The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 492
CH. 6 AL-AN'ĀM them and cause them confusion in their religion. And if Allah had enforced His will, they would not have done this; so leave them alone with that which they invent. 877 PT. 8 مَا فَعَلُوهُ فَذَرْهُمْ وَمَا يَفْتَرُوْنَ وَقَالُوا هَذِةٍ اَنْعَام وَ حَرُثُ حِجر And they say, “Such and. 139 حِجْرَةٌ لَّا such cattle and crops are forbidden. None shall thereof save whom we يَطْعَمُهَا إِلَّا مَنْ نَّشَاءُ بِزَعْمِهِمُ cat وَاَنْعَامُ حُرِّمَتْ ظُهُورُهَا وَأَنْعَامُ لا please so they allege and there are cattle whose backs are b يَذْكُرُونَ اسْمَ اللهِ عَلَيْهَا افْتِرَاء عَلَيْهِ forbidden, and there are cattle سَيَجْزِيْهِمْ بِمَا كَانُوا يَفْتَرُونَ over which they pronounce not the name of Allah, forging a lie against Him. Soon will He requite them for that which they have fabricated. 878 877. Commentary: more the practice provides one instance of how men go astray when they begin to make laws for themselves with the sole aid of reason. The "associate-gods" here referred to are divines, soothsayers and others. The "killing of children" happened in three ways: (1) some of the Arabs killed their female children and preserved the male ones; (2) some took the vow that if they had a certain number of children, whether male or female, one of them would be slaughtered in the name of God or in the name of one of their deities; and spiritually ruined. When a man goes (3) sometimes they sacrificed their children to avert a calamity. The word (many) in the expression, to many of the idolaters, shows that all Arabs did not indulge in this practice, nor even most of them, but only a considerable number. But, whatever the number, 932 The particle (that) in (that they may ruin them) is here used to express as (the result) and not the cause or motive. Thus, the sentence would mean that the result of the action of the associate-gods was that men who followed them were so far as even to sacrifice his son in obedience to another person's bidding, then he is entirely under the latter's control, and is thus completely ruined in respect of religion. 878. Important Words: (hajara-ha) حجره. (forbidden) حجر