Transliteration:( Wa ja'aloo lillaahi mimmaa zara-a minal harsi walan'aami naseeban faqaaloo haazaa lillaahi biza'mihim wa haaza lishurakaa'inaa famaa kaana lishurakaaa'ihim falaa yasilu ilal laahi wa maa kaana lillaahi fahuwa yasilu ilaa shurakaaa'ihim; saaa'a maa yahkumoon )
298. In this, there is a hint that whatever offering the polytheists make in the name of their idols is null and void, and their condition of offering is unsound and unacceptable because the Holy Quraan has declared all of them in "according to their fancies" and therefore nullified them.
299. Here the evil doings of the infidels are mentioned. Firstly whatever charities they took out from their produce they would take one portion for Allah and the other for their idols, secondly while dividing if any part fell in the portion of the idols they would not remove it. The Arab infidels would spend the portion taken out in Allah's name on visitors and beggars, and the portion of the idols was spent on themselves and their slaves. This type of charity and decision of the infidels was a senseless exercise. Remember, that to take out a portion of your wealth for the purpose of Givarwie Shareef. Khatam Shareef etc are not included in the above because all this charity is for Allah and a means of conveying rewards to those souls. This is proven by the Quraan and Hadith. Says Allah Almighty: "And regard what they spend as approaches to Allah and a means of taking blessings of the Messenger. (S9: V99). Hazrat Said (may Allah be pleased with him) had dug a well in his mother's name and called it "Well of Said's mother". It is polytheism to take out wealth in the name of idols because this leads to equality with Allah Almighty. However, you can do this in the name of the pious sages of Allah as this is a charity in the name of Allah Almighty. Further, remember, that the infidels of Arabia worshipped Allah as a bigger deity and the idols as smaller deities, both physically and materially. In this verse, material worship of theirs is mentioned with regard to their produce. It should also be remembered that the wheat and other grain which is set aside in the name of the idols will not become unlawful because only that animal will become unlawful if it is slaughtered in any other name besides the name of Allah Almighty. Thus whatever possession of the infidels which were taken as war booty by the Noble Companions were put to use by them without distinguishing which of these were set aside in the name of idols.Â
300. Here, Allah Almighty has expressed displeasure at their above deeds but did not declare these things as unlawful. From this we learn that the portion of the produce which these infidels had taken out in the name of the idols did not become unlawful, but their act of doing this is polytheism though the thing used for it is lawful e.g. the setting aside of Baheera, Saaibah animals are polytheism but those animals are lawful. They can be consumed by slaughtering them in the name of Allah Almighty
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136. And they assign to Allah a share of the tilth and cattle which He has created, and they say: “This is for Allah,” according to their claim, “and this is for our partners.” But the share of their “partners” reaches not Allah, while the share of Allah reaches their “partners”! Evil is the way they judge!
Allah chastises and criticizes the idolators who invented innovations, Kufr and Shirk, and called on partners and rivals with Allah among His creation, although He created every thing, all praise is due to Him. This is why Allah said,
(And they assign to Allah from that which He has created,)
(of the tilth) meaning, fruits and produce,
(and of the cattle a share) meaning a part and a section.
(and they say: “This is for Allah,” according to their claim, “and this is for our partners.”) Allah said next,
(But the share of their “partners” reaches not Allah, while the share of Allah reaches their “partners”!) `Ali bin Abi Talhah and Al-`Awfi narrated that Ibn `Abbas said; “When they, the enemies of Allah, would cultivate the land or collect produce, they would assign a part of it to Allah and another part to the idol. They would keep the share for the idol, whether land, produce or anything else, and preserve its division to such an extent that they would collect anything that accidentally falls from the share they assigned to Allah and add it to the share of the idol. If the water that they assigned for the idol irrigated something (a section of land, for instance) that they assigned for Allah, they would add whatever this water irrigated to the idol’s share! If the land or produce that they assigned for Allah was accidentally mixed with the share that they assigned for the idol, they would say that the idol is poor. Therefore, they would add it to the share they assigned for the idol and would not return it to the share they assigned for Allah. If the water that they assigned for Allah irrigated what they assigned for the idol they would leave it (the produce) for the idol. They also made some of their other property sacred, like the Bahirah, Sa’ibah, Wasilah and Ham, assigning them to the idols, claiming that they do so as way of seeking a means of approach to Allah. Allah said,
(And they assign to Allah a share of the tilth and cattle which He has created…).” Similar was said by Mujahid, Qatadah, As-Suddi and others. `Abdur-Rahman bin Zayd bin Aslam commented; “Every type of slaughter that they would assign for Allah, would never be eaten unless they mentioned the names of their idols when slaughtering it. Yet for what they sacrificed in the names of the idols, they would not mention Allah’s Name when slaughtering it.” He then recited the Ayah (6:136) until he reached,
(Evil is the way they judge!) This Ayah means, evil is that which they determined, for they committed error in the division. Certainly, Allah is the Lord, Owner and Creator of all things and His is the dominion. All things are His property and under His supreme control, will and decree. There is no deity worthy of worship, or Lord, except Him. And even when the polytheists made this evil division, they did not preserve it, but cheated in it. Allah said in other Ayat,
(And they assign daughters unto Allah — glory be to Him — and unto themselves what they desire.) ﴿16:57﴾, and
(Yet, they assign to some of His servants a share with Him. Verily, man is indeed a manifest ingrate!) ﴿43:15﴾, and,
(Is it for you the males and for Him the females That indeed is a division most unfair!) ﴿53:21-22﴾.
(6:136) They[104] assign to Allah a portion out of the produce and cattle that He has created, saying out of their fancy: ‘This is for Allah’ – so they deem -‘and this is for the associates (of Allah) whom we have contrived.’[105] Then, the portion assigned to the beings whom they have set up as associates (of Allah) does not reach Allah, but the portion assigned to Allah reaches the beings they set up as associates (of Allah)! [106] Indeed evil is what they decide!
104. There now follows an elucidation of the ‘ignorance’ which those people-insistently clung to, and which they were not prepared to forsake. They are also told about that major ‘wrong’ which, if not abandoned, will bar their way to salvation.
105. They themselves acknowledged that the earth belongs to God, and that it is He Who causes the vegetation to grow. They also affirmed that God is the creator of the animals which were yoked to their service. They believed, however, that the grace of God for them was the outcome of the blessing and benediction of the angels, jinn, heavenly stars, spirits of their pious ancestors and so on, who cared for their well-being and were their patrons. They therefore used to make a two-fold division of their harvest and livestock offerings. One part was devoted to God in recognition of their gratitude to Him for having granted them farms and animals, while the rest was devoted to the household gods of either their family or tribes in order to ensure their continuing grace and benediction.
First, God censures them for this iniquity and asks them – since all those animals were created and had been granted to them by God alone – what justification there is for making offerings to others. Is it not sheer ingratitude to ascribe the acts of benevolence and grace of the true Benefactor to the intercession of others, and to associate them with God in thanksgiving? Second, they are censured indirectly for assigning quite an arbitrary share in their offerings to God, as if they themselves were the law-maker who could ascribe shares to God and others as they wished. To God alone belong all the bounties He has given man, and only His Law should therefore determine what part of those bounties should be offered to Him in thanksgiving and how the remaining should be spent. Hence even if they spend something in the way of Allah, for the poor and the deprived, but according to their own will, that does not deserve to be accepted by Him.
106. This is subtle sarcasm at the trickery to which the polytheists resorted while dividing the offerings between God and the partners whom they had set up with Him. By one device and another they increased the share of the false deities, which only showed that their heart lay with those sham partners of God rather than with Him.
It is instructive to recall those tricks. If, while they were apportioning God’s share of cereals and fruits, anything belonging to His share fell out of its place, it used to be added to the portion earmarked for the share of God’s partners. On the contrary, if any part of the, partners’ share fell out or got mixed up with the portion earmarked for God, they were most careful to return it to where it belonged. Whenever they were criticized for this, they had a number of interesting apologies to offer. They said, for instance, that being the Creator, God is Self-Sufficient and hence He does not care if His portion is in some way reduced. As for the ‘partners’, they were not after all self-sufficient and would therefore take them to task for the slightest diminution in their share.
In order to grasp what lay at the root of these superstitions, it is essential to know that the portion which these ignorant people earmarked for God was devoted to helping the indigent, the poor, travellers, orphans and so on. On the other hand, the portion earmarked for offerings to the partners’ actually went either directly to the coffers of the priestly class or was offered at the shrines and thus ultimately reached the priests and caretakers of those shrines. Over the course of centuries these selfish religious leaders had impressed upon those simple-minded people that there was no harm in God’s share being reduced, but that of God’s dear ones, far from being diminished, should be increased.
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