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yā-ʾayyuhā r-rusulu kulū mina ṭ-ṭayyibāti wa-ʿmalū ṣāliḥan ʾinnī bi-mā taʿmalūna ʿalīmun
O apostles! Eat of the good things and act righteously. Indeed I know best what you do.
— Ali Quli Qarai
23Al-Mu’minūnالمؤمنونVerse 51 of 118
The Believers23. Al-Mu’minūnالمؤمنون
Al Mu’minūn
The Believers
MeccanVerse 51 of 118
Surah al-Mu’minun - Verse 51
51. “O messengers! Eat of the good things and act righteously. Verily I know best what you do.”
We should not forget two important principles, when we want to eat something:
1. Lawfulness
2. Purity and wholesomeness
All divinely revealed religions give great importance to the kinds of food we eat for they bring Divine succor in doing good deeds. It is for this very reason that, addressing all the messengers, Allah says:
“O messengers! Eat of the good things and act righteously. Verily I know best what you do.”
The difference between prophets and other human beings is not that they do not have human needs such as the need for food rather they see special modes of nutrition as means towards perfection, therefore they eat pure and wholesome food. The average person eats as an aim in itself, pursuing the satisfaction of his animal desires whether it is good or bad, he is not even concerned about the physical benefits of his diet not to mention the spiritual effects the foods might have upon him.
Regarding that the kind and quality of food is certainly effective on man’s spiritualities, and different sorts of food consequence different moral manners, the relation between these two sentences are made clear when it says:
“...Eat of the good things”
and
“Act righteously...”
Some Islamic traditions say that eating unlawful food hinders our prayers and supplications to be accepted. There is a famous tradition stated by the Prophet (S) which is the evidence of this claim: A man once told the Prophet (S) that he would like his prayers to be answered. The Prophet replied:
“Make your food wholesome and refrain from eating unlawful food!” 1
Commenting on this verse, Imam Sadiq (as) says:
“The meaning of /tayyib/ is lawfulness.” 2
In this context it is also necessary to note that the sentence:
is itself an independent reason for doing good deeds, because when man knows that someone is always watching his deeds and nothing remains hidden from Him and Who carefully reckons his deeds, he will be careful to act correctly and reform his behaviour. The phrases in the verse above would also be important in arousing in us the sense of thanksgiving for the pure blessings that Allah has given us. This would, in turn, exert a profound effect upon our conduct.
In summary, this verse identifies three ways to encourage the tendency to do good deeds:
A) The influence of pure and wholesome food on the purity of the heart.
B) Arousing the sense of thanksgiving in man.
C) Drawing attention to the fact that Allah watches and observes all our deeds.
As said before, the Qur’anic word /tayyib/ means anything that is clean and pure. It is the opposite of the word ‘khabith’, which means foul and dirty. In the book ‘Mufradat’, the author Raqib says:
“The word ‘tayyib’ originally meant any affair that is pleasant, whether man thinks that he experiences this pleasure through his soul or physical senses or not, in reality, it is experienced only in his soul. In religion, however, it means anything that is clean and lawful.”
Many verses in the Holy Qur’an talk about doing good and enjoying what is pure. Here, not only the prophets but all the believers are also ordered to eat good and lawful food:
“O you who believe! Eat of the good things We have provided you with...” 3
Only good words and deeds are near to Allah.
“...Unto Him do good words ascend, and the pious deed does He exalt...” 4
Enjoying good things is one of the great blessings bestowed upon man by Allah and it can also be seen as one of the signs of man’s superiority over all other creatures. Allah in the Qur’an says:
“And, indeed, We have honored the children of Adam, and We carried them on the land and the sea; and We provided them with sustenance of the good things; and We preferred them greatly over many of those We created.” 5
The Prophet (S) reiterates this in a short, meaningful tradition when he says:
“O people! Allah is clean (and pure) and accepts nothing save good (and pure) deeds.” 6
Some Traditions On Lawfulness and Unlawfulness
1. An Islamic tradition says:
“Allah does not accept the worship of someone who has eaten a single morsel of something unlawful.” 7
2. The Prophet (S) said:
“Seeking the lawful (things) is the duty of every Muslim man and woman.” 8
3. The Prophet (S) said:
“Worship has 70 parts and the most superior of them is seeking the lawful (things).” 9
4. The holy Prophet (S) said:
“Whoever travels for obtaining lawful sustenance is like a warrior in the Path of Allah.” 10
5. Salman Farsi was asked:
“Which deed is the best?”
He replied:
“To have faith in Allah and (to eat) lawful bread (i.e., to earn an honest living).” 11
6. The Prophet (S) said:
“Whoever earns his bread by his own hands, Allah will look at him with mercy and will never chastise him.” 12
7. The Prophet (S) said:
“Whoever eats that which is lawful, an angel will overshadow him and will continue to ask Allah’s pardon for him until he finishes eating.” 13
8. The Prophet (S) said:
“Seeking the lawful is struggle (jihad) in the cause of Allah.”
9. The Prophet (S) said:
“Seeking the lawful (sustenance) is obligatory next to the obligatory (prayer).” 14
10. The Prophet (S) said:
“It is the duty of every Muslim to try to obtain lawful (sustenance).” 15
11. The Prophet (S) said:
“The best of deeds is to earn an income legally and honestly.” 16
Some Traditions On Unlawful Income and Business
12. The Prophet (S) said:
“When Allah makes something unlawful, its money becomes also unlawful.” 17
13. The sixth Imam (as) said:
“The result of unlawful income will become manifest in one’s descendants.” 18
14. The Prophet (S) said:
“When an unlawful morsel enters a servant’s body, all the angels in the heavens and the earth will curse him.” 19
15. The Prophet (S) said:
“Worshipping (Allah) with eating that which is unlawful is like a building on sand or some say like a building on water.” 20
16. Imam Baqir (as) said:
“The truth is that if a man obtains some property unlawfully, his Hajj pilgrimage, If ‘Umrah, and his observance of the ties of kinship will not be accepted, and even his chastity will be ruined in it.” 21
17. The Prophet (S) said:
“Allah has made Paradise forbidden for a body which has been fed inward unlawfully.” 22
18. The Prophet (S) said:
“Abstaining from having one unlawful morsel (of food) is more liked by Allah (s.w.t.) than the performance of two thousand rak‘ats of a recommended prayers.” 23
19. Imam Ali-ibn-Abitalib (as) said:
“A generous one is he who avoids from the unlawful things and keeps himself pure from defects.” 24
20. The Sixth Imam (as) said:
“Imam Ali (as) has said: ‘Whoever devours a believer’s property unlawfully is not our friend’.” 25
Footnotes