The Feast (Al-Maa 'edah)
In the name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace
۞ O believers, fulfil your bonds. Permitted to you is the beast of the flocks, except that which is now recited to you, so that you deem not game permitted to be hunted when you are in pilgrim sanctity. God decrees whatsoever He desires. 1 Believers, violate neither the sanctity of God's signs, the Sacred Month, the sacrificial animals, the animals wearing garlands [indicating they are to be sacrificed] nor those on their way to the Sacred House seeking the bounty and pleasure of their Lord. When, on completion of your pilgrimage, you take off the garb of the pilgrim, you may hunt. Do not let the enmity of those who barred you from the Sacred Mosque lead you into sin. Help one another in goodness and in piety. Do not help one another in sin and transgression. Fear God! God is severe in punishment. 2 Forbidden for you are carrion, and blood, and flesh of swine, and that which has been slaughtered while proclaiming the name of any other than Allah, and one killed by strangling, and one killed with blunt weapons, and one which died by falling, and that which was gored by the horns of some animal, and one eaten by a wild beast, except those whom you slaughter; and (also forbidden is) that which is slaughtered at the altar (of idols) and that which is distributed by the throwing of arrows (as an omen); this is an act of sin; this day, the disbelievers are in despair concerning your religion, so do not fear them and fear Me; this day have I perfected your religion for you* and completed My favour upon you, and have chosen Islam as your religion; so whoever is forced by intense hunger and thirst and does not incline towards sin, then indeed Allah is Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful. (*Prophet Mohammed – peace and blessings be upon him – is the Last Prophet.) 3 They ask thee as to whatever is allowed unto them. Say thou: allowed unto you are all clean foods, and as to the animals of prey which ye have taught even as Allah hath taught you, eat of that which they have caught for you, and mention the name of Allah over it; and fear Allah, verily Allah is swift in reckoning. 4 Today, all the good things of life have been made lawful to you. And the food of those who have been vouchsafed revelation aforetime is lawful to you, and your food is lawful to them. And [lawful to you are,] in wedlock, women from among those who believe [in this divine writ,] and in wedlock, women from among those who have been vouchsafed revelation before your time - provided that you give them their dowers, taking them in honest wedlock, not in fornication, nor as secret love-companions. But as for him who rejects belief [in God] - in vain will be all his works: for in the life to come he shall be among the lost. 5