Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi

Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi — Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi

O you who have faith! It is narrated that Jaʿfar ibn MuḤammad said that these words have four traits through which the Lord of the Worlds honored and caressed the community. One is that they are a call, second an intimation, third an allusion, and fourth a bearing witness. O is a call, you is an intimation, who is an allusion, and have faith is a bearing witness. The call is an honor, the intimation of mercy, the allusion to love, and the bearing witness to recognition. “He called them before He made them appear, and He named them before He saw them.” They were in the concealment of nonexistence when He called them to honor. They had not yet come into the circle of existence when He named them with a beautiful name: He named you sub- mitters from before [22:78]. He saw the faults and He approved of the faults. He saw the offenses, and He bought the offenses. He saw the pure ones of the high world, and He chose the tainted ones of the low world, for “The sinner's sobs are more beloved to Me than the glorifier's murmur.” Given the beginningless solicitude of the Unneedy Threshold toward the Adamite, his situ- ation is like that of a child whose mother sews him new clothes. She says, “Beware, beware, O child! Do not let this fancy garment get dirty!” The child goes outside and busies himself playing with the other children and dirties the clothes. He comes back home with dirty clothes, so he hides in a corner, helpless and bewildered. He keeps on saying, “Mother, I'm sleepy.” The mother knows that the child is afraid of her rebuke. “Dearest,” she says, “come. I only sent you outside after I had soap and water in hand, for I knew what you would do.” The Adamite's state is like this. When that center point of good fortune and chosen one of the empire was sent out from the concealment of nonexistence to the confines of existence, the pure spirits and holy ones began to shout, and they aimed arrows of denial at the world that God was setting forth: “Wilt Thou set therein one who will work corruption there? [2:30]. You are creating a group who will blacken the garment of Today I have perfected your religion for you [5:3] with the smoke of disobedience and the dust of associationism.

Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi — Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi

(O ye who believe! Profane not Allah�s monuments�) [5:2]. Said Ibn �Abbas: �This was revealed about al-Hutam whose full name is Sharih ibn Dubay�ah al-Kindi. This man went from al-Yamamah to Medina to see the Prophet, Allah bless him and his Household and give him peace. When he arrived at Medina, he went in alone to speak with the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace. He said: �What do you call people for?� he said: �To testify that there is no god but Allah, to establish the prayer and to pay the poor due�. The man said: �This is good, except that I have chiefs without whose consultation I cannot take any decision. It may be that I embrace Islam and bring them with me�. And then he left. Before this, the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, had said to his Companions: �A man will enter in on you and will speak with the tongue of the devil�. When the man left, the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, said: �He has come in with a disbeliever�s countenance and retreated with the steps of a treacherous one. The man is no Muslim�. The man passed by the camels of Medina which graze freely and led them away with him. People went after him but could not find him. When the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace went to perform the pilgrimage in the year of Hudaybiyyah, he heard the chanting �Labbayk� from the pilgrims of al-Yamamah. He said to his Companions: �Here is al-Hutam and his followers!� This man had put garlands on the camels he stole from Medina and offered them to the Ka�bah. When the Muslims wanted to get him, Allah, exalted is He, revealed (O ye who believe! Profane not Allah�s monuments�), by monuments here is meant that which is offered for Allah, even if those who offer it profess a religion other than Islam�. Said Zayd ibn Aslam: �The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and his Household and give him peace, and his Companions were in Hudaybiyyah when the idolaters barred them from entering the Sacred House. The Muslims were devastated. Then, a group of idolaters passed by them, they were in their way to perform the lesser pilgrimage. Some of the Companions of the Messenger, Allah bless him and give him peace, said: �Let us bar these people as their friends have barred us. And so Allah, exalted is He, revealed (O ye who believe! Profane not Allah�s monuments nor the Sacred Month nor the offerings nor the garlands, nor those repairing to the Sacred House)�, i.e. do not transgress against these pilgrims because their friends have barred you from entering the Sacred House�.

Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi — Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi

Forbidden to you are carrion and blood, the flesh of swine, that which has been offered up to other than God, the strangled, the beaten down, the fallen, the gored, what has been eaten by predators-except what you slaughter-what is sacrificed on stone alters, and that which you al- lot by divining arrows-that is ungodliness. Today those who disbelieve have despaired of your religion, so fear them not, and fear Me. Today I have perfected for you your religion and I have completed My blessings upon you, and I have approved for you the submission as a religion. Although carrion is vile and forbidden, a measure of it is still allowed at the time of constraint. Among the sorts of carrion is the flesh of a brother Muslim that is eaten by backbiting. In this there is never a concession in any state, whether by constraint or free choice. Hence this carrion is worse than that carrion, and its prohibition is greater. God says, “Do not backbite one another. Would one of you love to eat the dead flesh of his brother? You would abhor it” [49:12]. It has been said that an animal whose flesh is eaten has two states: One is that, when it is killed by the stipulation of the Shariah, it is pure. Taking it is allowed and eating it is permitted. When it dies by itself, it is defiled, and eating it is forbidden. By way of allusion He is saying that when this Adamic soul is killed by the sword of struggle in the path of discipline according to the Shariah-that is, when it has been subjugated by the religion and come to be commanded by the Shariah, made a servant and abased by the burden of obedience-the soul with this description is pure. Nearness to it is allowed, being its companion is lawful, seeing it is the heart's repose, and companionship with it is the spirit's happiness. But whenever a soul dies in the darkness of its own heedlessness such that it no longer perceives the work of the religion and exerts no effort in the limits set down by the Shariah, this soul is like the carrion whose body is defiled and nearness to which is forbidden. The strangled, the beaten down, the fallen to death, the gored. Beneath each of these words is an allusion in keeping with the tasting of the chevaliers of the Tariqah and according to the creed of the wayfarers of the Haqiqah's road. The strangled is an allusion to someone who places himself in the bonds of wishes, puts the chains of avarice on his own hands and feet, and throws the rope of wanting around his neck until he is killed by avarice and appetite. It is forbidden for the wayfarers and desirers to walk on the path of someone like this or to follow someone like this. The beaten down is an allusion to someone who stays a prisoner of caprice and a captive of Satan, beaten down by the fanciful notions of his soul and the disquieting thoughts from Satan, so that his heart dies in that beating and imprisonment. He becomes the carrion of the Tariqah, and companionship with him is forbidden. The fallen to death is an allusion to someone who has fallen into the valley of dispersion and been destroyed, losing the road of the Haqiqah. The gored is an allusion to someone who quarrels with his likes and similars for the sake of this world of carrion and is gored such that his adversary wins; he becomes carrion under the blows of a carrion-eater. What has been eaten by predators is that toward which the seekers of this world turn their heads; it is carrion and its seeker is like a dog. Only dogs eat carrion. It is nothing but rotting carrion which dogs try to drag away. Then He says, “except what you slaughter.” In the outward Shariah, He is saying that whenever a Shari'ite slaughtering takes place in the forbidden things that He mentioned such that it is allowed by the Shariah, then it is allowed and eating it is permitted. So also in the road of the Tariqah, whatever may be the traveling supplies of the road of the next world and the goods of this world necessary for life, taking them and having them is permissible in the religion and seeking them is allowed. The supplies for the religion's road pertain to the road of the religion. God says, “And take along supplies, but the best of supplies is godwariness” [2:197]. What is sacrificed on stone alters. Everything that is done for the caprice of wanting and not in conformity with the Shariah is sacrificed on stone alters. Making the caprice of your soul your ob- ject of worship and going forth according to what it desires is not the work of the religious, nor is it the state of the faithful. God says, “Hast thou seen him who has taken his caprice as his god?” [25:43]. And that which you allot by divining arrows-that is ungodliness. Every transaction and companionship that does not go forth with the permission of the Shariah and in conformity with the religion, the goal being to obtain this world and what is desired by the soul, is nothing but gam- bling. Its form is deception and deceit, its result ungodliness and corruption, and its final outcome punishment and chastisement. Today I have perfected for you your religion and I have completed My blessings upon you. Jaʿfar ibn MuḤammad said that “today” is an allusion to the day when MuṣṬafā was sent to creation and the crown of messengerhood was placed on the head of his prophecy. The carpet of his Shariah was pulled around the world and the rug of mercy was spread out. The smoke of associationism was wrapped up in its own misfortune and the traces and remnants of unbelief were effaced and dissolved. From the four corners of world the sound of the drum of Muhammad the Arab's good fortune rose up: “The truth has come, and falsehood has vanished away” [17:81]. God bless the son of āmina, who brought him forth open-handed and generous. Say to those who hope for Ahmad's intercession, “Bless him and wish him great peace.” * O you whose visage is everyone's gazing place before you all have fallen in the road. O Venus of the months and moon of all, your beauty has taken away everyone's luster and rank! The night of mortal nature still did not exist when the sun of his prophethood was set firmly in place in the heaven of its loftiness, for “I was a prophet when Adam was between water and clay.” “O great one! Show your beauty, so all of existence may become a sun. O master! Open the oyster shell of mercy, so these destitute ones may fill their pockets with pearls. “Why don't you take that face to the idol-worshipers- why not display it and take the unbelief from their hearts? “O master, We will mention your innate beauty only within By thy life! [15:72].

Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi — Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi

(They ask thee (O Muhammad) what is made lawful for them�) [5:4]. Abu Bakr al-Harithi informed us> Abu�l-Shaykh al-Hafiz> Abu Yahya> Sahl ibn �Uthman> Yahya ibn Abi Za�idah> Musa ibn �Ubayda> Aban ibn Salih> al-Qa�qa� ibn Hakim> Salma Umm Rafi�> Abu Rafi� who said: �The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, commanded me to kill dogs. But people said: �O Messenger of Allah, what is made lawful for us from this community [of dogs] which we are commanded to kill?� And so Allah, exalted is He, revealed (They ask thee (O Muhammad) what is made lawful for them. Say: (all) good things are made lawful for you. And those beasts and birds of prey)�. This was narrated by al-Hakim Abu �Abd Allah in his Sahih> Abu Bakr ibn Balawayh> Muhammad ibn Shadhan> Mu�alla ibn Mansur> Ibn Abi Za�idah. The commentators of the Qur�an said in explanation of this story: �Said Abu Rafi�: �Gabriel, peace be upon him, went to see the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, but did not enter in on the Prophet even though he was granted permission to enter. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, came out and said to him: �We have given you permission to enter, O Gabriel!� He said: �Yes, you have, O Messenger of Allah, except that we do not enter a house where there is a picture or a dog�. They looked around and found that there was a puppy in one of the rooms�. Abu Rafi� said: �The Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, commanded me to kill every dog in Medina. I proceeded with the execution of the command until I reached al-�Awali where I found a woman who kept a dog for her protection. Out of compassion for her, I did not kill her dog. I went back to the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, and informed him of what had happened, and he commanded me to go back and kill it. I went back and killed it. When the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, commanded the killing of dogs, a group of people went to him and said: �O Messenger of Allah, What is lawful for us of this community that we have been commanded to kill?� The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, did not answer, and then Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse.