Tafsir of Surah Al-Baqarah - Verse 168

The Order to eat the Lawful Things, and the Prohibition of following the Footsteps of Shaytan

After Allah stated that there is no deity worthy of worship except Him and that He Alone created the creation, He stated that He is the Sustainer for all His creation, and He mentioned a favor that He granted them; He has allowed them to eat any of the pure lawful things on the earth that do not cause harm to the body or the mind. He also forbade them from following the footsteps of Shaytan, meaning his ways and methods with which he misguides his followers, like prohibiting the Bahirah (a she-camel whose milk was spared for the idols and nobody was allowed to milk it), or Sa'ibah (a she-camel let loose for free pasture for the idols and nothing was allowed to be carried on it), or a Wasilah (a she-camel set free for idols because it has given birth to a she-camel at its first delivery and then again gives birth to a she-camel at its second delivery), and all of the other things that Shaytan made attractive to them during the time of Jahiliyyah. Muslim recorded `Iyad bin Himar saying that Allah's Messenger ﷺ said that Allah the Exalted says,

يَقُولُ اللهُ تَعَالَى:إِنَّ كُلَّ مَالٍ مَنَحْتُهُ عِبَادِي فَهُوَ لَهُمْ حَلَالٌ، وَفِيهِ وَإِنِّي خَلَقْتُ عِبَادِي حُنَفَاءَ، فَجَاءَتْهُمُ الشَّيَاطِينُ فَاجْتَالَتْهُمْ عَنْ دِينِهِمْ، وَحَرَّمَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ مَا أَحْلَلْتُ لَهُم»

(`Every type of wealth I have endowed My servants is allowed for them...' (until), `I have created My servants Hunafa' (pure or upright), but the devils came to them and led them astray from their (true) religion and prohibited them from what I allowed for them. ')

Allah said:

إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُّبِينٌ

(...he is to you an open enemy.)

warning against Satan. Allah said in another instance:

إِنَّ الشَّيْطَـنَ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ فَاتَّخِذُوهُ عَدُوّاً إِنَّمَا يَدْعُو حِزْبَهُ لِيَكُونُواْ مِنْ أَصْحَـبِ السَّعِيرِ

(Surely, Shaytan is an enemy to you, so take (treat) him as an enemy. He only invites his Hizb (followers) that they may become the dwellers of the blazing Fire.) (35:6), and:

أَفَتَتَّخِذُونَهُ وَذُرِّيَّتَهُ أَوْلِيَآءَ مِن دُونِى وَهُمْ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ بِئْسَ لِلظَّـلِمِينَ بَدَلاً

(Will you then take him (Iblis) and his offspring as protectors and helpers rather than Me while they are enemies to you What an evil is the exchange for the Zalimin (polytheists, and wrongdoers, etc).) (18:50)

Qatadah and As-Suddi commented on what Allah said:

وَلاَ تَتَّبِعُواْ خُطُوَتِ الشَّيْطَـنِ

(...and follow not the footsteps of Shaytan (Satan)):

Every act of disobedience to Allah is among the footsteps of Satan.

`Abd bin Humayd reported that Ibn `Abbas said: "Any vow or oath that one makes while angry, is among the footsteps of Shaytan and its expiation is that of the vow. " Allah's statement:

إِنَّمَا يَأْمُرُكُم بِالسُّوءِ وَالْفَحْشَآءِ وَأَن تَقُولُواْ عَلَى اللَّهِ مَا لاَ تَعْلَمُونَ

(He (Satan) commands you only what is evil and Fahsha (sinful), and that you should say about Allah what you know not.)

The verse means: `Your enemy, Satan, commands you to commit evil acts and what is worse than that, such as adultery and so forth. He commands you to commit what is even worse, that is, saying about Allah without knowledge.' So this includes every innovator and disbeliever.

The meaning of the words

The real meaning of the root word حلَّ (halla) in (halalan tayyiban:

حَلَاً طَیِّباً : permissible and good) is 'to open a knot'. In that sense, what has been made halal حلال means that a knot has been opened and the restriction has been removed. The blessed Companion Sahl ibn ` Abdullah ؓ has said: "Salvation depends on three things - eating halal حلال ، fulfilling (Divine) obligations and following the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet ﷺ ." The word طَیَّب (tayyib) means 'good' as inclusive of the clean and the pure and covers the twin aspects of being lawful, permissible or halal حلال and being naturally desirable.

The word حُطُوَات (khutuwat) is the plural form of خُطوہ (khutwah) which is the distance between the two feet when striding. Here the khutuwat of Shaytan means Satanic deeds.

Injunctions and Rulings

1\. Polytheistic practices, such as releasing animals in the name of idols or dedicating them, whether big or small, to a saint or to anyone other than Allah has been declared unlawful in Verse 173 which follows. The present Verse (168) is not negating the unlawfulness of such an animal as wrongly conceived by some people. The objective of the verse is to stress that animals which Allah has made lawful should not be made unlawful by dedicating them to idols. Let them be what they are and use them for personal benefit. Why go about making things unlawful on your own which is a grave sin, and when it is dedicated to someone other than Allah it becomes impure and what is impure is unlawful.

2\. If anyone dedicates an animal to anyone other than Allah out of ignorance or carelessness and wishes to make amends, he should resolve to retreat from his misdeed and repent on what he did, in which case, the meat of that animal will become lawful for him.

What is polytheism? It is the worship of something other than God in order to satisfy one’s feelings of devotion and veneration. God is the greatest and most essential need of man. The urge to worship God is so integral to human nature that no one can live without Him. Man’s going astray does not mean that he abandons God altogether. What actually happens is that the real God is replaced by a false god. That is why the Islamic law holds unlawful all those things which, in any degree, lead to deviation, i.e. diverting man’s natural desire for God in some other direction. The polytheists set certain animals free in the name of their deities. These animals are not used for food or service. This is akin to according divinity to an object; a divinity which is a prerogative of none save God. It is akin to diluting man’s natural feelings of reverence and devotions meant only for God, and which should be exclusively reserved for God alone. Satan encourages human beings to channelise their feelings of awe and reverence on to different paths in order that their attachment to God may be weakened.