Surah 6. Al-An'aam - The Cattle

Lost indeed are those who kill their children foolishly, and forbid what God has provided them as sustenance. And they attribute their innovations to God! Their straying is far from the way of the rightly guided.

[They deprive their children to the point of starvation and death in the name of religious service, when under the instructions of the priesthood they abandon their families]

He it is Who creates Bounties for you, such as gardens that are cultivated, greens that are wild, palm trees of various kinds, crops in diversity, olives and pomegranates, fruits that are similar and diverse. Enjoy them, but give Him His Right on the Day of the Harvest. And waste not the Bounty of God. Surely, He does not love the wasteful. [’give Him His Right’ = Give God His Right = Render to the poor what is their Divinely ordained right. Time to reflect on Zakaat:� See 2:3, 11:64, 55:10]

Among the large and small quadrupeds some are for work and transportation and others for flesh, and their skins for bedding materials. Enjoy what God has provided you. And do not follow the footsteps of Satan. Satan (your selfish desire) is your open enemy.

Take the example of eight quadrupeds: Two sheep, one male and one female, two goats, one male and one female. Say, “Is it the two males that He has forbidden, or the two females, or the calves in the wombs of the females? Tell me if you have true knowledge.

Then two camels, one male and one female, two cows, one male and one female. Say, “Is it the two males that He has forbidden, or the two females, or the calves in the wombs of the two females? Were you witnesses when God made such prohibitions? Who can be a greater transgressor than the one who invents a lie and attributes it to God? They mislead people without knowledge. God does not intervene to guide those who displace knowledge with conjecture.”

Say, “I do not find in the Revelation given to me, any food that is prohibited for one who wishes to eat except: Carrion (dead meat), or running blood, or the flesh of swine - for, certainly, it is a barrier to the moral development. Or, anything (not just meat) that has been, in defiance to Commands, has been dedicated to other than God.” If one is forced by dire need without being deliberate and without transgressing, your Lord is Forgiving, Merciful.

[2:173, 5:3. Rijs = Unclean = Disapproved = Contaminated = Foul = A barrier to moral development. Science still needs to learn how pork can be a barrier to morality. Fisq = Deviation = Abomination = In defiance of Divine Commands = Disobedience of God = Drifting away from reason]

For those who are Jewish, We had prohibited some edibles, such as animals with undivided hoof, the fat of the cow and the sheep, except what is attached to their backs or their intestines, or what is mixed-up in the bone. But that was only a temporary retribution for their disobedience (4:160). We are indeed True to Our Word.

If they accuse you of falsehood (O Prophet), tell them, “Your Lord is the Lord of Infinite Mercy, but His Requital will not be averted from the guilty.”

Those who associate others with God will say, “Had God willed, we would not have practiced idolatry, nor would our ancestors, nor would we have prohibited anything.” So did their ancestors argue falsely until they tasted Our Requital. Say, “Do you have any proven knowledge that you can present (that the human being is created without free will 18:29, 76:3, 90:10)? Nay, you follow nothing but conjecture and you only run after guess-work.”

Say, “The most Powerful Reasoning, the Final Evidence belongs to God. If He willed, He could have made all of you innately guided (like other creation who spontaneously follow Divine Laws 16:49, 41:11.)”