O
men! eat the lawful and good things out of what is in the earth, and do
not follow the footsteps of the Shaitan; surely he is your open enemy. He
only enjoins you evil and indecency, and that you may speak against Allah
what you do not know. And when it is said to them, Follow what Allah has
revealed, they say: Nay! we follow what we found our fathers upon. What!
and though their fathers had no sense at all, nor did they follow the
right way. And the parable of those who disbelieve is as the parable of
one who calls out to that which hears no more than a call and a cry; deaf,
dumb (and) blind, so they do not understand. (168-171)
COMMENTARY
QUR’AN:
0 men! eat the lawful (and) good things out of what is in
the earth ... what you do not know:
al‑Halal
(= lawful) is opposite of al‑haraam (= forbidden); al‑hill
is used as opposite of al‑hurmah (= prohibition),
al‑haram (= sanctuary); while al‑hall (= to untie) is
opposite of al‑'aqd ( = to tie). All these usages of al‑hill
allude to freedom of a thing in its action and effect. at‑Tayyib
(= good) is opposite of al‑khabith (= bad, evil), and
basically means "agreeable"; a good speech is that which is agreeable to
the hearing; a good perfume is agreeable to the sense of smelling;
a good place or house is agreeable to the people residing therein.
al‑Khutuwat is plural of al‑khutwah (= step, pace, stride).
Some reciters have read it as al‑khatawaat which is plural of
al‑khatwah (= one step). The phrase, "the footsteps of the Satan"
refers to things leading to the Satanic aim, as footsteps lead to the
walker's aim and destination. The Satan's aim is to mislead with
polytheism; therefore, his footsteps are the things which lead to
polytheism, and take the walker away from Allah.
al‑Amr
(= to enjoin); the enjoiner imposes his own will on the
enjoined, so that the latter does what the former wants. The Satan enjoins
and orders by devilish insinuations and temptations encouraging man
to do what the Satan wants. as‑Su' (= evil) refers to the thing or
action which is repugnant and repulsive to society. When it exceeds that
limit, it becomes al‑fahsha' (= indecency); it is a masdar
like as‑sarra' (= prosperity, happiness) and ad‑darra’
(= adversity; distress).
Allah has
addressed these verses to all the men in general, because the order
promulgated therein concerns all. As for the polytheists, they followed
some self‑imposed taboo, and falsely ascribed its promulgation to Allah.
It is reported, for example, that the tribes of Thaqif, Khuza'ah, Banu
‘Amir ibn Sa'sa'ah and Banu Madlaj had forbidden themselves certain things
of tilth and cattle, as well as some categories of camels, forging a lie
against Allah. Similar baseless taboos are found in other countries and
societies too.
Coming to
the believers, there was a possibility that even after accepting Islam,
some myths and superstitions might continue in their society, because
of hereditary influence and national tradition. As a matter of fact, every
now spiritual or temporal system concentrates in the beginning on
eradicating and destroying the roots of the. old system. After it is
done, and if by that time it is left with some vitality and vigor ‑ by
good training and learning ‑ then it starts mopping up operation by
obliterating and erasing the remnants of that old system. Otherwise, the
residue of that system is mixed with the new one, and the resulting
mixture becomes a hybrid ‑ neither this nor that.
Allah
ordered the people to eat from what is in the earth. To eat is to swallow
after chewing. Sometimes the word "eating" is allegorically used for
general usufruct of a property, for unrestricted right of its
disposal, because eating is the basic activity of man, the main pillar of
his life. For example, Allah says: ... do not swallow up your property
among yourselves by wrongful means, except that it be trading by
your mutual consent... (4:29). The verse under discussion may easily
be interpreted in this wider sense, because it is general, not restricted.
It would therefore mean: Eat, make use of, and enjoy the usufruct of the
bounties of Allah that are in the earth, and which the earth has prepared
and kept in store for you by permission of Allah; and it should be in a
lawful and proper way. But you should see that there is no snag or
hindrance hi eating or using it, either from your own nature or from the
nature of the earth. For example, there are some things which by their
nature cannot be eaten; there are others which man by his nature does not
want to eat; and lastly there are things which are eatable and useable,
but your own nature rejects them and does not want to touch them at all,
for example, a food that was obtained by unlawful means.
Thus, the
words of Allah, "eat the lawful (and) good things out of what is in the
earth", promulgate general permission of eating all the lawful and good
things of the earth, without any condition, without any restriction. But
the next sentence, "and do not follow the footsteps of the Satan", shows
that there are some things (related to this lawful and good eating) which
are called "the footsteps of the Satan". They are of two categories:
either refraining from some food as a result of following the Satan, or
eating it for the same reason. Thereafter, Allah mentions a general
principle applicable to all that is done for following the Satan, that it
is evil and indecency, as well as speaking against Allah what one does not
know. Desisting from a food is not allowed except when Allah is pleased
with such abstaining; likewise one should not audaciously use any
thing without the permission of Allah. Eating out of what is in the
earth is not lawful and good unless Allah permits and allows it. And He
has allowed it in this and similar verses. Also, one should ascertain that
a particular thing is not forbidden or prohibited by Allah, as He
says after a few verses: He has only forbidden you what dies of itself,
and blood, and flesh of swine ... (2:173).
The meaning
of the verse then would be as follows, and Allah knows better: Eat out of
what is in the earth, from the bounties of Allah which He has created for
you, as He has made them lawful and good for you; and do not leave some of
them abstaining from them, because that would be evil and indecency, and
you would be guilty of speaking against Allah what you do not know; it
would be tantamount to making your own law against the law of Allah; and
you would thus be following the footsteps of the Satan.
The verse
thus shows that:
First:
Man has been given a general permission for unrestricted use of
all that is in the earth ‑ except the things excluded from this general
rule by other proofs. Allah may forbid a thing as easily as He permits
it.
Second: One who
abstains, without any reasonable proof, from that which Allah has made
lawful, in fact promulgates his own law ‑ which he is forbidden to do.
Third:
Following the footsteps of the Satan means worshipping Allah in a
way Allah has not allowed, by a method He has not approved. Allah has not
forbidden any walking except that in which man puts his foot in the
footsteps of the Satan, making his walk conform with that of the Satan;
thus he would be following the Satan's footsteps.
It may be
inferred from above that, although the reason given of this prohibition
(He only enjoins you evil and indecency ...) demands that man
should neither proceed to do any thing without knowledge, nor refrain from
any thing without knowledge; but this is not what this verse is meant
for; because it is not following the footsteps of the Satan, though it is
following the Satan.
QUR'AN: He only
enjoins you evil and indecency, and that you may speak against Allah what
you do not know:
Evil
and indecency are attributes of action, vis-à-vis, speech. It
shows that what the Satan enjoins is confined to the action that is evil
and indecency, and the word that is spoken without knowledge.
QUR'AN: And when it
is said to them, "Follow what Allah has revealed," they say: 'My! we
follow what we found our fathers upon":
al‑Ilfa
(= to find). The verse supports what we have inferred from the
preceding verse, regarding the footsteps of the Satan.
QUR’AN: What! and
though their fathers had no sense at all, nor did they follow the right
way:
It is
rebuttal of their saying; it shows that they speak without knowledge and
without ascertaining the truth; and it is a thing which reason
rejects. They say, "We follow what we found our fathers upon." It is an
unconditional declaration ‑ they intend to follow their fathers in
all conditions, without looking at their qualifications and credentials.
They are determined to follow their fathers even if they had no sense,
even if they had gone astray. They claimed that whatever their fathers did
was correct. But such claim, such declaration, is just a talk without
knowing; it leads one to say what no sensible person would ever say ‑ if
his attention was drawn to its absurdity. There would be no blame on them
if they followed their fathers only in those things which they (the
fathers) had knowledge of, and concerning which they followed the right
way; if they followed them in such things knowing well that their fathers
had their knowledge and had been on right way, it would not be counted as
following without knowledge.
It shows
that the phrase, "What! and though their fathers had no sense at all, nor
did they follow the right way," is not intended as an exaggeration,
although one may think that negation of all sense and knowledge from their
fathers ‑ who certainly knew many things concerning their life and
livelihood ‑ was intended as an exaggeration. But it is not so. Actually,
the verse exposes the absurdity of their unconditional declaration by
pointing out a situation in which no one would allow the following.
QUR’AN: And the
parable of those who disbelieve is as the parable of one who calls out to
that which hears no more than a call and cry:
al‑Mathal (= proverb;
parable, adage); also it is used for attribute and comparison, as
Allah says: See how they coin comparisons for thee. So they have gone
astray, therefore they shall not be able to find a way (25:9).
an‑Na'iq (admonishing cry of a shepherd to his sheep);
an‑nida' (to call) is masdar of nada, yunadi,
munadatan (he called, he calls, to call); it is more particular
than ad‑du'a' (to call), because an‑nida' is reserved
for calling in a loud voice, while ad‑du'a' is
general. The meaning of the verse is as follows, and Allah
knows better: And O Prophet! your parable, when you call the
unbelievers to the truth, is like a man who calls out to the
animals while the animals do not understand what he says, except that they
hear a call and cry, and stop in their tracks as soon as they hear it
without understanding any thing spoken. The unbelievers are, therefore,
deaf, they do not hear any talk which would benefit them; dumb, not
speaking any sensible word; blind, not seeing any worthwhile thing. Thus
they do not understand any thing, because their windows of
understanding are closed shut.
It appears
that there is a sort of reversal in this parable. Although it begins as a
parable of those who disbelieve, it changes to describe the shepherd, the
caller to guidance; it is in fact the likeness of the Prophet not of those
who were being called by him to the right path. But as the three
adjectives deducted from it (deaf, dumb [and] blind, so they do
not understand,) were attributes of the disbelievers ‑ not of
him who was calling them to the truth ‑ it was highly appropriate to
ascribe the parable to the disbelievers, and not to the Messenger of Allah
(s.a.w.a.). Thus, there appears to be a reversal in the parable.
TRADITIONS
'Abdu
'r‑Rahman says: "I asked Abu 'Abdillah about a man who vowed to slaughter
his child. He said: 'That is from the footsteps of the Satan.' "
(at‑Tahdhib)
Mansfir ibn
Hazim said: "Abu 'Abdillah (a.s.) said to me: 'Have not you heard about
Tariq? Verily, Tariq was a cattle dealer in Medina. He came to Abu
Ja'far and said: "O Abu Ja'far! I have taken an oath by divorce (of my
wives), emancipation (of my slaves) and vow." Thereupon, (Abu Ja'far,
a.s.) said to Him: "O Tariq! verily this is from the footsteps of the
Satan."
Abu Ja’far
(a.s.) said: 'Every oath taken in the name of other than Allah, is from
the footsteps of the Satan." (al‑Ayyashi)
as‑Sadiq
(a.s.) said: "When a man takes oath for not doing a thing ‑ while what he
has sworn against, its doing is better than its leaving ‑ then he should
do that which is better; and there is no penalty on him; surely it (i.e.,
such oath) is only from the footsteps of the Satan." (al‑Kafi)
The
author says: The traditions, as you see, interpret the footsteps of
the Satan as the deeds supposed to bring one nearer to Allah, while in
fact they are not so, because the shari'ah does not recognize them
‑ as we have explained above. Of course, as for the divorce, etc.
(mentioned in the second tradition), there is an additional reason for the
invalidity of such oaths; and that is making it conditional on some
contingency in future; and it is against the principle of immediate and
unconditional effecting of such transactions. (It is a topic of
jurisprudence.) Oath in the name of other than Allah refers to an oath
which has no validity in the shari’ah, and to swearing by what
Allah has not sworn by and to which He has given no excellence.
al‑Baqir
(a.s.) said about the words of Allah, And the parable of those who
disbelieve is as the parable of one who calls out...: "That is, their
likeness when you call them to the faith is like the caller who calls out
to the cattle which understands nothing other than hearing a voice."
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