The Feast (Al-Maa 'edah)
In the name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace
۞ 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 believe, do not violate the (sanctity of) offerings to God, nor the rites of the holy month, nor sacrificial cattle with garlands (that are brought to the Ka'bah), nor of the people who flock to the Holy House seeking the bounties of their Lord, and His pleasure. Hunt when you have laid aside the robe of the pilgrim. And do not let your hatred of a people who had barred you from the Holy Mosque lead you to aggression. But help one another in goodness and piety, and do not assist in crime and rebellion, and fear God. Surely 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 you what has been made lawful to them. Say: 'All clean things have been made lawful to you, and such hunting animals as you teach, training them to hunt, teaching them the knowledge Allah has given you - you may eat what they catch for you - but invoke the name of Allah on it. Have fear of Allah (in violating His Law). Allah is swift in His 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