6. Al-An'aam

And do not eat from that over which God’s Name has not been invoked, where it has died or been sacrificed to other than His Name — otherwise, what a Muslim sacrifices and does not invoke God’s Name over, whether intentionally or forgetfully, is lawful, as was stated by Ibn ‘Abbās, and this is the opinion of al-Shāfi‘ī — verily it, the eating thereof, is wickedness, a contravention of what is lawful. And truly the devils inspire, whisper [to], their friends, the disbelievers, to dispute with you, in deeming carrion lawful; and if you obey them, in this [matter], you are truly idolaters.

The following was revealed regarding Abū Jahl and others: Why, is he who was dead, through unbelief, and We gave him life, through guidance, and appointed for him a light by which to walk among people, distinguishing thereby the truth from falsehood — this [light] being faith — as him whose likeness (ka-man mathaluhu: mathal, ‘likeness’, is extra; in other words, [read] ka-man huwa, ‘as him who’) is in darkness whence he cannot emerge? — and this is the disbeliever — No! So, in the same way that faith has been adorned for believers, what the disbelievers have been doing, in the way of disbelief and acts of disobedience, has been adorned for them.

And thus, in the same way that We have made the wicked folk of Mecca its leaders, We have made in every city its sinners great ones, that they may plot therein, to impede the faith; but they plot only against themselves, because the evil consequences thereof will befall them, though they do not perceive, this.

And when a sign, of the truth of the Prophet (s), comes to them, the people of Mecca, they say, ‘We will not believe, in him, until we are given the like of what God’s messengers were given’, in the way of a message and inspiration to us, because we are wealthier and more senior in years. God, exalted be He, says: God knows best where to place His Message (read plural [risālātihi, ‘His Messages’] or singular [risālatahu, ‘His Message’]; hayth, ‘where’, constitutes the direct object because of the verb [ya‘lam, ‘He knows’] implicit in a‘lam, ‘the best knower’) that is to say, He knows the right place for it to be placed in, and He thus places it [there] — these people, however, are not worthy of it. Humiliation from God and a terrible chastisement shall smite those who have sinned, by saying this, for their plotting.

Whomever God desires to guide, He expands his breast to Islam, by casting into his heart a light which it [the heart] expands for and accepts, as reported in a hadīth; and whomever He, God, desires to send astray, He makes his breast narrow (read dayqan or dayyiqan), [unable] to accept it, and constricted, extremely tight (read harijan, ‘constricted’, as an adjective, or harajan as a verbal noun, by which it [the heart of the misguided one] is described hyperbolically) as if he were engaged in ascent (yassa‘‘ad, is also read as yassā‘ad: in both [forms] the original tā’ has been assimilated with the sād; a third [variant reading] has yas‘ad) to the heaven, when he is charged with [the obligations of] the faith, because of the hardship for him therein. So, like this making [of the breast narrow], God casts ignominy, chastisement, or [He casts] Satan, that is, He gives him authority, over those who do not believe.

And this, [path] that you follow, O Muhammad (s), is the path of your Lord, a straight one, with no crookedness therein (mustaqīman, ‘straight’, is in the accusative because it is a circumstantial qualifier emphasising the [previous] statement, and it is operated by the import of the demonstrative noun [hādhā, ‘this’]). We have detailed, We have elucidated, the signs for a people who remember (yadhdhakkarūn: the original tā’ has been assimilated with the dhāl), that is to say, [a people] who heed admonition — such [people] are singled out for mention because they are the ones to profit [from the signs].

Theirs will be the abode of peace, namely, Paradise, with their Lord, and He will be their Friend because of what they used to do.

So, just as We let the rebels from among mankind and jinn enjoy one another, We let some of the evildoers have power over others because of what they are wont to earn, of acts of disobedience.

‘O assembly of jinn and mankind, did not messengers come to you from among you, that is, from among both of your number — which holds true in the case of mankind [since messengers came from among them], or [by ‘messengers’ if the jinn are meant] those messengers among the jinn who are their warners, the ones who listen to the speech of the [human] messengers and convey it to their kind — to recount to you My signs and to warn you of the encounter of this Day of yours?’ They shall say, ‘We bear witness against ourselves’, that [all] this was conveyed to us. God, exalted be He, says: And the life of this world deluded them, and so they did not believe. And they bear witness against themselves that they were disbelievers.