The Feast (Al-Maa 'edah)
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
۞ O you who believe! Fulfill (your) obligations. Lawful to you (for food) are all the beasts of cattle except that which will be announced to you (herein), game (also) being unlawful when you assume Ihram for Hajj or 'Umrah (pilgrimage). Verily, Allah commands that which He wills. 1 O you who believe! Violate not the sanctity of the Symbols of Allah, nor of the Sacred Month, nor of the animals brought for sacrifice, nor the garlanded people or animals, etc. [Marked by the garlands on their necks made from the outer part of the tree-stems (of Makkah) for their security], nor the people coming to the Sacred House (Makkah), seeking the bounty and good pleasure of their Lord. But when you finish the Ihram (of Hajj or 'Umrah), you may hunt, and let not the hatred of some people in (once) stopping you from Al-Masjid-al-Haram (at Makkah) lead you to transgression (and hostility on your part). Help you one another in Al-Birr and At-Taqwa (virtue, righteousness and piety); but do not help one another in sin and transgression. And fear Allah. Verily, Allah is Severe in punishment. 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 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 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