O MANKIND! Partake of what is lawful and good on earth, and follow not Satan's footsteps: for, verily, he is your open foe, 168 He enjoineth upon you only the evil and the foul, and that ye should tell concerning Allah that which ye know not. 169 When it is said to them: "Follow what God has revealed," they reply: "No, we shall follow only what our fathers had practiced," -- even though their fathers had no wisdom or guidance! 170 And so, the parable of those who are bent on denying the truth is that of the beast which hears the shepherd's cry, and hears in it nothing but the sound of a voice and a call. Deaf are they, and dumb, and blind: for they do not use their reason. 171 O Ye who believe! eat of the clean things wherewith We have provided you, and return thanks unto Allah, if Him indeed ye are wont to worship. 172 Forbidden to you are carrion and blood, and the flesh of the swine, and that which has been consecrated (or killed) in the name of any other than God. If one is obliged by necessity to eat it without intending to transgress, or reverting to it, he is not guilty of sin; for God is forgiving and kind. 173 Indeed those, who conceal the Commands that Allah has sent down in His Book and barter them away for paltry worldly gains, fill their bellies with fire. Allah will not speak to them on the Day of Resurrection, nor will He regard them as pure; "a there is a painful torment for them. 174 Those are they that have bought error at the price of guidance, and chastisement at the price of pardon; how patiently they shall endure the Fire! 175 Thus it is: since it is God who bestows the divine writ from on high, setting forth the truth, all those who set their own views against the divine writ are, verily, most deeply in the wrong. 176