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Ayah
Word by Word
ٱلۡيَوۡمَ
This day
أُحِلَّ
are made lawful
لَكُمُ
for you
ٱلطَّيِّبَٰتُۖ
the good things
وَطَعَامُ
and (the) food
ٱلَّذِينَ
(of) those who
أُوتُواْ
were given
ٱلۡكِتَٰبَ
the Book
حِلّٞ
(is) lawful
لَّكُمۡ
for you
وَطَعَامُكُمۡ
and your food
حِلّٞ
(is) lawful
لَّهُمۡۖ
for them
وَٱلۡمُحۡصَنَٰتُ
And the chaste women
مِنَ
from
ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنَٰتِ
the believers
وَٱلۡمُحۡصَنَٰتُ
and the chaste women
مِنَ
from
ٱلَّذِينَ
those who
أُوتُواْ
were given
ٱلۡكِتَٰبَ
the Book
مِن
from
قَبۡلِكُمۡ
before you
إِذَآ
when
ءَاتَيۡتُمُوهُنَّ
you have given them
أُجُورَهُنَّ
their bridal due
مُحۡصِنِينَ
being chaste
غَيۡرَ
not
مُسَٰفِحِينَ
being lewd
وَلَا
and not
مُتَّخِذِيٓ
ones (who are) taking
أَخۡدَانٖۗ
secret lovers
وَمَن
And whoever
يَكۡفُرۡ
denies
بِٱلۡإِيمَٰنِ
the faith
فَقَدۡ
then surely
حَبِطَ
(are) wasted
عَمَلُهُۥ
his deeds
وَهُوَ
and he
فِي
in
ٱلۡأٓخِرَةِ
the Hereafter
مِنَ
(will be) among
ٱلۡخَٰسِرِينَ
the losers
ٱلۡيَوۡمَ
This day
أُحِلَّ
are made lawful
لَكُمُ
for you
ٱلطَّيِّبَٰتُۖ
the good things
وَطَعَامُ
and (the) food
ٱلَّذِينَ
(of) those who
أُوتُواْ
were given
ٱلۡكِتَٰبَ
the Book
حِلّٞ
(is) lawful
لَّكُمۡ
for you
وَطَعَامُكُمۡ
and your food
حِلّٞ
(is) lawful
لَّهُمۡۖ
for them
وَٱلۡمُحۡصَنَٰتُ
And the chaste women
مِنَ
from
ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنَٰتِ
the believers
وَٱلۡمُحۡصَنَٰتُ
and the chaste women
مِنَ
from
ٱلَّذِينَ
those who
أُوتُواْ
were given
ٱلۡكِتَٰبَ
the Book
مِن
from
قَبۡلِكُمۡ
before you
إِذَآ
when
ءَاتَيۡتُمُوهُنَّ
you have given them
أُجُورَهُنَّ
their bridal due
مُحۡصِنِينَ
being chaste
غَيۡرَ
not
مُسَٰفِحِينَ
being lewd
وَلَا
and not
مُتَّخِذِيٓ
ones (who are) taking
أَخۡدَانٖۗ
secret lovers
وَمَن
And whoever
يَكۡفُرۡ
denies
بِٱلۡإِيمَٰنِ
the faith
فَقَدۡ
then surely
حَبِطَ
(are) wasted
عَمَلُهُۥ
his deeds
وَهُوَ
and he
فِي
in
ٱلۡأٓخِرَةِ
the Hereafter
مِنَ
(will be) among
ٱلۡخَٰسِرِينَ
the losers
Translation
This day are (all) things good and pure made lawful unto you. The food of the People of the Book is lawful unto you and yours is lawful unto them. (Lawful unto you in marriage) are (not only) chaste women who are believers, but chaste women among the People of the Book, revealed before your time,- when ye give them their due dowers, and desire chastity, not lewdness, nor secret intrigues if any one rejects faith, fruitless is his work, and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost (all spiritual good).
Tafsir
Today the good, the delicious, things are permitted to you, and the food of those who were given the Scripture, that is, animals slaughtered by the Jews and Christians, is permitted to you, and permitted to them is your food. Likewise, the believing, free, married women, and the married women of those who were given the Scripture before you, are permitted to you for marriage, if you give them their wages, their dowries, in wedlock, in marriage, and not illicitly, fornicating overtly with them, or taking them as lovers, so as to fornicate with them secretly. Whoever disbelieves in faith, that is, [whose] apostatises, his, prior good, work has indeed failed, and so it counts for nothing and he will not be rewarded for it, and in the Hereafter he shall be among the losers, if he dies in this state [of unbelief].
"Permitting the Slaughtered Animals of the People of the Book
After Allah mentioned the filthy things that He prohibited for His believing servants and the good things that He allowed for them, He said next,
الۡيَوۡمَ أُحِلَّ لَكُمُ الطَّيِّبَاتُ
Made lawful to you this day are At-Tayyibat.
Allah then mentioned the ruling concerning the slaughtered animals of the People of the Book, the Jews and Christians,
وَطَعَامُ الَّذِينَ أُوتُواۡ الۡكِتَابَ حِلٌّ لَّكُمۡ
The food of the People of the Scripture is lawful to you...,
Ibn Abbas, Abu Umamah, Mujahid, Sa`id bin Jubayr, Ikrimah, Ata', Al-Hasan, Makhul, Ibrahim An-Nakhai, As-Suddi and Muqatil bin Hayyan stated,
meaning, their slaughtered animals.
This ruling, that the slaughtered animals of the People of the Book are permissible for Muslims, is agreed on by the scholars, because the People of the Book believe that slaughtering for other than Allah is prohibited. They mention Allah's Name upon slaughtering their animals, even though they have deviant beliefs about Allah that do not befit His majesty.
It is recorded in the Sahih that Abdullah bin Mughaffal said,
""While we were attacking the fort of Khyber, a person threw a leather bag containing fat, and I ran to take it and said, `I will not give anyone anything from this container today.' But when I turned I ﷺ the Prophet (standing behind) while smiling.""
The scholars rely on this Hadith as evidence that we are allowed to eat what we need of foods from the booty before it is divided.
The scholars of the Hanafi, the Shafii and the Hanbali Madhhabs rely on this Hadith to allow eating parts of the slaughtered animals of the Jews that they prohibit for themselves, such as the fat. They used this Hadith as evidence against the scholars of the Maliki Madhhab who disagreed with this ruling.
A better proof is the Hadith recorded in the Sahih that;
the people of Khyber gave the Prophet a gift of a roasted leg of sheep, which they poisoned. The Prophet used to like eating the leg of the sheep and he took a bite from it, but it told the Prophet that it was poisoned, so he discarded that bite. The bite that the Prophet took effected the palate of his mouth, while Bishr bin Al-Bara bin Ma`rur died from eating from that sheep.
The Prophet had the Jewish woman, Zaynab, who poisoned the sheep, killed. Therefore, the Prophet and his Companions wanted to eat from that sheep and did not ask the Jews if they removed what the Jews believed was prohibited for them, such as its fat.
Allah's statement,
وَطَعَامُكُمۡ حِلُّ لَّهُمۡ
and your food is lawful to them.
means, you are allowed to feed them from your slaughtered animals.
Therefore, this part of the Ayah is not to inform the People of the Scriptures that they are allowed to eat our food -- unless we consider it information for us about the ruling that they have -- i.e., that they are allowed all types of foods over which Allah's Name was mentioned, whether slaughtered according to their religion or otherwise.
The first explanation is more plausible. So it means:
you are allowed to feed them from your slaughtered animals just as you are allowed to eat from theirs, as equal compensation and fair treatment.
The Prophet gave his robe to Abdullah bin Ubayy bin Salul, who was wrapped with it when he died. They say that he did that because Abdullah had given his robe to Al-Abbas when Al-Abbas came to Al-Madinah.
As for the Hadith,
لَاا تَصۡحَبۡ إِلاَّ مُوۡمِنًا وَلَاا يَأۡكُلۡ طَعَامَكَ إِلاَّ تَقِي
Do not befriend but a believer, nor should other than a Taqi (pious person) eat your food.
This is to encourage such behavior, and Allah knows best.
The Permission to Marry Chaste Women From the People of the Scriptures
Allah said,
وَالۡمُحۡصَنَاتُ مِنَ الۡمُوۡمِنَاتِ
(Lawful to you in marriage) are chaste women from the believers.
The Ayah states:you are allowed to marry free, chaste believing women.
This Ayah is talking about women who do not commit fornication, as evident by the word `chaste'. Allah said in another Ayah,
مُحۡصَنَـت غَيۡرَ مُسَـفِحَـتٍ وَلَا مُتَّخِذَاتِ أَخۡدَانٍ
Desiring chastity not committing illegal sexual intercourse, nor taking them as boyfriends (lovers). (4:25)
Abdullah Ibn Umar used to advise against marrying Christian women saying,
""I do not know of a worse case of Shirk than her saying that `Isa is her lord, while Allah said,
وَلَا تَنكِحُواۡ الۡمُشۡرِكَاتِ حَتَّى يُوۡمِنَّ
(And do not marry idolatresses till they believe)."" (2:221)
Ibn Abi Hatim recorded that Abu Malik Al-Ghifari said that Ibn Abbas said that;
when this Ayah was revealed,
وَلَا تَنكِحُواۡ الۡمُشۡرِكَاتِ حَتَّى يُوۡمِنَّ
(And do not marry idolatresses till they believe), the people did not marry the pagan women. When the following Ayah was revealed,
وَالۡمُحۡصَنَاتُ مِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُواۡ الۡكِتَابَ مِن قَبۡلِكُمۡ
(Lawful to you in marriage) are chaste women from the believers and chaste women from those who were given the Scripture before your time) they married women from the People of the Book.""
Some of the Companions married Christian women and did not see any problem in this, relying on the honorable Ayah,
وَالۡمُحۡصَنَاتُ مِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُواۡ الۡكِتَابَ مِن قَبۡلِكُمۡ
((Lawful to you in marriage) are chaste women from those who were given the Scripture before your time), therefore, they made this Ayah an exception to the Ayah in Surah Al-Baqarah,
وَلَا تَنكِحُواۡ الۡمُشۡرِكَاتِ حَتَّى يُوۡمِنَّ
(And do not marry the idolatresses till they believe), considering the latter Ayah to include the People of the Book in its general meaning. Otherwise, there is no contradiction here, since the People of the Book were mentioned alone when mentioning the rest of the idolators. Allah said,
لَمۡ يَكُنِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنۡ أَهۡلِ الۡكِتَابِ وَالۡمُشۡرِكِينَ مُنفَكِّينَ حَتَّى تَأۡتِيَهُمُ الۡبَيِّنَةُ
Those who disbelieve from among the People of the Scripture and the idolators, were not going to leave (their disbelief) until there came to them clear evidence. (98:1)
and,
وَقُل لِّلَّذِينَ أُوۡتُواۡ الۡكِتَابَ وَالاُمِّيِّينَ أَأَسۡلَمۡتُمۡ فَإِنۡ أَسۡلَمُواۡ فَقَدِ اهۡتَدَواۡ
And say to those who were given the Scripture and to those who are illiterates:""Do you (also) submit yourselves!"" If they do, they are rightly guided. (3:20)
Allah said next,
إِذَا اتَيۡتُمُوهُنَّ أُجُورَهُنَّ
When you have given them their due,
This refers to the Mahr, so just as these women are chaste and honorable, then give them their Mahr with a good heart.
We should mention here that Jabir bin Abdullah, `Amir Ash-Sha`bi, Ibrahim An-Nakhai and Al-Hasan Al-Basri stated that;
when a man marries a woman and she commits illegal sexual intercourse before the marriage is consummated, the marriage is annulled. In this case, she gives back the Mahr that he paid her.
Allah said,
مُحۡصِنِينَ غَيۡرَ مُسَافِحِينَ وَلَا مُتَّخِذِي أَخۡدَانٍ
Desiring chastity, not illegal sexual intercourse, nor taking them as girl-friends (or lovers).
And just as women must be chaste and avoid illegal sexual activity, such is the case with men, who must also be chaste and honorable. Therefore, Allah said,
غَيۡرَ مُسَافِحِينَ
(...not illegal sexual intercourse) as adulterous people do, those who do not avoid sin, nor reject adultery with whomever offers it to them.
وَلَا مُتَّخِذِي أَخۡدَانٍ
(nor taking them as girl-friends (or lovers),
meaning those who have mistresses and girlfriends who commit illegal sexual intercourse with them, as we mentioned in the explanation of Surah An-Nisa'.
وَمَن يَكۡفُرۡ بِالاِيمَانِ فَقَدۡ حَبِطَ عَمَلُهُ وَهُوَ فِي الاخِرَةِ مِنَ الۡخَاسِرِينَ
And whosoever rejects faith, then fruitless is his work; and in the Hereafter he will be among the losers."
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