Forbidden you is carrion and blood, and the flesh of the swine, and whatsoever has been killed in the name of some other than God, and whatever has been strangled, or killed by a blow or a fall, or by goring, or that which has been mauled by wild beasts unless slaughtered while still alive; and that which has been slaughtered at altars is forbidden, and also dividing the meat by casting lots with arrows. All this is sinful. Today the unbelievers have lost every hope of (despoiling) your creed; so do not fear them, fear Me. Today I have perfected your system of belief and bestowed My favours upon you in full, and have chosen submission (al-Islam) as the creed for you. If one of you is driven by hunger (to eat the forbidden) without the evil intent of sinning, then God is forgiving and kind.
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Tafseer
'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : allah then explained what he made unlawful for them, saying: (forbidden unto you (for food) are carrion) he says: eating carrion is forbidden for you because he has commanded that it be immolated (and blood) which is shed (and swine flesh, and that which hath been dedicated unto any other than allah) in purpose, (and the strangled) that which is strangled with a rope until it dies, (and the dead through beating) the beast beaten by a piece of wood until it dies, (and the dead through falling from a height) or in a well and which dies as a consequence, (and that which has been killed by (the goring of) horns, and the devoured of wild beasts) as a prey, (saving that which ye make lawful) except that which you find on the verge of dying and make it lawful by immolating it, (and that which hath been immolated unto idols. and (forbidden is it) that you swear by the divining arrows) he says: he has forbidden your use of divining arrows. they were in the habit of writing on some arrows: "my lord commands me", and on others "my lord forbids me" and then use the divination method associated with it to decide their affairs, and so allah prohibited them from engaging in such activity. (this) that which i have mentioned to you of transgressions and the unlawful (is an abomination) engaging in them is an abomination and declaring them lawful is an act of disbelief. (this day) the day of the greater pilgrimage, the farewell pilgrimage (are those who disbelieve) the unbelievers of mecca (in despair of your religion) in despair of you religion reverting to theirs after you left their religion and its laws; (so fear them not) in relation to following the prophet muhammad (pbuh) and opposing them (fear me!) if you abstain from following muhammad and his religion and follow them. (this day) the day of the pilgrimage (have i perfected your religion for you) i have elucidated to you the prescriptions of your religion: the lawful and the unlawful, the commands and the prohibitions (and completed my favour unto you) i have completed my blessing upon you in that, after today, no idolater will ever gather with you in 'arafat, mina, in the circumambulation around the ka'bah, and in the coming and going between al-safa and al-marwah, (and have chosen for you as religion al-islam. whoso is forced by hunger) whoever is forced to eat the meat of carrion upon necessity, (not by will to sin) not wilfully intending to commit a sin; it is also said that this means: not purposefully wanting to eat without a necessity: ((for him) lo! allah is forgiving) if he eats to satiety, (merciful) when he gave legal dispensation to eat the meat of carrion upon necessity in order to gain strength but it is legally reprehensible (makruh) to eat to satiety.
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : forbidden to you is carrion, that is, the consumption of it, and blood, that is, what has been spilt, as mentioned in [sūrat] al-an‘ām [q. 6:145], and the flesh of swine, and what has been hallowed to other than god, in that it was sacrificed in the name of something other than him, and the beast strangled, to death, and the beast beaten down, to death, and the beast fallen, from a height to its death, and the beast gored, to death by another, and what beasts of prey have devoured, of such animals — except for what you have sacrificed duly, catching it while it still breathes life and then sacrificing it — and what has been sacrificed in, the name of, idols (nusub is the plural of nusāb) and that you apportion, that is, that you demand an oath or a ruling, through the divining of arrows (azlām: the plural of zalam or zulam, which is a qidh, ‘a small arrow’, without feathers or a head). there were seven of these [arrows], [marked] with flags, and they were retained by the keeper of the ka‘ba. they would use them for abitrations and when they commanded them they obeyed, and if they prohibited them they would desist; that is wickedness, a rebellion against obedience. and on the day of ‘arafa in the year of the farewell pilgrimage, the following was revealed: today the disbelievers have despaired of your religion, of you apostatising from it, having hoped for it [earlier], for now they perceived its strength; therefore do not fear them, but fear me. today i have perfected your religion for you, that is, its rulings and obligations (after this [verse] nothing about [what is] lawful or unlawful was revealed) and i have completed my favour upon you, by perfecting it [your religion], but it is also said by [effecting] their safe entry into mecca; and i have approved, chosen, islam for you as religion. but whoever is constrained by emptiness, by hunger, to consume some of what has been forbidden him and consumes it, not inclining purposely to sin, to an act of disobedience — then god is forgiving, to him for what he has consumed, merciful, to him by permitting it to him, in contrast to the one who [purposely] inclines to sin, that is, the one actively engaged in it, such as a waylayer or a criminal, for whom [such] consumption is forbidden.
Ali ibn Ahmad al-Wahidi
تفسير : (this day have i perfected your religion for you…) [5:3].
this verse was revealed on friday, on the day of ‘arafah, at the farewell pilgrimage, after ‘asr prayer in the tenth year of the hijrah while the prophet, allah bless him and give him peace, was present in ‘arafat on the back of his camel al-‘adba’.
‘abd al-rahman ibn hamdan al-‘adl informed us> ahmad ibn ja‘far al-qati‘i> ‘abd allah ibn ahmad> his father> ja‘far ibn ‘awn> abu ‘umays> qays ibn muslim> tariq ibn shihab who said: “a jewish man went to ‘umar ibn al-khattab, may allah be well pleased with him, and said: ‘o leader of the believers, you recite one verse in your scripture which, if it had been revealed to us, we would have taken the day in which it was revealed as a day of celebration’. ‘which verse is this?’ asked ‘umar. he said: ‘it is (this day have i perfected your religion for you and completed my favour unto you…)’. ‘umar said: ‘by allah, i know the day in which it was revealed to the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, and the hour in which it was revealed to the messenger of allah, allah bless him and his family and give him peace. it was revealed on friday, in the afternoon of the day of ‘arafah’ ”. this was narrated by bukhari from al-hasan ibn sabah and also by muslim from ‘abd ibn humayd, and ibn sabah and ibn humayd related it from ja‘far ibn ‘awn.
al-hakim abu ‘abd al-rahman al-shadhyakhi informed us> zahir ibn ahmad> al-husayn ibn nuhammad ibn mus‘ab> yahya ibn hakim> abu qutaybah> hammad> ‘ammar ibn abi ‘ammar: “ibn ‘abbas recited this verse in the presence of a jewish man, and the latter said: ‘if this verse was revealed to us, we would have taken the day in which it was revealed as a celebration day’. ibn ‘abbas said: ‘well, it was revealed in two days of celebration which coincided with each other: it was a friday which coincided with the day of ‘arafah’ ”.
Sahl al-Tustari
تفسير : …yet fear them not, but fear me…that is, ‘do not fear the disbelievers with regard to obeying me, but fear me with regard to following them.’then he said:the weakest person is he who fears those who can neither benefit him nor harm him. however, the one in whose hand is the power to benefit and harm addresses him with his words, yet fear them not, but fear me.his words, exalted is he:
