Commentary
Prior to the verses appearing above, for about two to three sections, the recurring theme has been how heedless and ignorant human beings had bypassed the law revealed by the Law Giver and the Creator of whatever there is in the heavens and the earth and, in its place, had taken ancestral and innovated customs as their religion. There were things Allah had made unlawful. They took them as lawful and started using them. Then, there were things Allah had made lawful. They made these unlawful for themselves. Again, they made some things lawful for men and unlawful for women, while some others they declared to be lawful for women but unlawful for men.
There are three verses here (143, 144 and 145) which describe those particular things which have been declared unlawful by Allah Ta` ala. There are nine things mentioned in the detailed statement (151-152). After that, comes the tenth commandment in the words: هَـٰذَا صِرَاطِي مُسْتَقِيمًا فَاتَّبِعُوهُ. That is, this path of Mine is straight. So, follow it - 153. This statement points out to the religion and code (Din and Shariah) brought and taught by the Holy Prophet ﷺ and entrusts the whole field of Halal (lawful) and Haram (unlawful), Ja'iz (permissible) and Na-Ja'iz (impermissible), Makruh (reprehensible) and Mustahabb (recommended) to the standard that everyone should follow the Muhammadi Shari'ah, take what it says is Halal as Halal, and take what it says is Haram as Haram, and let no one go about deciding what is Halal and what is Haram on one's own.
Then, there appears a detailed statement of ten things in these verses where the real objective is to describe things which are Haram - which required that all these be described in the negative case. But, the Holy Qur'an, in the wisdom of its approach, has described some of them positively in the imperative form - which means that acting against it is Haram (Kashshaf). Its wisdom will become evident a little later. However, the ten things the unlawfulness of which appears in these verses are: (1) To associate anyone with Allah Ta` ala in belief, deed, worship or obedience; (2) not be good to parents; (3) to kill children because of poverty; (4) to indulge in shameful doings; (5) to kill someone unjustly; (6) to eat up the orphan's property by false means; (7) to weigh or measure short; (8) to be unjust in witness, judgment or speech; (9) to betray the covenant of Allah; and (10) to avoid the straight path of Allah and follow other ways right and left.
Some Virtues of the Verses
Ka'b al-Ahbar, an accomplished scholar of the Torah, was a Jew before he became a Muslim. He says that these verses of the Holy Qur'an which describe ten unlawful things are with what the Torah, the Book of Allah, begins after Bismillah. It has also been said that these are the ten commandments revealed to Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) .
Commentator of the Qur'an, Sayyidna ` Abdullah ibn ` Abbas ؓ says that these are the ` Verses of Established Meaning' (Muhkam Ayat) mentioned in Surah 'Al-` Imran (3:7). On these, all religious systems brought by prophets ﷺ - from Sayyidna Adam (علیہ السلام) to the Last among Prophets ﷺ۔ have been in agreement and none of these was abrogated in any religion, community or Shari'ah. (Tafsir Al-Bahr Al-Muhit)
These Verses are the Will and Testament of the Holy Prophet
According to a narration of Sayyidna ` Abdullah ibn Masud ؓ reported in Tafsir Ibn Kathir, he said that a person who wishes to see a special will of the Holy Prophet ﷺ with his seal on it, he should recite these verses. Therein lies the will and testament bequeathed under the command of his Lord by the Holy Prophet ﷺ to his Ummah.
Based on a narration of Sayyidna ` Ubadah ibn Samit ؓ has been reported by Hakim that, addressing his Sahabah, the Holy Prophet ﷺ said: ` Who will take a pledge of allegiance at my hands ( بَیعت : bay'ah) on three verses?' After that, he recited these three verses and said: ` A person who fulfills this Bay'ah (pledge of allegiance), his reward stands due with Allah.'
DETAILS OF TEN PROHIBITIONS AND EXPLANATION OF THE THREE VERSES
These verses (151-153) open with the words: قُلْ تَعَالَوْا أَتْلُ مَا حَرَّمَ رَبُّكُمْ عَلَيْكُمْ (Say, "Come, I recite what your Lord has prohibited for you" ). The word: تَعَالَوْا (ta` alaw) here (translated as ` come,' does carry the essential meaning, but misses the refinement of what it implies in the text - a difficulty technically impossible to surmount in a task of this delicate nature when exact parallels just do not exist - tr.) is an expression used at a time when the caller stands on high ground and calls those beneath to come close to him. The hint thus released is towards the prospect of their rising high and gaining prestige by accepting this invitation. The sense of the sentence where the address is. to the Holy Prophet ﷺ is that he should ask these people to come along so that he may recite to them things which Allah Ta` ala has made Haram for them. at he was going to give them was a message directly from Allah Ta` ala and, as such, there was no intrusion of someone's opinion, estimation or conjecture in it. This was in their interest so that they could get ready to stay safe against them rather than go about branding as Haram what Allah has made Halal.
Though, the address in this verse directly refers to the disbelievers of Makkah, but the subject of the address is general in its nature. It includes the entire humankind, whether believers or disbelievers, Arabs or non-Arabs, or those living now or generations to come in the future. (Al-Bahr Al-Muhit)
The First Grave Sin Forbidden is Shirk
After having addressed with this concern and elegance, the first thing to be identified of all that has been prohibited was: أَلَّا تُشْرِكُوا بِهِ شَيْئًا 1f That you shall not associate anyone or anything with Allah. This was the first task. And do not make idols into God like the polytheists of Arabia, nor call prophets God or son of God like Jews and Christians, nor take angels to be daughters of God like others, nor equate prophets and saints with Allah Ta` ala in His attributes of knowledge and power like the ignorant masses.
Shirk : Definition and Kinds
According to Tafsir Mazhari, the word: شَيْئًا (shai'an: anything), at this place, could also mean that one should not be involved in any kind of Shirk, whether manifest (jaliyy) or concealed (khafiyy). Everyone knows manifest Shirk which is the ascribing of equals or partners to Allah either by associating someone with Allah in worship and obedience or in His exclusive attributes. And concealed Shirk is that one, in his or her vocation in life, in material and religious objectives and in profit and loss, though holds the belief that Allah is the Maker and Mover of things yet, in practice, takes others as such, and pins all efforts and hopes on them, or is a hypocrite in acts of worship, offering prayers correctly to show off before others, or spends in charity to earn a good name for himself, or actually, in practice, takes someone other than Allah to be the controlling authority in profit and loss. The sage, Shaykh Sa'di (رح) has put the idea in a nutshell when he said:
دریں نوعے ازشرک پوشیدہ است کہ زیدم بہ بخشید و عمرم بخست
Concealed here too is a kind of Shirk
That A made me gain and B made me lose.
The reality is no more but that, whatever the gain or loss, it is from that Absolute Master. The supposed names A and B are drapes from behind which comes the manifestation of gain or loss. Otherwise, the truth of the matter, as it appears in Sahib Hadith, is: ` If all Jinns and human beings join up to bring to you a benefit which Allah Ta` ala has not destined for you, they can never dare do that - in the same way, if all Jinns and human beings join up to bring a loss on you which Allah Ta` ala has not willed, this too is not possible for anyone to do.
In brief, one should abstain strictly from both kinds of Shirk, manifest and concealed. The way worshiping idols is included under Shirk, also included thereunder is equating prophets and saints with Allah Ta` ala in His attributes of knowledge and power. If, God forbid, this happens to be the very belief of someone, then, it will be classed as manifest Shirk; and if, such a belief is not there, but this happens to be done in actual practice, then, it will be called concealed Shirk. At this place, the very first instruction given is to stay away from Shirk. The reason is that Shirk is a crime about which the Qur'an has given the decision that, for it, there is no forgiveness. The forgiveness of sins - other than Shirk - is possible depending on different causes. There-fore, as narrated by Sayyidna 'Ubadah ibn Samit ؓ ، and Sayyidna Abu Ad-Darda' ؓ it appears in Hadith that the Holy Prophet ﷺ said:
Do not ascribe anyone as partner with Allah - even if you are dismembered, or hanged, or burnt alive.
The Second Sin : Mistreating Parents
Mentioned after that was: وَبِالْوَالِدَيْنِ إِحْسَانًا (and be good to parents). The purpose at this place is to tell not to be disobedient to parents and not to cause pain to them. But, it is in a way of wisdom that the prohibition has been sublimated as 'be good to parents.' The aim is to point out that, in the matter of parents, it is not enough that one does not disobey parents or does not cause any pain to them, but it is one's duty to keep them pleased with decent, generous and obliging treatment. This has been made more explicit in another verse of the it appears as: وَاخْفِضْ لَهُمَا جَنَاحَ الذُّلِّ Qur'an where 1; which means: For them, lower your shoulders in humility - 17:24 - (an eloquently figurative mode of describing the attitude of love, reverence, readiness and availibity to help out and care for, in all sincerity, and in tenderness at its sublimes, something the Qur'an has itself put in one word, 'mercy', suffixed after the words of the verse quoted above).
It will be noticed that, in this verse, causing pain to parents or exposing them to physical or emotion inconveniences has been placed as the second crime after Shirk. This is similar to the instruction given in another verse of the Holy Qur'an where Allah Ta` ala has combined the duty of being obedient to them, and being responsible to see that they are comfortable, with the obligation to worship Him alone. It was said:
وَقَضَىٰ رَبُّكَ أَلَّا تَعْبُدُوا إِلَّا إِيَّاهُ وَبِالْوَالِدَيْنِ إِحْسَانًا
And your Lord has decreed that you shall not worship anyone other than Him and that you shall be good to parents - 17:23.
Then, in Surah Luqman, it was said:
أَنِ اشْكُرْ لِي وَلِوَالِدَيْكَ إِلَيَّ الْمَصِي
Be grateful to Me, and to your parents, and to Me is the re-turn (meaning: If you do otherwise, you will be punished) - 31:14.
It has been reported from Sayyidna ` Abdullah ibn Masud ؓ ، in the Sahihayn (the two collections of Sahih Ahadith by Al-Bukhari and Muslim) that he asked the Holy Prophet ﷺ ` Which deed is the best?' He said: ` Offering Salah at its due time (Mustahabb : recommended time).' Then, he asked again: ` After that, which deed is the best?' To that, he said: ` Being good to parents.' Once again, he asked: ` Which deed comes after that?' He said: ` Jihad in the way of Allah.'
According to a narration by Sayyidna Abu Hurairah ؓ reported in Sahib Muslim, once the Holy Prophet ﷺ said the words: زغِمَ اَنفُہ رَغَم اَنفُہ three times, that is, 'disgraced is he, disgraced is he, disgraced is he.' The noble Companions submitted: ` Ya Rasul Allah, who is disgraced?' He said: ` The person who found his father and mother, or one of them, in old age and still he did not enter the Jannah.'
It means that serving parents during their old age makes it certain that the server will be admitted to Paradise. And certainly deprived and disgraced is he who has allowed such an easy bargain of Paradise slip out of his hands. This bargain is easy because parents are naturally affectionate to their children on their own. A little consideration here and there would make them all too happy. So, pleasing parents does not depend on or require a major act of grace. The restriction of old age placed here is because parents, when healthy and strong, take care of their needs by themselves - rather, would not hesitate to come to their assistance when needed, financially, physically or morally. At that time, neither do they need being served, nor would that service carry any distinct weight of its own. Serving parents can only be worthwhile and praiseworthy at a time when they need it because of their old age.
The Third Prohibition : Killing Children
The third thing made Haram in these verses is the killing of children. It is relevant in the context because the right of parents due on children was taken up before it - and here, it is the right of children which is due on parents. The worst limit of evil treatment of children was what was practiced in the days of Jahiliyyah when they were killed or buried alive. This verse stops them from doing that. It was said: وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا أَوْلَادَكُم مِّنْ إِمْلَاقٍ ۖ نَّحْنُ نَرْزُقُكُمْ وَإِيَّاهُمْ is (and do not kill your children be-cause of poverty - We will give provision to you, and to them as well).
During the pre-Islam days of Arab Jahiliyyah, there was a cruel custom. When a girl was born in a household, they would bury her alive fearing the shame of having to take someone as a son-in-law - and there were occasions when, fearing that they would have difficulties in feeding and providing for children, these cruel people would kill them with their own hands. The Qur'an erased this custom. Then, by saying what was said above, it gave them the treatment they needed against this mental sickness of theirs - because of which, that is, because of their worry as to how they were going to feed them, they committed such a heinous crime. Allah Ta` ala has told them in this verse that they were not the ones really responsible for feeding and providing for them. This was the direct responsibility of Allah Ta` ala. They too, in their food and provisions, were dependent on Him. He gives that to them. Then, they give it to children too. If He does not provide them with it, they could not even think of producing one grain of wheat or rice on their own. Miracles do not work like that. Bringing out a tiny seed by tearing its way through tons of earth on the fields in the form of a tender bud or shoot and then giving it the shape of a tree and then making them sprout with flowers and fruits is a question they should answer. Whose work is that? Can a father and mother do that? Far from it, these are all wonders wrought by the power and wisdom of the Absolute Master. The role human beings play in this phenomena is limited. They can do no more than make the land clean and soft, water the plants when they come out and look after them. But, they have no role in making flowers and fruits come out. This tells us that the idea of parents that they provide for children is wrong. In fact, it is from the unseen treasures of Allah Ta` ala Himself that parents too get their provision, and their children as well. Therefore, by bringing in the mention of parents earlier in the sentence, it was said: 'We will provide for you, and for them as well.' In making the reference to parents precede, the hint given may be that: The provisions are given to you so that you pass it on to children - as it appears in a IIadith of the Holy Prophet , ..Is .l3 where he is reported to have said:
اِنَّمَا تُنصَرُونَ و تُرزَقُونَ بِضُعَفَاءِکُم
It is only for the sake of the weak among you that Allah Ta'ala helps and provides for you too.
The same subject appears in Surah al-Isra' of the Holy Qur'an where, in the matter of Rizq, children have been mentioned before parents by saying: نَّحْنُ نَرْزُقُهُمْ وَإِيَّاكُمْ is, 'We shall provide for them, and for you as well -17:31.' Here too, the hint given is that 'deserving of being provided for first, in Our sight, are weak children who cannot do that on their own - it is for their sake that rizq is given to you.'
A Modern Form of Killing Children
It is obvious that the crime of killing children and that it is a grave sin as pointed out in this verse applies to formal killing as such. But, a little thought would prove that the failure to give proper education and training to children as a result of which they remain uninformed or heedless to Allah, His Rasul and the concern for 'Akhirah and, God forbid, fall into immoral and shameless life patterns alien to Islam, then, this attitude too, shall be no less than killing of children. The Qur'an calls a person who does not know Allah and does not obey Him a dead person. This is what has been explained earlier in this very Surah in the verse: أَوَمَن كَانَ مَيْتًا فَأَحْيَيْنَاهُ (Could it be that the one who was dead and We gave him life ... - 6:122). People who do not attend to the grooming of the deeds and morals of their children, leave them open and free (to be hunted by aggressive influences around them, influences which have an ` open season' in our time), or let them go through a system of education as a result of which Islamic morals are ruined, then, they too, in a way, are liable to be charged with the crime of killing their children - for formal killing only ruins what is one's transitory life in the mortal world, but this type of killing ruins what is one's eternal life in the 'Akhirah, a terrible loss indeed.
The Fourth Prohibition : Shameful Acts
The fourth thing declared Haram in these verses is the doing of what is shameful. About it, says the Qur'an: وَلَا تَقْرَبُوا الْفَوَاحِشَ مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا وَمَا بَطَنَ (and do not go near shameful acts, whether they are open or secret-151).
The word: الْفَوَاحِشَ (al-fawahish) is the plural form of: فَاحِشہ (fahishah) and the words: فَحَش (fahsh), فَاحِشہ (fahsha' ) فَحشَاء and فَاحِشہ (fahisha) are all verbal nouns and are usually translated in English as immodest, indecent or shameful acts. In the terminology of the Qur'an and Hadith, these words are used to denote every evil act the vicious and disorderly effects of which reach far and wide. This is the meaning given by Imam Raghib al-Isfahani in Mufradat al-Qur'an and Ibn Kathir in An-Nihayah. The prohibition of Fuhsh and Fahsha' (obscenity, indecency, adultery, fornication, whoredom or abomination or monstrosity of any description) appears time and again in the Holy Qur'an, for example, in Surah An-Nahl, it is said: يَنْهَىٰ عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنكَرِ (He forbids you from the indecent and the evil -16:90) and, in Surah Al-A` raf, it is said: حَرَّمَ رَبِّيَ الْفَوَاحِشَ (my Lord has forbidden indecent deeds - 7:33).
So, in this general sense of the word used by the Qur'an, included there are all grave sins, whether related to words or deeds, whether committed openly or secretly, in fact, all doings which are counter to good and right and all acts which are counter to modesty and shame. That is why this word is generally used in the sense of shameful deeds. In this verse of the Qur'an, it has been stressed that one should not go even near to what are shameful acts. If this is taken in a broad and general sense, it will become inclusive of all evil traits and sins, whether of speech, or those of hands and feet and the heart. And if it is taken in the commonly and widely understood sense, that is, in the sense of immodesty, then, it would be referring to shameful acts, their preliminaries and their means and motives.
Then, within this verse, there is the explanation of the word ` al-fawahish' when it is said: مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا وَمَا بَطَنَ (whether they are open or secret). Thus, according to the first Tafsir, all outward indecencies would mean all sins committed through speech would be referring to sins which and feet etc., and inward indecencies ungratefulness, forth from the heart, such as, envy, malice, greed, ungratefulness, impatience and others of this nature.
According to the other Tafsir, outward indecencies would mean acts of immodesty indulged in openly while those inward would be the ones done secretly. The open practice of evil includes all its preliminaries and accessories. Looking at some woman with evil intentions, touching her with hands etc., talking to her in that way are all included under it. As for inward indecency, it includes all secret plans made to actualize thoughts and intentions which are put into practice to achieve the evil and indecent end.
Some respectable commentators s common that outward and everyone to shameful acts the evil of which knows what it means. As for inward indecencies, they refer to acts which are immodest in the sight of Allah, though people generally not take them as bad, or common people are not aware that they are Haram, for example, after having divorced a wife thrice, to keep living with her as a wife (which she is not anymore), or marrying a woman marriage with whom is not lawful in Sharl'ah.
In short, this verse, in terms of the real sense of ` al-fawahish', en-compasses all outward and inward sins - and, in terms of the commonly held view, it is inclusive of all open and secret methods of immodesty, indecency and act of shame. Then, the command given in this matter is that one should not go even near things like that. The insistence on ‘not going even near them’ means that one should even abstain from going to a place when there is an apprehension that such a visit would cause the visitor to be smeared with sin, and that one should also abstain from deeds which lead on to ways of sin. In a Hadith, the Holy Prophet ﷺ has been reported to have said: مَن حَامَ حَولَ حَمیً اَق شَکَ اَن یَّقَعَ فِیہِ
It is not unlikely that one who keeps roaming around prohibited place might enter it as well.
Therefore, precaution demands that one should not even go near what is prohibited.
The Fifth Prohibition : Killing Unjustly
Of the prohibitions, the fifth is killing unjustly. About it, it was said: yl;Sll'-I I '"'Y' and do not kill a person whom Allah has given sanctity). The details of this right to kill have been given by the Holy Prophet r1..,, LI in a Hadith narrated by Sayyidna ` Abdullah ibn Masud appearing in Al-Bukhari and Muslim. He said: ` Killing a Muslim is not lawful except for three reasons: (1) That he commits adultery despite being married; (2) that he has killed someone unjustly, and is killed in even retaliation (Qisas) for it; and (3) that, by leaving his true faith, he has become an apostate (Murtadd).'
When Sayyidna ` Uthman al-Ghani, the third Rightly-Guided Khali-fah was besieged by rebels who wanted to kill him, he recited this IIadith before them and said: ` With the grace of Allah, I have been free of these things all my life. Not only during my days in Islam, I never indulged in adultery even during the days of Jahiliyyah, nor did I ever kill anyone, nor did the thought that I should leave my faith in Islam ever crossed my mind. Then, on what basis do you want to kill me?'
And the way killing a Muslim is unlawful without valid reason, so it is with the killing of a non-Muslim who lives in an Islamic country as its law-abiding citizen, or is one of those with whom Muslims have a bilateral pact. According to a narration of Sayyidna Abu Hurairah ؓ reported in Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah, the Holy Prophet ﷺ is reported to have said: ` Whoever has killed a Dhimmi (protected non-Muslim citizen of a Muslim country) has broken his covenant with Allah - and a person who has broken the covenant of Allah will never smell even the scent of Jannah, though the scent of Jannah reaches as far as a travel distance of seventy years.'
In this one verse - after having described five of the ten prohibitions - it was said: ذَٰلِكُمْ وَصَّاكُم بِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ (This is what He has emphasized for you so that you may understand).
