. (A.P.)
Verse 174
Here is a warning to the Muslims that they should not, like the Jews, conceal what God has revealed of His Book and sell away their faith for a mean price, else they would be no better than the wicked Jews.
Concealing of the truth is so grave that it is compared to eating of fire. The metaphor is clear that by doing so the individual burns away his internal life i.e. ruins his own soul.
The punishment in the life hereafter will not be a conventional one as in this life. It will be natural and logical, as the consequence or the reaction of one’s own actions in this life. (A.P.)
God will not speak to them and will not purify them indicates that otherwise, on the day of judgment God will speak to them and purify them of their sins by being pardoning to them.
Verse 175
Those who hide the truth are compared to those who purchase error for guidance. This clearly indicates that the address is to the Muslims who had been guided otherwise the Jews had already rejected it.
The word ‘Maghfirat’ makes it clearer than the purification referred to in the preceding verse means pardoning of the sins.
Verse 176
The reference is about the people doubting about the Holy Qur’an being the genuinely revealed Word of God. It may also mean the Jews differing among themselves about the declarations in their own scriptures about the advent of the Holy Prophet Muhammad and their displacing the passages of their own scripture or misinterpreting them to suit their spite against the Holy Prophet Muhammad.
