6:136 Al-An'aam (The Cattle)

يخبر تعالى، عمَّا عليه المشركون المكذبون للنبي صلى الله عليه وسلم، من سفاهة العقل، وخفة الأحلام، والجهل البليغ، وعدَّد تبارك وتعالى شيئا من خرافاتهم، لينبه بذلك على ضلالهم والحذر منهم، وأن معارضة أمثال هؤلاء السفهاء للحق الذي جاء به الرسول، لا تقدح فيه أصلا، فإنهم لا أهلية لهم في مقابلة الحق، فذكر من ذلك أنهم { جعلوا لِلَّهِ مِمَّا ذَرَأَ مِنَ الْحَرْثِ وَالْأَنْعَامِ نَصِيبًا } ولشركائهم من ذلك نصيبا، والحال أن الله تعالى هو الذي ذرأه للعباد، وأوجده رزقا، فجمعوا بين محذورين محظورين، بل ثلاثة محاذير، منَّتهم على الله، في جعلهم له نصيبا، مع اعتقادهم أن ذلك منهم تبرع، وإشراك الشركاء الذين لم يرزقوهم، ولم يوجدوا لهم شيئا في ذلك، وحكمهم الجائر في أن ما كان لله لم يبالوا به، ولم يهتموا، ولو كان واصلا إلى الشركاء، وما كان لشركائهم اعتنوا به واحتفظوا به ولم يصل إلى الله منه شيء، وذلك أنهم إذا حصل لهم -من زروعهم وثمارهم وأنعامهم، التي أوجدها الله لهم- شيء، جعلوه قسمين: قسمًا قالوا: هذا لله بقولهم وزعمهم، وإلا فالله لا يقبل إلا ما كان خالصا لوجهه، ولا يقبل عمل مَن أشرك به. وقسمًا جعلوه حصة شركائهم من الأوثان والأنداد. فإن وصل شيء مما جعلوه لله، واختلط بما جعلوه لغيره، لم يبالوا بذلك، وقالوا: الله غني عنه، فلا يردونه، وإن وصل شيء مما جعلوه لآلهتهم إلى ما جعلوه لله، ردوه إلى محله، وقالوا: إنها فقيرة، لا بد من رد نصيبها. فهل أسوأ من هذا الحكم. وأظلم؟\" حيث جعلوا ما للمخلوق، يجتهد فيه وينصح ويحفظ، أكثر مما يفعل بحق الله. ويحتمل أن تأويل الآية الكريمة، ما ثبت في الصحيح عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم أنه قال عن الله تعالى أنه قال: \"أنا أغنى الشركاء عن الشرك، من أشرك معي شيئا تركته وشركه\". وأن معنى الآية أن ما جعلوه وتقربوا به لأوثانهم، فهو تقرب خالص لغير الله، ليس لله منه شيء، وما جعلوه لله -على زعمهم- فإنه لا يصل إليه لكونه شركًا، بل يكون حظ الشركاء والأنداد، لأن الله غني عنه، لا يقبل العمل الذي أُشرِك به معه أحد من الخلق.

هذا ذم وتوبيخ من الله للمشركين الذين ابتدعوا بدعا وكفرا وشركا وجعلوا لله شركاء وجزءا من خلقه وهو خالق كل شيء سبحانه وتعالى ولهذا قال تعالى "وجعلوا لله مما ذرأ" أي مما خلق وبرأ "من الحرث" أي من الزرع والثمار "والأنعام نصيبا" أي جزءا وقسما "فقالوا هذا لله بزعمهم وهذا لشركائنا" وقوله "فما كان لشركائهم فلا يصل إلى الله وما كان لله فهو يصل إلى شركائهم" قال علي بن أبي طلحة والعوفي عن ابن عباس أنه قال في تفسير هذه الآية: إن أعداء الله كانوا إذا حرثوا حرثا أو كانت لهم ثمرة جعلوا لله منه جزءا وللوثن جزءا فما كان من حرث أو ثمرة أو شيء من نصيب الأوثان حفظوه وأحصوه وإن سقط منه شيء فيما سمي للصمد ردوه إلى ما جعلوه للوثن وإن سبقهم الماء الذي جعلوه للوثن فسقى شيئا جعلوه لله جعلوا ذلك للوثن وإن سقط شيء من الحرث والثمر الذي جعلوه لله فاختلط بالذي جعلوه للوثن قالوا: هذا فقير ولم يردوه إلى ما جعلوه لله وإن سبقهم الماء الذي جعلوه لله فسقى ما سمي للوثن تركوه للوثن وكانوا يحرمون من أموالهم البحيرة والسائبة والوصيلة والحام فيجعلوه للأوثان ويزعمون أنهم يحرمونه قربة لله فقال الله تعالى "وجعلوا لله مما ذرأ من الحرث والأنعام نصيبا" الآية وهكذا قال مجاهد وقتادة والسدي وغير واحد وقال عبد الرحمن بن زيد بن أسلم في الآية: كل شيء يجعلونه لله من ذبح يذبحونه لا يأكلونه أبدا حتى يذكروا معه أسماء الآلهة وما كان للآلهة لم يذكروا اسم الله معه وقرأ الآية حتى بلغ "ساء ما يحكمون" أي ساء ما يقسمون فإنهم أخطأوا أولا القسم لأن الله تعالى هو رب كل شيء ومليكه وخالقه وله الملك وكل شيء له وفي تصرفه وتحت قدرته ومشيئته لا إله غيره ولا رب سواه ثم لما قسموا فيما زعموا القسمة الفاسدة لم يحفظوها بل جاروا فيها كقوله جل وعلا "ويجعلون لله البنات سبحانه ولهم ما يشتهون" وقال تعالى "وجعلوا له من عباده جزأ إن الإنسان لكفور مبين" وقال تعالى "ألكم الذكر و له الأنثى" وقوله "تلك إذا قسمة ضيزى".

Some Acts of Shirk

Allah chastises and criticizes the idolators who invented innovations, Kufr and Shirk, and called on partners and rivals with Allah among His creation, although He created every thing, all praise is due to Him. This is why Allah said,

وَجَعَلُواْ لِلَّهِ مِمَّا ذَرَأَ

(And they assign to Allah from that which He has created,)

مِنَ الْحَرْثِ

(of the tilth) meaning, fruits and produce,

وَالاٌّنْعَامِ نَصِيباً

(and of the cattle a share) meaning a part and a section.

فَقَالُواْ هَـذَا لِلَّهِ بِزَعْمِهِمْ وَهَـذَا لِشُرَكَآئِنَا

(and they say: "This is for Allah," according to their claim, "and this is for our partners.") Allah said next,

فَمَا كَانَ لِشُرَكَآئِهِمْ فَلاَ يَصِلُ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَمَا كَانَ لِلَّهِ فَهُوَ يَصِلُ إِلَى شُرَكَآئِهِمْ

(But the share of their "partners" reaches not Allah, while the share of Allah reaches their "partners"!) `Ali bin Abi Talhah and Al-`Awfi narrated that Ibn `Abbas said; "When they, the enemies of Allah, would cultivate the land or collect produce, they would assign a part of it to Allah and another part to the idol. They would keep the share for the idol, whether land, produce or anything else, and preserve its division to such an extent that they would collect anything that accidentally falls from the share they assigned to Allah and add it to the share of the idol. If the water that they assigned for the idol irrigated something (a section of land, for instance) that they assigned for Allah, they would add whatever this water irrigated to the idol's share! If the land or produce that they assigned for Allah was accidentally mixed with the share that they assigned for the idol, they would say that the idol is poor. Therefore, they would add it to the share they assigned for the idol and would not return it to the share they assigned for Allah. If the water that they assigned for Allah irrigated what they assigned for the idol they would leave it (the produce) for the idol. They also made some of their other property sacred, like the Bahirah, Sa'ibah, Wasilah and Ham, assigning them to the idols, claiming that they do so as way of seeking a means of approach to Allah. Allah said,

وَجَعَلُواْ لِلَّهِ مِمَّا ذَرَأَ مِنَ الْحَرْثِ وَالاٌّنْعَامِ نَصِيباً

(And they assign to Allah a share of the tilth and cattle which He has created...)." Similar was said by Mujahid, Qatadah, As-Suddi and others. `Abdur-Rahman bin Zayd bin Aslam commented; "Every type of slaughter that they would assign for Allah, would never be eaten unless they mentioned the names of their idols when slaughtering it. Yet for what they sacrificed in the names of the idols, they would not mention Allah's Name when slaughtering it." He then recited the Ayah (6:136) until he reached,

سَآءَ مَا يَحْكُمُونَ

(Evil is the way they judge!) This Ayah means, evil is that which they determined, for they committed error in the division. Certainly, Allah is the Lord, Owner and Creator of all things and His is the dominion. All things are His property and under His supreme control, will and decree. There is no deity worthy of worship, or Lord, except Him. And even when the polytheists made this evil division, they did not preserve it, but cheated in it. Allah said in other Ayat,

وَيَجْعَلُونَ لِلَّهِ الْبَنَـتِ سُبْحَانَهُ وَلَهُمْ مَّا يَشْتَهُونَ

(And they assign daughters unto Allah -- glory be to Him -- and unto themselves what they desire.) 16:57, and

وَجَعَلُواْ لَهُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ جُزْءًا إِنَّ الإنسَـنَ لَكَفُورٌ مُّبِينٌ

(Yet, they assign to some of His servants a share with Him. Verily, man is indeed a manifest ingrate!) 43:15, and,

أَلَكُمُ الذَّكَرُ وَلَهُ الاٍّنثَى - تِلْكَ إِذاً قِسْمَةٌ ضِيزَى

(Is it for you the males and for Him the females That indeed is a division most unfair!) 53:21-22.

They the disbelievers of Mecca assign to God of the tillage the crops and the cattle which He multiplied He created a portion which they dispense to visitors and the needy and to their associates belongs a portion which they dispense to such keepers of the tillage and cattle saying ‘This is for God’ — so they assert read bi-za‘mihim or bi-zu‘mihim — ‘and this is for our associates’ and if any of the portion of these associates fell into God’s portion they used to restore it to that of their associates but when something of His portion fell into theirs they would leave it there saying ‘God is Independent and is not in need of this’ as God exalted be He says So that which is intended for their associates does not reach God and that which is intended for God does reach their associates. Evil is that provision of theirs which they decree!

In the fourth verse (136), the disbelievers of Arabia have been admonished for a particular error in their behaviour. The custom was that they would take out from the produce of their lands and from the income of their businesses a portion for Allah and a portion for their idols. The portion taken out for Allah they would spend on the poor and the needy while the portion taken out in the name of their idols they would spend on the priests and keepers of the temple of idols.

To begin with, enough was their injustice in that everything was created by Allah Ta` ala, and the produce which came from them was bestowed by Him, yet they went ahead and made idols to share in what was given by Him. On top of this, they would add insult to injury when, should there be a drop in produce, they would apply this shortfall against the portion they meant for Allah saying that Allah was Independent and did not need their things. Thus, they would exact the portion of their idols in full, as well as that of their own. On some occasion, if it so happened that something from the portion taken out for the idols, or from that of their own, went into the portion reserved for Allah, they would pick it up and take it out of there to keep their accounting straight! And if came the occasion when things were the reverse of it, that is, if anything belonging to the portion of Allah was thrown in their own portion, or in the portion of their idols, it was left where it was saying that Allah is need-free, therefore, any shortage in His share will not make any difference! The Holy Qur'an, taking notice of this crooked conduct of theirs, has said: سَاءَ مَا يَحْكُمُونَ (Evil is what they judge -136). It means that their judgment is evil and crude because they are not realizing that it is Allah who created them and created everything that appears to belong to them, yet they go about equating others with Him, and to top it all, they find excuses to shift elsewhere what, according to their own intention, was supposed to belong to Allah.

The Admonition for Disbelievers - A Lesson for Muslims

This is an admonition directed against the waywardness of the disbelievers of Arabia. However, by implication, it holds a sharp lesson for Muslims as well - Muslims who devote their full potential, their life given by Allah, their body and mind, into different sections. They would reserve part of their years and time in life for Allah and His worship - though the right of Allah demanded that all time frames of their living years should have been reserved to obey and worship Him alone. May be, they could have taken out some time for themselves too to take care of human compulsions - and even then, the truth is that the right of Allah that we be grateful to Him would have still remained unfulfilled! But, here we are, in our time and in our places, doing unbelievable things. If, in the twenty four hours of a day and night of our lives, we do get around to fix some time to be devoted to remember Allah and engage ourselves in what we know as His essential ` Ibadah, then strange things start happening. There comes an urgent need, a call or an appointment or something like that, and we be-come pragmatic all of a sudden. The function, the business, the need comes first. No postponement is made in what is pragmatic or personal. The urgency of work stays. The inevitability of rest time stays. The axe falls on nothing but the time which had been fixed for devotion to Allah through prayers and recitation of the Qur'an. This happens most of the time - emergency, urgency, sickness or any other call - what is the first casualty in this rush is nothing but the time that we had ear-marked for our Dhikr and ` Ibadah. We just cannot say how wrong, how ungrateful and how right-compromising this attitude is. May Allah Ta` ala keep us and all Muslims protected from it.