The Feast (Al-Maa 'edah)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
۞ O YOU who have attained to faith! Be true to your covenants! Lawful to you is the [flesh of every] beast that feeds on plants, save what is mentioned to you [hereinafter]: but you are not allowed to hunt while you are in the state of pilgrimage. Behold, God ordains in accordance with His will. 1 O People who Believe! Do not make lawful the symbols of Allah nor the sacred months nor the sacrificial animals sent to Sacred Territory (around Mecca) nor the animals marked with garlands, nor the lives and wealth of those travelling towards the Sacred House (Kaa’bah) seeking the munificence and pleasure of their Lord; and when you have completed the pilgrimage, you may hunt; and let not the enmity of the people who had stopped you from going to the Sacred Mosque tempt you to do injustice; and help one another in righteousness and piety – and do not help one another in sin and injustice – and keep fearing Allah; indeed Allah’s punishment is severe. 2 Forbidden unto you (for food) are carrion and blood and swineflesh, and that which hath been dedicated unto any other than Allah, and the strangled, and the dead through beating, and the dead through falling from a height, and that which hath been killed by (the goring of) horns, and the devoured of wild beasts, saving that which ye make lawful (by the death-stroke), and that which hath been immolated unto idols. And (forbidden is it) that ye swear by the divining arrows. This is an abomination. This day are those who disbelieve in despair of (ever harming) your religion; so fear them not, fear Me! This day have I perfected your religion for you and completed My favour unto you, and have chosen for you as religion al-Islam. Whoso is forced by hunger, not by will, to sin: (for him) lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. 3 They ask you (O dear Prophet Mohammed – peace and blessings be upon him) what is made lawful for them; say, “Pure things are made lawful for you, and the beasts (and birds) of prey which you have trained and use for hunting, (and) you teach them what Allah has taught you; so eat what they kill and leave for you, and mention Allah’s name upon it – and keep fearing Allah; indeed Allah is Swift At Taking Account.” 4 This day are (all) things good and pure made lawful unto you. The food of the People of the Book is lawful unto you and yours is lawful unto them. (Lawful unto you in marriage) are (not only) chaste women who are believers, but chaste women among the People of the Book, revealed before your time,- when ye give them their due dowers, and desire chastity, not lewdness, nor secret intrigues if any one rejects faith, fruitless is his work, and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost (all spiritual good). 5