5. Surah Al-Ma'idah
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
يَا
أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ
آمَنُواْ...
5: 94. O ye who believe!
... لَيَبْلُوَنَّكُمُ اللّهُ بِشَيْءٍ مِّنَ الصَّيْدِ تَنَالُهُ أَيْدِيكُمْ وَرِمَاحُكُمْ لِيَعْلَمَ اللّهُ مَن يَخَافُهُ بِالْغَيْبِ...
Allah doth but make a trial of you in a little matter of game well within reach of your hands and your lances, that He may test who feareth Him unseen:
C799. Literally, "know" Cf. 3:166, and 3:154, n. 467.
Game is forbidden in the Sacred Precincts. If we deliberately break that injunction, we have no faith and reverence.
... فَمَنِ اعْتَدَى بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ فَلَهُ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ ﴿٩٤﴾
any who transgress thereafter will have a grievous penalty.
يَا
أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ
آمَنُواْ لاَ
تَقْتُلُواْ
الصَّيْدَ
وَأَنتُمْ
حُرُمٌ...
5: 95. O ye who believe!
kill not game, while in the Sacred Precincts or in pilgrim garb.
The pilgrim garb, Ihram, has been explained in n. 212, 2:196.
... وَمَن قَتَلَهُ مِنكُم مُّتَعَمِّدًا فَجَزَاء ...
If any of you doth so intentionally, the compensation is
... مِّثْلُ مَا قَتَلَ مِنَ النَّعَمِ يَحْكُمُ بِهِ ذَوَا عَدْلٍ مِّنكُمْ هَدْيًا بَالِغَ الْكَعْبَةِ...
- an offering, brought to the Ka'bah of a domestic animal equivalent to the one he killed, as adjudged by two just men among you;
C801. For an inadvertent breach of the game rule there is apparently no penalty. Intentional breach will be prevented, if possible, by previous action.
If in some case the preventive action is not effective, the penalty is prescribed. The penalty is in three alternatives:
- an equivalent animal should be brought to the Ka'bah for sacrifice; if so, the meat would be distributed to the poor; or the poor must be fed, with grain or money, according to the value of the animal if one had been sacrificed: or
- the offender must fast as many days as the number of the poor who would have been fed under the second alternative.
- Probably the last alternative would only be open if the offender is too poor to afford the first or second, but on this point Commentators are not agreed.
The "equivalent animal" in the first alternative would be a domestic animal of similar value or weight in meat or of similar shape (e.g., goat to antelope), as adjudged by two just men on the spot.
The alternatives about the penalty and its remission ("Allah forgives what is past") or exaction explain the last two lines of the verse: being "Exalted and Lord of Retribution", Allah can remit or regulate according to His just laws.
... أَوْ كَفَّارَةٌ طَعَامُ مَسَاكِينَ أَو عَدْلُ ذَلِكَ صِيَامًا لِّيَذُوقَ وَبَالَ أَمْرِهِ ...
- or by way of atonement, the feeding of the indigent;
- or its equivalent in fasts:
that he may taste of the penalty of his deed.
... عَفَا اللّهُ عَمَّا سَلَف...
Allah forgives what is past:
... وَمَنْ عَادَ فَيَنتَقِمُ اللّهُ مِنْهُ وَاللّهُ عَزِيزٌ ذُو انْتِقَامٍ ﴿٩٥﴾
for repetition Allah will exact from him the penalty: for Allah is Exalted, and Lord of Retribution.
Other versions:
5: 94
Asad you who have attained to faith! Most certainly God will try you by means of the game which may come within the reach of your hands and your weapons [while you are on pilgrimage], so that God might mark out those who fear Him although He is beyond the reach of human perception. And as for him who, after all this, transgress the bounds of what is right – grievous suffering awaits him!
Yusuf Ali O ye who believe! Allah doth but make a trial of you in a little matter of game well within reach of your hands and your lances that He may test who feareth Him unseen: any who transgress thereafter will have a grievous penalty.
Pickthall O ye who believe! Allah will surely try you somewhat (in the matter) of the game which ye take with your hands and your spears, that Allah may know him who feareth Him in secret. Whoso transgresseth after this, for him there is a painful doom.
Transliteration Ya_ ayyuhal lazina a_manu_ layabluwannakumulla_hu bi syai'in minas saidi tana_luhu_ aidikum wa rima_hukum liya'lamalla_hu may yakha_fuhu_ bil gaib(i), famani'tada_ ba'da za_lika falahu_ 'aza_bun alim(un).
5: 95
Asad O you who have attained to faith! Kill no game while you are in the state of pilgrimage. And whoever of you kills it intentionally, [shall make] amends in cattle equivalent to what he has killed – with two persons of probity giving their judgment thereon – to be brought as an offering to the Kabah; or else he may atone for his by feeding the needy, or by the equivalent thereof in fasting: [this] in order that he taste the full gravity of his deed, [while] God shall have effaced the past. But whoever does it again, God will inflict His retribution on him: for God is almighty, and avenger of evil.
Pickthall O ye who believe! Kill no wild game while ye are on the pilgrimage. Whoso of you killeth it of set purpose he shall pay its forfeit in the equivalent of that which he hath killed, of domestic animals, the judge to be two men among you known for justice; (the forfeit) to be brought as an offering to the Ka'bah; or, for expiation, he shall feed poor persons, or the equivalent thereof in fasting, that he may taste the evil consequences of his deed. Allah forgiveth whatever (of this kind) may have happened in the past, but whoso relapseth, Allah will take retribution from him. Allah is Mighty, Able to Requite (the wrong).
Transliteration Ya_ ayyuhal lazina a_manu_ la_ taqtulus saida wa antum hurum(un), wa man qatalahu_ minkum muta'ammidan fa jaza_'um mislu ma_ qatala minan na'ami yahkumu bihi zawa_ 'adlim minkum hadyam ba_ligal ka'bati au kaffa_ratun ta'a_mu masa_kina au 'adlu za_lika siya_mal liyazu_qa waba_la amrih(i),'afalla_hu 'amma_ salaf(a), wa man 'a_da fa yantaqimulla_hu minh(u), walla_hu 'azizun zuntiqa_m(in).
[[ Asad’s notes – 111 …………..The Trial arises from the fact that hunting, although lawful in itself….is prohibited in the state of pilgrimage.
112 -…..the killing of a dangerous or highly obnoxious animal – for instance, a snake, a scorpion, a rabid dog, etc.– is permitted even in the state of pilgrimage.]]