6/136-140 — The invented prohibitions
Wa jaʿalū li'llāhi mimmā dharaʾa mina'l-ḥarthi wa'l-anʿāmi naṣīban fa-qālū hādhā li'llāhi bi-zaʿmihim wa hādhā li-shurakāʾinā
"They assigned to God a share of the crops and the livestock He had produced, and said, by their own claim: 'This is God's, and this is for our partners.'"
This block both gives the sūra its name and completes its backbone. And the operation performed is described in three stages:
| Verse | The operation |
|---|---|
| 136 | Assigning a share — and the shares changing places |
| 138 | Hādhihi anʿāmun wa ḥarthun ḥijrun — declaring a thing untouchable |
| 139 | Mā fī buṭūni hādhihi'l-anʿāmi khāliṣatun li-dhukūrinā wa muḥarramun ʿalā azwājinā — apportioning by sex |
بِزَعْمِهِمْ — the root ز-ع-م was treated at al-Qaṣaṣ 28/62 (a claim without support). And the placing of the word here is worth recording: in describing what is done, the verse records in the same sentence that it is a claim.
حِجْر — root ح-ج-ر: to forbid, to set apart. The root was treated in al-Ḥujurāt and at al-Furqān 25/53 (ḥijran maḥjūrā).
وَكَذَٰلِكَ زَيَّنَ لِكَثِيرٍ مِّنَ ٱلْمُشْرِكِينَ قَتْلَ أَوْلَٰدِهِمْ شُرَكَآؤُهُمْ (137) — and the killing of children enters the same list.
This matter was treated in al-Takwīr under mawʾūda and at al-Isrāʾ 17/31 (wa lā taqtulū awlādakum khashyata imlāq). I rely on that treatment.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the order of the verses: the sūra names the food prohibitions and the killing of children in the same block. The common point: both are done on a religious ground, and neither has any support.