Tafsir of Al-Ma'idah 5:94

(O you who believe, Allah will surely test you) The response is to an implied oath; that is, "By Allah, He will surely treat you with the treatment of one who tests you, in order to know your state (with something of the game) that is, the land game, as Al-Kalbi said, whether it is edible or not, excluding the exceptions as will come, if Allah the Exalted wills. The lam (in layabluwannakum) is for the covenant.

The verse, as Ibn Abi Hatim recorded from Muqatil, was revealed during the Umrah of al-Hudaybiyyah, where Allah the Exalted tested them with game while they were in a state of ihram. The wild animals would crowd them in their campsites, and they were capable of capturing them with their hands or striking them with their spears. This is His saying: (which your hands and your spears reach). They intended to seize them, so this was revealed.

It is narrated from Ibn Abbas and Mujahid—and this is what is reported from Abu Jafar, may Allah be pleased with him—that what the hands reach are the chicks of birds and the young of wild animals and the eggs, while what the spears reach are the large game. Al-Jubba’i chose that the intent of what the hands and spears reach is the hunting of the Haram (the Sacred Precinct) in absolute terms, because it is accustomed to people and does not flee from them as it flees in the Hill (the land outside the Sacred Precinct). It is said: what the hands reach is what can be slaughtered, and what the spears reach is what cannot be slaughtered. It is also said: the intent is what is near and what is distant.

Ibn Atiyyah mentioned that the manifest meaning is that He, Glory be to Him, singled out the hands for mention because they are the most capable of action in hunting, which includes claws, snares, and what is made by hands such as traps and nets. He singled out the spears for mention because they are the greatest means of wounding the game, and this includes arrows and the like.

The indefinite use of "something" (shay’in), as more than one has stated, is for belittlement, signaling that this is one of the immense trials in which the feet of the firm slip, like the trial of killing souls or wasting wealth. It is merely of the kind that the people of Ailah were tested with regarding the fish of the sea, and its benefit is to warn that if one does not remain firm in such a matter, how would he remain firm during the severities of afflictions? "From" (min) is explanatory, meaning: with a trivial thing, which is the game.

Ibn al-Munir objected to this, saying that this phrasing has appeared in exactly the same way regarding great trials, as in His saying: "And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and souls and fruits, and give good tidings to the patient." Therefore, the apparent meaning—and Allah the Exalted knows best—is that "from" (min) is for partition (tab’id). The intent behind what the expression indicates of minimization and partition is to alert that all the calamities through which one is tested are but a small part of the whole relative to the power of Allah the Exalted. It is to show that He, the Exalted, is capable of making what He tests them with of these matters greater and more terrifying than what actually occurs. Whatever He averts from them of that which is greater in His power, He only averts it from them toward that which is lighter and easier as a kindness and mercy to them, so that this alert may be an incitement for them toward patience and a motive for endurance. What guides to this is the prior notification of this before it befalls, in order to prepare the souls for it, for being surprised by adversities causes severe pain, and warning of them before their occurrence makes their impact easier. If a rational person reflects upon the types of calamities with which he is tested, he will find that what has been averted from him is many times greater than what has befallen him, a scale that has no end. Glory be to the Gentle with His servants.

Mawlana Shihab al-Din followed this up by stating that the Sheikh (Al-Razi) indicated this exact point in Dala’il al-I’jaz, because "something" is only mentioned for the sake of generalization, like His saying: "And there is not a thing except that it glorifies Him with His praise," or for vagueness and lack of specification, or for belittlement—not claiming that it is unknown due to its insignificance. Here, if one were to say, "He will surely test you with game," the meaning would be complete; thus, its insertion must have a point, which is what was mentioned. As for what was (cited) from the other verse, it is a witness for him, not against him, because the intention there is also belittlement relative to what Allah the Exalted averted from them, as the objector himself stated—although the objection is not complete unless "and a loss" is taken as a conjunction to the genitive "from" (min). If it were conjoined to "something," it would be like this verse without any difference.

Essam al-Millah said: It is possible to say that the expression "something" is for the ambiguity which acts as a metonymy for the sermon, and the tanwin (indefinite marking) is for magnification; that is, with a great thing in the position of being taken to task for violating it, if Allah the Exalted took to task those tested in previous nations through transformation and making them into apes and swine. Then he supported that the expression is to denote partition, and from what we have preceded, what is in that is known.

Ibrahim read yanaluhu (it reaches) your hands with a ya.

(That Allah may know who fears Him in the unseen) That is, so that His knowledge, may He be exalted, may attach to the one who fears Him in action, so he does not approach the game. For His knowledge, the Exalted, that he will fear Him—even if it is attached to him—its attachment to him being actually fearful (which is the matter upon which the reward hinges) only occurs when the fear is realized in action. To this, the speech of al-Balkhi points. "The Unseen" (al-ghayb) is a verbal noun in the place of a noun of agency; meaning, he fears Him while He is absent from the creation. Thus, the prepositional phrase is attached to what precedes it.

Abu al-Baqa permitted it to be in the place of a state (hal) from "who" (man) or from the pronoun of the subject in "fears Him," meaning: he fears Him while being absent from the creation. Many have said: "Knowledge" is a metaphor for the occurrence and manifestation of the known. The essence of the meaning is: that the one who fears His otherworldly punishment while he is absent and expectant due to the strength of his faith may be distinguished, so he does not approach the game; unlike the one who does not fear Him in such a way due to the weakness of his faith, so he proceeds toward it. It is said: there is an implied genitive construction, and the estimation is "that Allah may know the friends of Allah." And upon every estimation, "who" is relative. The possibility of it being interrogative—i.e., "that He may know: who fears Him?"—is a far-fetched interpretation. It was read as li-yu’lama (that it may be made known) from al-i’lam (announcing) by omitting the first object; that is, "that Allah may make His servants know, etc." The manifestation of the Glorious Name in the place of the pronoun is to cultivate awe and instill dread.

(So whoever transgresses) That is, exceeds the limit of Allah the Exalted and approaches the game (after that) notification and the clarification that what occurred was a test from His side for the mentioned wisdom. It is said: "after the prohibition and the forbidding," and it was refuted that the prohibition and forbidding are not a new matter upon which the conditional nature of the fa is based. It is said: "after the test," and it was refuted that the test itself does not serve as a basis for tightening and punishment; rather, it might be imagined to be an excuse justifying its achievement.

Some interpreted the test as the ability of the one in ihram to hunt the game in the future. He said: the intent is not the game crowding them, for that has already passed. You know that wanting that meaning is not within the realm of acceptance. What is relied upon is what we indicated: that whoever approaches the game after We have clarified that the abundance of the game and its lack of fear of them was a test—leading to the attachment of knowledge to the one who is actually fearful, or distinguishing the obedient from the disobedient—(then for him is a painful punishment).

Because approaching and transgressing in that state is pure arrogance, a lack of concern for the decree of Allah the Exalted, a departure from His obedience, and a total shedding of His fear and dread. He who does not possess the reins of his soul and does not observe the rule of Allah in such trivial trials will hardly observe it in the great causes of slippage. What is immediate, according to what has been said, is that this painful punishment is in the Hereafter. It is also said: it is in this world.

Ibn Abi Hatim recorded via Qays bin Sa’d from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them, that he said: "It is that his back and stomach are expanded with lashes and his clothes are stripped from him," and the matter was likewise in the Jahiliyyah as well. It is said: the intent is the punishment of both abodes, and Sheikh al-Islam followed this.

The appropriateness of the verse to what precedes it, according to what al-Azhari mentioned, is that when He, Glory be to Him, commanded them not to forbid the good things, and excluded from that wine and gambling—making them forbidden—and only later excluded from the good things that which is forbidden in one state but not another, which is hunting; then He, Mighty is His Name, began explaining the rulings by which transgression is to be rectified, following the explanation of the punishment that follows it. Thus, He, Mighty is the Speaker, said: [Follows the next verse].