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Ayah
Word by Word
إِنَّمَا
Only
حَرَّمَ
He has forbidden
عَلَيۡكُمُ
to you
ٱلۡمَيۡتَةَ
the dead animals
وَٱلدَّمَ
and [the] blood
وَلَحۡمَ
and flesh
ٱلۡخِنزِيرِ
(of) swine
وَمَآ
and what
أُهِلَّ
has been dedicated
بِهِۦ
[with it]
لِغَيۡرِ
to other than
ٱللَّهِۖ
Allah
فَمَنِ
So whoever
ٱضۡطُرَّ
(is) forced by necessity
غَيۡرَ
without
بَاغٖ
(being) disobedient
وَلَا
and not
عَادٖ
transgressor
فَلَآ
then no
إِثۡمَ
sin
عَلَيۡهِۚ
on him
إِنَّ
Indeed
ٱللَّهَ
Allah
غَفُورٞ
(is) Oft-Forgiving
رَّحِيمٌ
Most Merciful
إِنَّمَا
Only
حَرَّمَ
He has forbidden
عَلَيۡكُمُ
to you
ٱلۡمَيۡتَةَ
the dead animals
وَٱلدَّمَ
and [the] blood
وَلَحۡمَ
and flesh
ٱلۡخِنزِيرِ
(of) swine
وَمَآ
and what
أُهِلَّ
has been dedicated
بِهِۦ
[with it]
لِغَيۡرِ
to other than
ٱللَّهِۖ
Allah
فَمَنِ
So whoever
ٱضۡطُرَّ
(is) forced by necessity
غَيۡرَ
without
بَاغٖ
(being) disobedient
وَلَا
and not
عَادٖ
transgressor
فَلَآ
then no
إِثۡمَ
sin
عَلَيۡهِۚ
on him
إِنَّ
Indeed
ٱللَّهَ
Allah
غَفُورٞ
(is) Oft-Forgiving
رَّحِيمٌ
Most Merciful
Translation
He has only forbidden to you dead animals,1 blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allāh. But whoever is forced [by necessity], neither desiring [it] nor transgressing [its limit], there is no sin upon him. Indeed, Allāh is Forgiving and Merciful.
Footnotes
1 - Those not slaughtered or hunted expressly for food.
Tafsir
He has only forbidden you: carrion, that is, the consumption of it, since this is the subject of the general address here, and similarly [the consumption of] what follows, [all of] which is what has not been slaughtered in accordance with [prescriptions of] the Law; to this the Sunna adds [as also constituting carrion] what has been severed from a living creature. A special status is, however, accorded fish and locusts; blood, poured forth, as in [soorat] al-An'aam [see Q. 6:145], the flesh of swine, the meat is singled out for mention because that [part] is what people mostly seek, every other [part] being implied thereby; what has been hallowed to other than God, that is to say, what has been slaughtered in other than His Name (al-ihlaal is the raising of one's voice, which they used to do when sacrificing for their gods). Yet whoever is constrained, forced by dire need to eat of the above-mentioned, not desiring, to rebel against Muslims, nor transgressing, committing aggression against them by waylaying them, no sin shall be on him, for eating it. God is Forgiving, to His friends, Merciful, to those who are obedient to Him, for He has granted them wide berth in this matter. The aggressor and the transgressor are excluded from this [dispensation], and to these two [categories] one should also add every person that sets out on a journey in disobedience, such as the fugitive or the excise collector, for whom it would be unlawful to eat any of the mentioned, unless they repent [of their disobedience]; this is the opinion of al-Shaafi'ee.
"The Command to eat Pure Things and the Explanation of the Prohibited Things
Allah commands;
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ امَنُواْ كُلُواْ مِن طَيِّبَاتِ مَا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ وَاشْكُرُواْ لِلّهِ إِن كُنتُمْ إِيَّاهُ تَعْبُدُونَ
O you who believe (in the Oneness of Allah ـ Islamic Monotheism)! Eat of the lawful things that We have provided you with, and be grateful to Allah, if it is indeed He Whom you worship.
Allah commands His believing servants to eat from the pure things that He has created for them and to thank Him for it, if they are truly His servants.
Eating from pure sources is a cause for the acceptance of supplications and acts of worship, just as eating from impure sources prevents the acceptance of supplications and acts of worship, as mentioned in a Hadith recorded by Imam Ahmad, that Abu Hurayrah said that Allah's Messenger said:
يأَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّ اللهَ طَيِّبٌ لَا يَقْبَلُ إِلاَّ طَيِّـبًا وَإنَّ اللهَ أَمَرَ الْمُوْمِنِينَ بِمَا أَمَرَ بِهِ الْمُرْسَلِينَ فَقَالَ
O people! Allah is Tayyib (Pure and Good) and only accepts that which is Tayyib. Allah has indeed commanded the believers with what He has commanded the Messengers, for He said:
يأَيُّهَا الرُّسُلُ كُلُواْ مِنَ الطَّيِّبَـتِ وَاعْمَلُواْ صَـلِحاً إِنِّى بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ عَلِيمٌ
O (you) Messengers! Eat of the Tayyibat and do righteous deeds. Verily, I am well-acquainted with what you do. (23:51),
and:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ امَنُواْ كُلُواْ مِن طَيِّبَاتِ مَا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ
O you who believe! Eat of the lawful things that We have provided you with.
ثُمَّ ذَكَرَ الرَّجُلَ
He then mentioned a man,
يُطِيلُ السَّفَرَ أَشْعَثَ أَغْبَرَ يَمُدُّ يَدَيْهِ إِلَى السَّمَاءِ يَا رَبِّ يَا رَبِّ وَمَطْعَمُهُ حَرَامٌ وَمَشْرَبُهُ حَرَامٌ وَملْبَسُهُ حَرَامٌ وَغُذِّيَ بالْحَرَامِ فَأَنَّى يُسْتَجَابُ لِذلِكَ
who is engaged in a long journey, whose hair is untidy and who is covered in dust, he raises his hands to the sky, and says, `O Lord! O Lord!' Yet, his food is from the unlawful, his drink is from the unlawful, his clothes are from the unlawful, and he was nourished by the unlawful, so how can it (his supplication) be accepted?""
It was also recorded by Muslim and At-Tirmidhi
After Allah mentioned how He has blessed His creatures by providing them with provisions, and after commanding them to eat from the pure things that He has provided them, He then stated that He has not prohibited anything for them, except dead animals.
إِنَّمَا حَرَّمَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْمَيْتَةَ وَالدَّمَ وَلَحْمَ الْخِنزِيرِ وَمَا أُهِلَّ بِهِ لِغَيْرِ اللّهِ
He has forbidden you only the Maitah (dead animals), and blood, and the flesh of swine, and that which is slaughtered as a sacrifice for other than Allah.
Dead animals are those that die before being slaughtered; whether they die by strangling, a violent blow, a headlong fall, the goring of horns or by being partly eaten by a wild animal.
Dead animals of the sea are excluded from this ruling, as is explained later, Allah willing, as Allah said:
أُحِلَّ لَكُمْ صَيْدُ الْبَحْرِ وَطَعَامُهُ
Lawful to you is (the pursuit of) water game and its use for food, (5:96),
and because of the Hadith about the whale recorded in the Sahih.
The Musnad, Al-Muwatta and the Sunan recorded the Prophet saying about the sea:
هُوَ الطَّهُورُ مَاوُهُ والْحِلُّ مَيْتَتُه
Its water is pure and its dead are permissible.)
Ash-Shafii, Ahmad, Ibn Majah, and Ad-Daraqutni reported that Ibn Umar said that the Prophet said:
أُحِلَّ لَنَا مَيْتتَانِ وَدَمَانِ
السَّمَكُ وَالْجَرَادُ
وَالْكَبِدُ وَالطِّحَال
We have been allowed two dead things and two bloody things:
fish and locusts;
and liver and spleen.
We will mention this subject again in Surah Al-Ma'idah, if Allah wills.
Issue:
According to Ash-Shafii and other scholars, milk and eggs that are inside dead unslaughtered animals are not pure, because they are part of the dead animal.
In one narration from him, Malik said that;
they are pure themselves, but become impure because of their location.
Similarly, there is a difference of opinion over the cheeses (made with the milk) of dead animals. The popular view of the scholars is that it is impure, although they mentioned the fact that the Companions ate from the cheeses made by the Magians (fire worshippers). Hence, Al-Qurtubi commented:
""Since only a small part of the dead animal is mixed with it, then it is permissible, because a minute amount of impurity does not matter if it is mixed with a large amount of liquid.""
Ibn Majah reported that Salman said that Allah's Messenger was asked about butter, cheese and fur.
He said:
الْحَلَلُ مَا أَحَلَّ اللهُ فِي كِتَابِهِ وَالْحَرَامُ مَا حَرَّمَ اللهُ فِي كِتَابِهِ وَمَا سَكَتَ عَنْهُ فَهُوَ مِمَّا عَفَا عَنْه
The allowed is what Allah has allowed in His Book and the prohibited is what Allah has prohibited in His Book. What He has not mentioned is a part of what He has pardoned.
Allah has prohibited;
eating the meat of swine, whether slaughtered or not, and this includes its fat, either because it is implied, or because the term Lahm includes that, or by analogy.
Similarly prohibited are;
offerings to other than Allah, that is what was slaughtered in a name other than His, be it for monuments, idols, divination, or the other practices of the time of Jahiliyyah.
Al-Qurtubi mentioned that;
Aishah was asked about what non-Muslims slaughter for their feasts and then offer some of it as gifts for Muslims.
She said, ""Do not eat from what has been slaughtered for that day, (or feast) but eat from their vegetables.""
The Prohibited is Allowed in Cases of Emergency
Then Allah permitted eating these things when needed for survival or when there are no permissible types of food available.
Allah said:
فَمَنِ اضْطُرَّ غَيْرَ بَاغٍ وَلَا عَادٍ
But if one is forced by necessity without willful disobedience nor transgressing due limits,
meaning, without transgression or overstepping the limits,
فَل إِثْمَ عَلَيْهِ
then there is no sin on him.
meaning, if one eats such items, for,
إِنَّ اللّهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ
Truly, Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
Mujahid said,
""If one is forced by necessity without willful disobedience nor transgressing the set limits. For example, if he didn't, then he would have to resort to highway robbery, rising against the rulers, or some other kinds of disobedience to Allah, then the permission applies to him. If one does so transgressing the limits, or continually, or out of disobedience to Allah, then the permission does not apply to him even if he is in dire need.""
The same was reported from Sa`id bin Jubayr.
Sa`id and Muqatil bin Hayyan are reported to have said that without willful disobedience means,
""Without believing that it is permissible.""
It was reported that Ibn Abbas commented on the Ayah:
غَيْرَ بَاغٍ وَلَا عَادٍ
(...without willful disobedience nor transgressing) saying,
""Without willful disobedience means eating the dead animal and not continuing to do so.""
Qatadah said:
غَيْرَ بَاغٍ
(without willful disobedience),
""Without transgressing by eating from the dead animals, that is when the lawful is available.""
Issue:
When one in dire straits finds both ـ dead animals, and foods belong to other people which he could get without risking the loss of his hands or causing harm, then it is not allowed for him to eat the dead animals.
Ibn Majah reported that Abbad bin Shurahbil Al-Ghubari said,
""One year we suffered from famine. I came to Al-Madinah and entered a garden. I took some grain that I cleaned, and ate, then I left some of it in my garment. The owner of the garden came, roughed me up and took possession of my garment. I then went to Allah's Messenger and told him what had happened. He said to the man:
مَا أَطْعَمْتَهُ إِذْ كَانَ جَايِعًا أَوْ سَاغِبًا وَلَاا عَلَّمْتَهُ إِذْ كَانَ جَاهِلًا
You have not fed him when he was hungry - or he said starving - nor have you taught him if he was ignorant.
The Prophet commanded him to return Abbad's garment to him, and to offer him a Wasq (around 180 kilograms) - or a half Wasq - of food.
This has a sufficiently strong chain of narrators and there are many other witnessing narrations to support it, such as the Hadith that Amr bin Shu`ayb narrated from his father that his grandfather said:
Allah's Messenger was asked about the hanging clusters of dates.
He said:
مَنْ أَصَابَ مِنْهُ مِنْ ذِي حَاجَةٍ بِفِيهِ غَيْرَ مُتَّخِذٍ خُبْنَةً فَلَ شَيْءَ عَلَيْه
There is no harm for whoever takes some of it in his mouth for a necessity without putting it in his garment.
Muqatil bin Hayyan commented on:
فَل إِثْمَ عَلَيْهِ
إِنَّ اللّهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ
(...then there is no sin on him. Truly, Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful),
""For what is eaten out of necessity.""
Sa`id bin Jubayr said,
""Allah is pardoning for what has been eaten of the unlawful, and Merciful' in that He allowed the prohibited during times of necessity.""
Masruq said,
""Whoever is in dire need, but does not eat or drink until he dies, he will enter the Fire.""
This indicates that eating dead animals for those who are in need of it for survival is not only permissible but required."
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