He it is who produceth gardens of the vine trellised and untrellised, and the
palm trees, and the corn of various food, and olives, and pomegranates, like
and unlike. Eat of their fruit when they bear fruit, and pay the due thereof
on the day of its ingathering: and be not prodigal, for God loveth not the
prodigal.
And there are cattle for burdens and for journeys. Eat of what God hath given
you for food; and follow not the steps of Satan, for he is your declared
enemy.
You have four sorts of cattle in pairs: of sheep a pair, and of goats a pair.
SAY: Hath He forbidden the two males or the two females; or that which the
wombs of the two females enclose? Tell me with knowledge, if ye speak the
truth:
And of camels a pair, and of oxen a pair. SAY: Hath He forbidden the two
males or the two females; or that which the wombs of the two females
enclose?36 Were ye witnesses when God enjoined you this? Who then is more
wicked than he who, in his ignorance, inventeth a lie against God, to mislead
men? God truly guideth not the wicked.
SAY: I find not in what hath been revealed to me aught forbidden to the eater
to eat, except it be that which dieth of itself, or blood poured forth, or
swine's flesh; for this is unclean or profane, being slain in the name of
other than God. But whoso shall be a forced partaker, if it be without
wilfulness, and not in transgression,-verily, thy Lord is Indulgent,
Merciful!
To the Jews did we forbid every beast having an entire hoof, and of both
bullocks and sheep we forbade them the fat, save what might be on their
backs, or their entrails, and the fat attached to the bone. With this have we
recompensed them, because of their transgression: and verily, we are indeed
equitable.
If they treat thee as an impostor, then SAY: Your Lord is of all-embracing
mercy: but his severity shall not be turned aside from the wicked.
They who add gods to God will say, "If God had pleased, neither we nor our
fathers had given him companions, nor should we have interdicted anything."
Thus did they who flourished before them charge with imposture, until they
had tasted our severity! SAY: Have ye any knowledge that ye can produce to
us? Verily, ye follow only a conceit: ye utter only lies!
SAY: Peremptory proof is God's! Had He pleased He had guided you all aright.
SAY: Bring hither your witnesses who can witness that God hath forbidden
these animals; but if they bear witness, witness not thou with them, nor
witness to the conceits of those who charge our signs with falsehood, and who
believe not in the life to come, and give equals to our Lord.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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