Ayat 172:
يٰٓاَ يُّهَا الَّذِيۡنَ اٰمَنُوۡا کُلُوۡا مِنۡ طَيِّبٰتِ مَا رَزَقۡنٰكُمۡ وَاشۡكُرُوۡا لِلّٰهِ اِنۡ کُنۡتُمۡ اِيَّاهُ تَعۡبُدُوۡنَ ﴿2:172﴾
“Believers! Eat of the pure things wherewith We have provided you for sustenance and give thanks to Allah if it is Him that you serve.”
Ayat 173:
اِنَّمَا حَرَّمَ عَلَيۡکُمُ الۡمَيۡتَةَ وَالدَّمَ وَلَحۡمَ الۡخِنۡزِيۡرِ وَمَآ اُهِلَّ بِهٖ لِغَيۡرِ اللّٰهِۚ فَمَنِ اضۡطُرَّ غَيۡرَ بَاغٍ وَّلَا عَادٍ فَلَاۤ اِثۡمَ عَلَيۡهِؕ اِنَّ اللّٰهَ غَفُوۡرٌ رَّحِيۡمٌ ﴿2:173﴾
“He has made unlawful to you only carrion and blood and the flesh of swine and that over which there has been pronounced the name of anyone other than Allah’s. But he who is constrained (to eat of them) – and he neither covets them nor exceeds the indispensable limit – incurs no sin: Allah is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate.”
Q: What instruction does Allah give to believers in Ayat 172?
A: Allah commands the believers to eat from the pure and lawful things He has provided for their sustenance, and to give thanks to Him — on the condition that it is truly Him they worship and serve.
Q: Why is this command significant in context?
A: It directly addresses those who had imposed unlawful taboos on themselves through ancestral traditions, priestly rulings, or superstitious practices. Believers are told that true faith in Allah means accepting what He has permitted without guilt, and abstaining only from what He has prohibited. Clinging to invented prohibitions is itself a sign that the influence of pre-Islamic ignorance remains.
Q: What does the Prophetic tradition cited in the notes add to this understanding?
A: The Prophet is reported to have said that whoever prays in the Muslim manner, faces the qiblah, and eats of lawfully slaughtered animals is a Muslim. This indicates that a person is not fully assimilated into Islam if they retain pre-Islamic food taboos and superstitions, as these reflect that “the poison of Ignorance continues to flow in his veins.”
Q: What four things has Allah explicitly prohibited in Ayat 173?
A: Allah has prohibited carrion (dead animals not properly slaughtered), blood, the flesh of swine, and any animal over which a name other than Allah’s has been pronounced at the time of slaughter.
Q: Why is pronouncing a name other than Allah’s over food considered prohibited?
A: Because Allah alone is the master and provider of all things. Invoking any other name at the time of slaughter or food preparation implies acknowledging another being as a lord or benefactor alongside or instead of Allah, which contradicts the foundation of monotheism.
Q: Does Allah make any allowance for consuming prohibited things under necessity?
A: Yes. Ayat 173 grants a concession under three strict conditions: first, the person must be in a state of extreme compulsion where life itself is at risk; second, they must have no inclination or desire to violate Allah’s law; and third, they must not consume beyond the absolute minimum required to survive. Under these conditions, no sin is incurred.
Q: How does Allah conclude Ayat 173, and what does it convey?
A: Allah concludes with His names “All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate,” conveying that He is not a harsh legislator seeking to burden His servants, but a merciful Lord who acknowledges human vulnerability and grants measured relief in genuine hardship.
Messages from Quran 