Al-An'am · Makki · ayah 138 of 165

Al-An'am 6:138

وَقَالُوا۟ هَـٰذِهِۦٓ أَنْعَـٰمٌ وَحَرْثٌ حِجْرٌ لَّا يَطْعَمُهَآ إِلَّا مَن نَّشَآءُ بِزَعْمِهِمْ وَأَنْعَـٰمٌ حُرِّمَتْ ظُهُورُهَا وَأَنْعَـٰمٌ لَّا يَذْكُرُونَ ٱسْمَ ٱللَّهِ عَلَيْهَا ٱفْتِرَآءً عَلَيْهِ ۚ سَيَجْزِيهِم بِمَا كَانُوا۟ يَفْتَرُونَ

“And they say, "These animals[349] and crops are forbidden; no one may eat from them except whom we will," by their claim. And there are those [camels] whose backs are forbidden [by them][350] and those upon which the name of Allāh is not mentioned[351] - [all of this] an invention of untruth about Him.[352] He will punish them for what they were inventing.”

Saheeh International

Essence

They fenced off herds and crops by their own say-so, kept Allah's name off others, then signed His name beneath it all.

A reflection

A wall round the food, and the mind left open

A family fits an expensive alarm to the garden shed. It has a sensor, a siren and a light. Inside are a lawnmower and some rusty tools. Meanwhile the front door stands open most evenings, and the house is full of everything they value.

The ayah quotes the pagans pointing at their herds and fields: these are ḥijr. The lexicons say the root means preventing and enclosing. Ring a place with stones and it is walled off. What is walled off is forbidden. So a room is a ḥujra, and a child in someone's protection is in their ḥijr.

Then comes the striking part. Two classical commentators note that the same word names the mind. Reason is ḥijr because it holds a person back from what is foul. The Quran uses it this way in an oath: is there in that an oath for one with ḥijr, a mind (89:5)?

Put the two senses side by side and the ayah becomes an irony. They built a careful wall round a camel's milk and a field of barley. They left no wall at all round their own thinking. Anything a custodian or a custom proposed walked straight in.

Most of us are guarded in the wrong places. We are strict about details that cost nothing. We are careless at the doors where real harm enters. A family may argue for an hour over a trivial custom, then never ask whether its anger, envy or gossip is permitted.

The ayah invites a better arrangement. Keep the walls Allah built, and only those. Then guard the mind, the true ḥijr, the faculty He gave to hold you back from what is unworthy of you.

The family with the shed alarm has the right idea about protection. They have simply installed it on the wrong building.

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.