The Feast (Al-Maa 'edah)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the 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 you who have attained to faith! Offend not against the symbols set up by God, nor against the sacred month [of pilgrimage,] nor against the garlanded offerings, nor against those who flock to the Inviolable Temple, seeking favour with their Sustainer and His goodly acceptance; and [only] after your pilgrimage is over are you free to hunt. And never let your hatred of people who would bar you from the Inviolable House of Worship lead you into the sin of aggression: but rather help one another in furthering virtue and God-consciousness, and do not help one another in furthering evil and enmity; and remain conscious of God: for, behold, God is severe in retribution! 2 Forbidden unto you are the deadmeat, and blood, and the flesh of the swine, and that over which is invoked the name of other than Allah, and the strangled, and the felled, and the tumbled, and the gored, and that which wild animals have devoured, unless ye have cleansed, and that which hath been slaughtered on the altars, and that ye seek a division by means of the divining arrows: all that is an abomination. Today those who disbelieve have despaired of your religion; wherefore fear them not, and fear Me. Today I have perfected for you your religion, and have completed My favour upon you, and am well-pleased with Islam as your religion. Then whosoever is driven to extreme hunger not inclining to sin, verily then Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. 3 They ask you what is lawful to them. Say: 'The good things are lawful to you, as well as that which you have taught the birds and beasts of prey to catch, teaching them of what Allah has taught you. Eat of what they catch for you, pronouncing upon it the Name of Allah. And fear Allah, Allah is Swift at reckoning' 4 Today, all good things have been made lawful to you. The food of the People of the Book is lawful to you, and your food is lawful to them. The chaste believing women and the chaste women of the people who were given the Book before you, are lawful to you, provided that you give them their dowers, and marry them, neither committing fornication nor taking them as mistresses. The deeds of anyone who rejects the faith will come to nothing, and in the Hereafter he will be among the losers. 5