Surah An Nahl Tafseer

إِنَّمَا حَرَّمَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْمَيْتَةَ وَالْدَّمَ وَلَحْمَ الْخَنزِيرِ

So eat of the lawful and good food which Allah has provided for you. And be grateful for Allah's favor, if it is He Whom you worship.

He has only forbidden dead flesh, blood, the flesh of swine, and any animal which is slaughtered as a sacrifice for other than Allah.

Allah orders His believing servants to eat the good and lawful things that He has provided, and to give thanks to Him for that, for He is the Giver and Originator of all favors, Who alone deserves to be worshipped, having no partners or associate.

Then Allah mentions what He has forbidden things which harm them in both religious and worldly affairs, i.e., dead meat, blood and the flesh of pigs.

وَمَأ أُهِلَّ لِغَيْرِ اللّهِ بِهِ

and any animal which is slaughtered as a sacrifice for other than Allah.

meaning, it was slaughtered with the mention of a name other than that of Allah.

Nevertheless,

فَمَنِ اضْطُرَّ

But if one is forced by necessity,

meaning, if one needs to do it,

غَيْرَ بَاغٍ وَلَا عَادٍ

without willful disobedience, nor transgressing,

i.e. without deliberately disobeying or transgressing, then,

فَإِنَّ اللّهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

Allah is Pardoning, Most Merciful.

We have already discussed a similar Ayah in Surah Al-Baqarah, and there is no need to repeat it here. And to Allah be praise.

Then Allah forbids us to follow the ways of the idolators who declare things to be permitted or forbidden based upon their own whims and whatever names they agree on, such as;

the Bahirah (a she-camel whose milk was spared for the idols and nobody was allowed to milk it),

the Sa'ibah (a she-camel let loose for free pasture for their false gods, idols, etc., and nothing was allowed to be carried on it),

the Wasilah (a she-camel set free for idols because it has given birth to a she-camel at its first delivery and then again gives birth to a she-camel at its second delivery), and

the Ham (a stallion camel freed from work for the sake of their idols, after it had finished a number of acts of copulation assigned for it), and so on.

All of these were laws and customs that were invented during jahiliyyah.

Then Allah says