قُلْ أَرَءَيْتُم مَّآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ لَكُم مِّن رِّزْقٍ فَجَعَلْتُم مِّنْهُ حَرَامًا وَحَلَـٰلًا قُلْ ءَآللَّهُ أَذِنَ لَكُمْ ۖ أَمْ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ تَفْتَرُونَ 59
Translations
Say, "Have you seen what Allāh has sent down to you of provision of which you have made [some] lawful and [some] unlawful?" Say, "Has Allāh permitted you [to do so], or do you invent [something] about Allāh?"
Transliteration
Qul ara'aytum mā anzala Allāhu lakum min rizqin faja'altum minhu harāman wa-halālan qul ā-Allāhu adhina lakum am 'alā Allāhi taftarūn
Tafsir (Explanation)
This ayah challenges the polytheists who arbitrarily declared certain provisions (food and goods) as forbidden (harām) and others as permissible (halāl) without divine authorization. The Prophet is commanded to ask them whether Allah has permitted them this authority, or whether they are fabricating lies against Allah. Ibn Kathir notes this refers specifically to the pre-Islamic Arabian practice of declaring certain animals and foods unlawful based on superstition and custom, such as forbidding camel meat or declaring certain animals harām due to vows made to idols.
Revelation Context
This ayah addresses a central Meccan theme: the rejection of human innovation in religious matters (bid'ah). It was revealed during the Meccan period when the Quraysh and other Arab tribes maintained various prohibitions on food and livestock that had no basis in divine revelation, such as the bahīrah (slit-ear camel) and other animals described in Surah 5:103. The ayah directly challenges their religious authority and reiterates that only Allah has the right to legislate what is halāl and harām.
Related Hadiths
Sahih Muslim reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said: 'The lawful is clear and the unlawful is clear, and between them are matters that are unclear about which many people do not know.' This hadith emphasizes that distinctions in permissibility come from divine guidance, not human opinion. Additionally, Surah 5:103-104 (also Quranic) addresses the same Arabian practices of arbitrary food prohibitions.
Themes
Key Lesson
This ayah teaches that religious laws and prohibitions derive exclusively from divine revelation, not from human custom, superstition, or cultural tradition. Modern believers should reflect critically on whether their religious practices are rooted in authentic Quranic and Prophetic guidance rather than inherited cultural assumptions or personal preference.
Related Ayahs
قُل لَّوْ شَآءَ ٱللَّهُ مَا تَلَوْتُهُۥ عَلَيْكُمْ وَلَآ أَدْرَىٰكُم بِهِۦ ۖ فَقَدْ لَبِثْتُ فِيكُمْ عُمُرًا مِّن قَبْلِهِۦٓ ۚ أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ
Say, "If Allāh had willed, I would not have recited it to you, nor would He have made it known to you, for I had remained among you a lifetime before it. Then will you not reason?"
فَذَٰلِكُمُ ٱللَّهُ رَبُّكُمُ ٱلْحَقُّ ۖ فَمَاذَا بَعْدَ ٱلْحَقِّ إِلَّا ٱلضَّلَـٰلُ ۖ فَأَنَّىٰ تُصْرَفُونَ
For that is Allāh, your Lord, the Truth. And what can be beyond truth except error? So how are you averted?
قَالُوٓا۟ أَجِئْتَنَا لِتَلْفِتَنَا عَمَّا وَجَدْنَا عَلَيْهِ ءَابَآءَنَا وَتَكُونَ لَكُمَا ٱلْكِبْرِيَآءُ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَمَا نَحْنُ لَكُمَا بِمُؤْمِنِينَ
They said, "Have you come to us to turn us away from that upon which we found our fathers and so that you two may have grandeur in the land? And we are not believers in you."
وَمَا تَكُونُ فِى شَأْنٍ وَمَا تَتْلُوا۟ مِنْهُ مِن قُرْءَانٍ وَلَا تَعْمَلُونَ مِنْ عَمَلٍ إِلَّا كُنَّا عَلَيْكُمْ شُهُودًا إِذْ تُفِيضُونَ فِيهِ ۚ وَمَا يَعْزُبُ عَن رَّبِّكَ مِن مِّثْقَالِ ذَرَّةٍ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَلَا فِى ٱلسَّمَآءِ وَلَآ أَصْغَرَ مِن ذَٰلِكَ وَلَآ أَكْبَرَ إِلَّا فِى كِتَـٰبٍ مُّبِينٍ
And, [O Muḥammad], you are not [engaged] in any matter and do not recite any of the Qur’ān and you [people] do not do any deed except that We are witness over you when you are involved in it. And not absent from your Lord is any [part] of an atom's weight within the earth or within the heaven or [anything] smaller than that or greater but that it is in a clear register.