The Feast (Al-Maa 'edah)
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
۞ O People who Believe! Fulfil your words (agreements); the mute animals are made lawful for you (to eat) except what will be declared to you after this, but do not assume hunting as lawful when you are on the pilgrimage; indeed Allah commands whatever He wills. 1 Believers, do not disrespect the reminders of God, the sacred months, the animals brought for sacrifice, or what is marked for sacrificial offering or the people heading to the precinct of the Sacred House to seek the favor and pleasure of their Lord. Once the restrictions of ihram are over, you may hunt. Do not let the hostility of a group of people keep you away from the Sacred Mosque or make you express animosity. Co-operate with each other in righteousness and piety, not in sin and hostility. Have fear of God; He is stern in His retribution. 2 Forbidden to you are carrion, blood, the flesh of swine, the animal slaughtered in any name other than Allah's, the animal which has either been strangled, killed by blows, has died of a fall, by goring or that devoured by a beast of prey - unless it be that which you yourselves might have slaughtered while it was still alive - and that which was slaughtered at the altars. - You are also forbidden to seek knowledge of your fate by divining arrows. All these are sinful acts. This day the unbelievers have fully despaired of your religion. Do not fear them; but fear Me. This day I have perfected for you your religion, and have bestowed upon you My bounty in full measure, and have been pleased to assign for you Islam as your religion. (Follow, then, the lawful and unlawful bounds enjoined upon you.) As for he who is driven by hunger, without being wilfully inclined to sin, surely Allah is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate. 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 are allowed unto you all clean foods, and the meat of those vouchsafed the Book is allowable for you, and your meat is allowable for them as also are the wedded believing women and the wedded women of those vouchsafed the Book before you, when ye have given them their dowers, taking them in wedlock, neither fornicating, nor taking them as secret paramours. And who soever rejecteth the faith, his work will surely come to naught, and in the Hereafter he shall be of the losers. 5