Al-An'am · Makki · ayah 119 of 165

Al-An'am 6:119

وَمَا لَكُمْ أَلَّا تَأْكُلُوا۟ مِمَّا ذُكِرَ ٱسْمُ ٱللَّهِ عَلَيْهِ وَقَدْ فَصَّلَ لَكُم مَّا حَرَّمَ عَلَيْكُمْ إِلَّا مَا ٱضْطُرِرْتُمْ إِلَيْهِ ۗ وَإِنَّ كَثِيرًا لَّيُضِلُّونَ بِأَهْوَآئِهِم بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ ۗ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِٱلْمُعْتَدِينَ

“And why should you not eat of that upon which the name of Allāh has been mentioned while He has explained in detail to you what He has forbidden you, excepting that to which you are compelled.[340] And indeed do many lead [others] astray through their [own] inclinations without knowledge. Indeed, your Lord - He is most knowing of the transgressors.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Allah has drawn the few lines clearly, so desire may not draw new ones; He alone knows who has run past them.

A reflection

The timing chip, and the One who knows the overrunners

A runner in a city marathon reaches a bend where the course doubles back. No marshal is in sight. She cuts across a small park and rejoins the road two hundred metres on. Nobody saw, she thinks. Weeks later the results arrive, and the timing chip on her shoe has a gap no runner could explain.

The ayah ends: your Lord, He knows best those who transgress. The word is muʿtadīn. The lexicons give its root a vivid picture. A horse at full stretch, running past every marker it was meant to keep to. The same root names the one who oversteps his limits against others.

This is where the ego needs to shrink. Pride likes to be its own referee. It decides where the line was, whether it was crossed, and whether crossing it mattered. It tells itself that nobody saw. The ayah answers in five words. He knows best.

Notice the shape of the ayah. First He has detailed what He forbade. Then He says He knows who ran past it. The One who drew the lines is the One who sees every step. Not a marshal who might be looking the other way. Not a chip that can fail.

A fair question follows. Why should God care who keeps His limits? Does it suggest He needs our compliance, or our praise? The ayah's own wording answers. He does not say He is harmed by the overrunner. He says He knows him. The limits protect the runners, not the Lord of the race. His knowledge is what makes justice possible for everyone who was wronged along the way.

There is comfort in that for the one who kept to the course. Nobody else may notice your honesty. He does.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.