'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : (they ask thee) o muhammad; the people who so asked were zayd ibn muhalhil al-ta'i and 'adiyy ibn hatim al-ta'i, both fishermen (what is made lawful for them) of game. (say : (all) good things) all the immolated ones (are made lawful for you. and those beasts and birds of prey which ye have trained as hounds are trained, ye teach them) to abstain from eating game (that which allah taught you) as allah has taught you; (so eat of that which they) the trained dogs (catch for you and mention allah's name upon it) upon immolating your game; and it is also said: upon sending the trained dogs upon the game, (and observe your duty to allah) fear allah about eating the meat of carrion. (lo! allah is swift to take account) his punishment is severe; it is also said that this means: when he is swift when he takes people to task.
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : they will ask you, o muhammad (s), about what, food, is made lawful for them. say: ‘the good, delicious, things are made lawful for you; and the, quarry of, hunting creatures, dogs, wildcats or birds that catch food, you have taught, training [them] as hounds (mukallibīn is a circumstantial qualifier, derived from kallabtu al-kalba, meaning, ‘i released the hound against the quarry’) teaching them (tu‘allimūnahunna is a circumstantial qualifier referring to the subject of mukallibīn, ‘training [them] as hounds’, in other words, ‘disciplining them’) of what god has taught you, of the art of hunting; so eat what they have caught for you, even if they have killed it, as long as they have not eaten any of it. this is in contrast to the untrained [hunting creatures], whose catch is not lawful [for consumption]: the mark of these [being trained hunting creatures] is that they should return after they have been sent out, that they can be curbed when cried at and that they can seize the quarry without eating of it; the minimum number of times by which this may be known is three. if they eat any of it, then it cannot be counted as ‘what they have caught’ for their trainers, and is consequently unlawful for consumption, as reported in hadīth in both of the sahīhs [of bukhārī and muslim] — therein it is also mentioned that a catch made by an arrow over which god’s name is mentioned is equivalent [in lawfulness] to the catch of trained hunting creatures. and mention god’s name over it, when you unleash it. and fear god. indeed, god is swift at the reckoning’.
Ali ibn Ahmad al-Wahidi
تفسير : (they ask thee (o muhammad) what is made lawful for them…) [5:4].
abu bakr al-harithi informed us> abu’l-shaykh al-hafiz> abu yahya> sahl ibn ‘uthman> yahya ibn abi za’idah> musa ibn ‘ubayda> aban ibn salih> al-qa‘qa’ ibn hakim> salma umm rafi‘> abu rafi‘ who said: “the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, commanded me to kill dogs. but people said: ‘o messenger of allah, what is made lawful for us from this community [of dogs] which we are commanded to kill?’ and so allah, exalted is he, revealed (they ask thee (o muhammad) what is made lawful for them. say: (all) good things are made lawful for you. and those beasts and birds of prey)”. this was narrated by al-hakim abu ‘abd allah in his sahih> abu bakr ibn balawayh> muhammad ibn shadhan> mu‘alla ibn mansur> ibn abi za’idah.
the commentators of the qur’an said in explanation of this story: “said abu rafi‘: ‘gabriel, peace be upon him, went to see the prophet, allah bless him and give him peace, but did not enter in on the prophet even though he was granted permission to enter. the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, came out and said to him: ‘we have given you permission to enter, o gabriel!’ he said: ‘yes, you have, o messenger of allah, except that we do not enter a house where there is a picture or a dog’. they looked around and found that there was a puppy in one of the rooms’. abu rafi‘ said: ‘the prophet, allah bless him and give him peace, commanded me to kill every dog in medina. i proceeded with the execution of the command until i reached al-‘awali where i found a woman who kept a dog for her protection. out of compassion for her, i did not kill her dog. i went back to the prophet, allah bless him and give him peace, and informed him of what had happened, and he commanded me to go back and kill it. i went back and killed it. when the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, commanded the killing of dogs, a group of people went to him and said: ‘o messenger of allah, what is lawful for us of this community that we have been commanded to kill?’ the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, did not answer, and then allah, exalted is he, revealed this verse. when this verse was revealed the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, allowed keeping dogs which can be benefited from and warned against keeping dogs from which no benefit is derived. he also commanded the killing of rabid dogs, rapacious dogs and dogs that hurt and harm people. apart from these, all other dogs were exempted from killing’ ”.
sa‘id ibn jubayr said: “this verse was revealed about ‘adiyy ibn hatim and zayd ibn al-muhalhil (the same zayd al-khayl [zayd of the horses] whom the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, renamed zayd al-khayr [zayd of goodness]), both of whom were from the tribe of tayy. these two men went to the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, and said: ‘o messenger of allah, we are people who hunt using dogs and falcons, and the dogs of the family of dhurayh and those of the family of abu juwayriyah hunt cows, wild asses, deer and lizards, some of which we slaughter before they are killed and some are killed before we get to slaughter them. what is lawful for us in this case since, allah, exalted is he, has forbidden eating the flesh of dead animals?’ and so this verse was revealed: (they ask thee (o muhammad) what is made lawful for them. say: (all) good things are made lawful for you), meaning that which has been slaughtered (and those beasts and birds of prey), meaning the game hunted by trained predatory animals which are here hunting dogs and birds of prey”.
