6/151-153 — The real list
| # | Item |
|---|---|
| 1 | Allā tushrikū bihi shayʾā — not to associate anything with Him |
| 2 | Wa bi'l-wālidayni iḥsānā — goodness to parents |
| 3 | Wa lā taqtulū awlādakum min imlāq — not to kill your children out of fear of poverty |
| 4 | Wa lā taqrabu'l-fawāḥisha mā ẓahara minhā wa mā baṭan — not to approach indecencies, open or hidden |
| 5 | Wa lā taqtulu'l-nafsa'llatī ḥarrama'llāhu illā bi'l-ḥaqq — not to take a life |
| 6 | Wa lā taqrabū māla'l-yatīmi illā bi'llatī hiya aḥsan — not to approach the property of the orphan |
| 7 | Wa awfu'l-kayla wa'l-mīzāna bi'l-qisṭ — honesty in measure and weight |
| 8 | Wa idhā qultum fa-ʿdilū wa law kāna dhā qurbā — justice in speech, even where a kinsman is concerned |
| 9 | Wa bi-ʿahdi'llāhi awfū — fidelity to the covenant |
| 10 | Wa anna hādhā ṣirāṭī mustaqīman fa'ttabiʿūh — to follow this path |
And it must be recorded that the list overlaps with the list at al-Isrāʾ 17/23-39; most of the same items were treated in detail there. I rely on that treatment.
One. The lā taqrabū pattern is used in two items (4 and 6): the prohibition begins not at the act itself but at the distance that leads to it. This pattern was treated at al-Baqara 2/187.
Two. The eighth item — wa idhā qultum fa-ʿdilū wa law kāna dhā qurbā — places justice in speech ahead of the bond of kinship. The same principle was treated at al-Nisāʾ 4/135 (wa law ʿalā anfusikum).
Three. The list opens in order to recite prohibitions (atlu mā ḥarrama rabbukum) but it contains commands as well (goodness to parents, honesty in measure, justice, fidelity).
I record this as my own reading: after rejecting the list of prohibitions that people invented (136-140), the sūra gives the real list — and that list contains not a single item about food. The contrast lies in the content of the list.
وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا۟ ٱلسُّبُلَ فَتَفَرَّقَ بِكُمْ عَن سَبِيلِهِۦ — the contrast between the singular sabīl and the plural subul.
And it was treated at al-ʿAnkabūt 29/69 (la-nahdiyannahum subulanā — plural), and it was recorded there that the plural means more than one road. The two verses do not conflict, and the difference must be recorded: in al-ʿAnkabūt the plural is roads that belong to Him, in al-Anʿām the plural is roads that part one from His way. What is decisive is whom the construct is made to.