Surah Al-An'aam (6) — Ayah 145

(Ayah 145) ➊ {قُلْ لَّاۤ اَجِدُ فِيْ مَاۤ اُوْحِيَ …… :} By “carrion” is meant every lawful animal that dies naturally or due to an accident (the details of which are in Surah Al-Ma’idah, Ayah 3) without being slaughtered, or is slaughtered in a manner contrary to the Shari’ah, for example, if the neck is deliberately severed with a single blow of a sharp tool, or it is killed by being immersed in extremely hot water, or by electric current, etc. In short, except for Shari’ah-compliant slaughter or hunting, all carrion is forbidden. Blood that is shed, whether from a living being or a slaughtered animal, is forbidden; however, blood that remains attached to the body, or the liver and spleen, since their blood is not shed, are lawful. The flesh of swine, for it is filth, meaning that from a health perspective it causes countless diseases, and being the most shameless of animals, its effect on those who eat it is that it is, in essence, pure filth. {’’ اَوْ فِسْقًا ‘‘} This is connected to {’’ لَحْمَ خِنْزِيْرٍ ‘‘}, meaning this too is forbidden in the same way. The meaning of {’’ فِسْقًا ‘‘} is to depart from obedience to Allah. Allah’s command is that an animal should be slaughtered in the name of Allah; therefore, any animal upon which, at the time of slaughter, the name of anyone other than Allah is invoked, is forbidden. The meaning of { ’’ اُهِلَّ ‘‘} is to proclaim aloud; if the name of anyone other than Allah is made famous upon an animal, such as saying this is Data’s goat, or Bari Imam’s cow, or it is an offering for such-and-such saint or Imam, since the intention is to please someone other than Allah so that they may, being pleased, fulfill our needs, therefore, even if “Bismillah” is recited at the time of slaughtering such an animal for their pleasure, it is still forbidden, because what matters is the intention, and the intention has already been expressed verbally by them, and the environment of the festival or grave also indicates this.

➋ { فَمَنِ اضْطُرَّ غَيْرَ بَاغٍ …… : } That is, whoever, due to necessity, eats these forbidden things, provided he does not consider them lawful and does not exceed the need, then your Lord is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful. It is explicitly stated in Surah Al-Baqarah: «فَلَاۤ اِثْمَ عَلَيْهِ » [البقرۃ : ۱۷۳ ] “There is no sin upon him.”

➌ An objection is raised on this verse that there are other forbidden things besides these, so what does it mean to say, “I do not find in what has been revealed to me anything forbidden to be eaten by one who wishes to eat it, except…”? The answer has already been given in the commentary of Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayah (173); in summary, it is that in fact, the matter is being discussed in relation to the polytheists of that time, who had declared Bahirah, Sa’ibah, etc., forbidden, and the four things mentioned above they considered lawful and ate them. Therefore, it is said that in My revelation, the things you have declared forbidden are not forbidden; only these four things, which you eat without hesitation, are forbidden. The second answer is that up to the time these verses were revealed, only these things were forbidden; later, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) forbade several more things, such as in the Qur’an, those relationships are mentioned with whom marriage is forbidden, and all others are made lawful, but the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) in hadith forbade marrying two women who are a maternal aunt and her niece or paternal a maternal aunt and her niece together to one man. Similarly, it is proven from authentic hadiths that the Prophet (peace be upon him) declared several more animals forbidden. See the footnotes of Surah Al-Baqarah (173).