Al-An'am · Makki · ayah 143 of 165

Al-An'am 6:143

ثَمَـٰنِيَةَ أَزْوَٰجٍ ۖ مِّنَ ٱلضَّأْنِ ٱثْنَيْنِ وَمِنَ ٱلْمَعْزِ ٱثْنَيْنِ ۗ قُلْ ءَآلذَّكَرَيْنِ حَرَّمَ أَمِ ٱلْأُنثَيَيْنِ أَمَّا ٱشْتَمَلَتْ عَلَيْهِ أَرْحَامُ ٱلْأُنثَيَيْنِ ۖ نَبِّـُٔونِى بِعِلْمٍ إِن كُنتُمْ صَـٰدِقِينَ

“[They are] eight mates - of the sheep, two and of the goats, two. Say, "Is it the two males He has forbidden or the two females or that which the wombs of the two females contain? Inform me with knowledge, if you should be truthful."”

Saheeh International

Essence

Sheep and goats, male and female, are counted one by one; then the makers of bans are asked which He forbade, and how they know.

A reflection

Three questions that leave no way out

The Prophet ﷺ is not told to shout at the people who invented bans. He is told to ask. Was it the two males He forbade? Or the two females? Or what the wombs of the two females enfold?

One commentator lays out how the questions close every exit. If they say the males, then every male sheep and goat should be forbidden, yet they eat males. If the females, every female should be forbidden, yet they eat females. If the unborn, then all young should be forbidden, since a womb holds only male or female. Any answer contradicts their own practice.

An early report adds their reply. When pressed, they said: we found our fathers doing this.

One commentator found the usual reading too neat. People do not always forbid things for being male or female, he argues. He suggests the real force is simpler. You accept no prophet and no revealed law. So on what basis do you say anything is lawful or not?

Picture a new resident on a street where the committee bans blue front doors. She asks politely. Is it the colour? Two houses have blue window frames. Is it the paint? The committee chair's own door uses it. Is it the wood? Half the street is oak. After three questions the rule stands with nothing under it but habit.

This is a strategy worth learning. Do not attack the custom. Ask it to state its own reason, and let the reason speak.

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.