Al-Baqarah · Madani · ayah 71 of 286

Al-Baqarah 2:71

قَالَ إِنَّهُۥ يَقُولُ إِنَّهَا بَقَرَةٌ لَّا ذَلُولٌ تُثِيرُ ٱلْأَرْضَ وَلَا تَسْقِى ٱلْحَرْثَ مُسَلَّمَةٌ لَّا شِيَةَ فِيهَا ۚ قَالُوا۟ ٱلْـَٔـٰنَ جِئْتَ بِٱلْحَقِّ ۚ فَذَبَحُوهَا وَمَا كَادُوا۟ يَفْعَلُونَ

“He said, "He says, 'It is a cow neither trained to plow the earth nor to irrigate the field, one free from fault with no spot upon her.'" They said, "Now you have come with the truth." So they slaughtered her, but they could hardly do it.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Unyoked, unmarked and whole, the cow was finally described; 'now you have brought the truth', they said, and slaughtered her, though they nearly did not.

A reflection

Unbroken, unmarked, whole

A man clears his wardrobe for a charity collection. He fills the bag with shirts he would never wear again. Then he stops, takes out his one good winter coat, and puts it in too.

The final description has four parts. First, lā dhalūl: not broken in. One commentary explains that she had never been tamed by work. Lexicographers distinguish dhill, the docility of a broken-in animal, from dhull, human abasement. This cow had never been yoked.

Second, she did not turn the soil or water the crops. Tuthīru pictures stirring something until it rises, like soil lifted by a plough. She had not been worn down by either labour.

Third, musallama: sound. Most commentators say free from every defect. A classical theologian notes something subtle here. Soundness can only be judged from the outside, so the people had to act on what they could see. Scholars drew from this that acting on the outward is valid, even when the inner reality is unknown.

Fourth, lā shiyata fīhā: no mark on her. Shiya comes from washy, cloth woven in two colours. One commentary adds that a slanderer is called wāshī because he 'embroiders' his speech. This cow was one colour, through and through.

The picture is of something whole, unworked and unmixed. It is hard not to see in it a question about our own offerings to Allah. Do we give Him the worn shirt, or the good coat? 'You will never attain righteousness until you spend from what you love' (3:92).

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.