CHAPTER 8
THE KORAN ON FOOD, ALMS
AND OTHER THINGS
V/3:
Forbidden
unto you (for food) are carrion and blood and swine-flesh, and that which bath
been dedicated unto any other than Allah, and the strangled, and the dead
through beating, and the dead through falling from a height, and that which bath
been killed by (the goring of) horns, and the devoured of wild beasts, saving
that which ye make lawful (by the death stroke), and that which bath been
immolated unto idols. And (forbidden is it) that ye swear by the divining
arrows. This is an abomination. This day are those who disbelieve in des- pair
of (ever harming) your religion; so fear them not, fear Me! This day have I
perfected your religion for you and completed My favor unto you, and have chosen
for you as religion AL ISLAM [1]. Whoso is forced by hunger, not by will, to
sin: (for him) lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful [2].
IX/60:
The alms are only for the
poor and the needy, and those who collect them, and those whose hearts are to be
reconciled [3], and to free the captives and the debtors, and for the cause of
Allah, and (for) the wayfarers; a duty imposed by Allah. Allah is Knower, Wise.
XXIX/8:
We have enjoined on man
kindness to parents; but if they strive to make thee join with Me that of which
thou hast no knowledge, then obey them not. Unto Me is your return and I shall
tell you what ye used to do [4].
IV/43:
O ye who believe! Draw
not near unto your prayer when ye are drunken, till ye know that which ye utter,
nor when ye are polluted, save when journeying upon the road, till ye have
bathed. And if ye be ill, or on a journey, or one of you cometh from the closet,
or ye have touched women [5], and ye find not water, then go to high clean soil
and rub your faces and your hands (therewith). Lo! Allah is Benign, Forgiving.
Footnotes
1. AL ISLAM is surrender
to Allah.
2. If forced by hunger a
Moslem is allowed to eat food which is normally forbidden.
3. 'Reconciled' here means
'conversion' to Islam.
4. In other words, 'do not
obey your parents' if they are non-Moslems.
5. N.J. Dawood translates
'touched women' as 'had intercourse with women in his Koran.
Note: It is not
quite clear how a Moslem, who by definition does not take intoxicating drinks,
can get drunk. 'Touched women' or what N.J. Dawood calls 'had intercourse with
women' mean had sex with one's own married women or slave-girls owned by the
believer. Intercourse with unwed women or women wedded to other believers is
forbidden. Kafir women are to be treated as slave-girls. However, temporary
marriages, also called Muta' marriages, lasting for a few hours to a few years
and ending at a previously stipulated time, are allowed in Islam. Islam
forbids prostitution.
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