2. Surah Al Baqarah

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ ...

2: 168. O ye people!

... كُلُواْ مِمَّا فِي الأَرْضِ حَلاَلاً طَيِّباً...

eat of what is on earth, lawful and good;

C169. We now come to the regulations about food.

- First (2:168-71) we have an appeal to all people, Muslims, Pagans, as well as the People of the Book;

- then (2:172-73) to the Muslims specially;

- then (2:174-76) to the sort of men who then (as some do now) either believe in too much formalism or believe in no restrictions at all.

Islam follows the Golden Mean. All well-regulated societies lay down reasonable limitations. These become incumbent on all loyal members of any given society, and show what is "lawful" in that society. But if the limitations are reasonable, as they should be, the "lawful" will also coincide more and more with what is "good".

Good: Tayyub: Pure, Clean, wholesome, pleasing to the taste.

The general principle then would be:

- what is lawful and what is good, should be followed, not what is evil, or shameful, or foisted on by false ascription to divine injections, or

- what rests merely on the usage of ancestors, even though the ancestors were ignorant or foolish.

An example of a shameful custom would be that among the Pagan Arabs of taking congealed blood and eating it fried.

... وَلاَ تَتَّبِعُواْ خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُّبِينٌ ﴿١٦٨﴾

and do not follow the footsteps of the Evil One, for he is to you an avowed enemy.

Asad’s version

2:168 O MANKIND! Partake of what is lawful and good on earth, and follow not Satan's footsteps: for, verily, he is your open foe, (2: 169) and bids you only to do evil, and to commit deeds of abomination, and to attribute unto God something of which you have no knowledge. 137

[[ Asad’s note - 137 This refers to an arbitrary attribution to God of commandments or prohibitions in excess of what has been clearly ordained by Him (Zamakhshari). Some of the commentators (e.g., Muhammad 'Abduh in Manar 1 1, 89 f) include within this expression the innumerable supposedly "legal" injunctions which, without being clearly warranted by the wording of the Qur'an or an authentic Tradition, have been obtained by individual Muslim scholars through subjective methods of deduction and then put forward as "God's ordinances". The connection between this passage and the preceding ones is obvious. Inverses 165-167 the Qur'an speaks of those "who choose to believe in beings that supposedly rival God" : and this implies also a false attribution, to those beings, of a right to issue quasi-religious ordinances of their own, as well as an attribution of religious validity to customs sanctioned by nothing but ancient usage (see next verse). ]]