107 Page Notes

05 Surah Al-Maidah (continued)

Page 107 - Related Hadith/Sunnah

5:3

5:4

5:5

Translation of the meaning by Sahih International.

Page  107 - Related Hadiths and Sunnah

Page 107 of the Quran contains the beginning of Surah Al-Ma'idah (Chapter 5), verses 3 through 5. This section of the Quran is highly significant in Islamic jurisprudence (Fiqh) and theology, as it covers the final perfection of Islam, strict dietary restrictions, rules on hunting, and foundational guidelines for interacting, eating, and marrying with the Ahlul Kitab (People of the Book, specifically Jews and Christians).

Here are the key Hadiths, Sunnah narratives, and contexts associated with these three specific verses:

1. Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 3

“This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion...”

Context & Hadith: The Day of Revelation

This specific segment of verse 3 is universally recognized by scholars as one of the final major legislative revelations given to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Multiple authentic Hadiths clarify exactly when and where this verse was revealed.

• The Dialogue with a Jewish Scholar: A famous Hadith recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim narrates that a Jewish man came to Umar bin Al-Khattab (the second Caliph) and said, "O Chief of the Believers! There is a verse in your Holy Book which is read by all of you, and had it been revealed to us, we would have taken that day (on which it was revealed) as a day of celebration." Umar asked, "Which verse is that?" The man recited Surah Al-Ma'idah, verse 3: "This day I have perfected for you your religion..."
  Umar replied:
  "No doubt, we know when and where this verse was revealed to the Prophet ﷺ. It was Friday and the Prophet ﷺ was standing at 'Arafat (i.e., during the Farewell Pilgrimage)." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 45)

• Significance in Sunnah: The Sunnah establishes that the "perfection" of the religion meant that the core pillars, boundaries of halal and haram, and legal frameworks were fully completed, leaving no room for human addition or deletion in divine law.

2. Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 4

“They ask you, [O Muhammad], what has been lawful for them. Say, 'Lawful for you are [all] good foods and [game caught by] what you have trained of hunting animals which you train as Allah has taught you...'”

Context & Hadith: Rules of Hunting and Trained Animals

This verse was revealed because Companions like Adi bin Hatim and Abu Tha'labah Al-Khushani came to the Prophet ﷺ asking how they should handle game caught by their hunting hounds or falcons (Aziz et al., 2023).

• The Hadith of Adi bin Hatim: Adi bin Hatim narrated: "I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ saying, 'We are a people who hunt with these dogs.' The Prophet ﷺ replied:
  'If you send your trained dogs and you mention the name of Allah (Tasmiyah), eat of what they catch for you, even if they kill it. But if the dog eats from the game, then do not eat it, for it has caught it for itself.'" (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 5475; Sahih Muslim)

• The Hadith of Abu Tha'labah: In another narration, Abu Tha'labah asked about hunting with an arrow or an untrained dog. The Prophet ﷺ clarified the distinction, establishing the legal Sunnah framework:

  1. If you shoot your arrow and mention Allah's name, you can eat it.

  2. If your trained dog catches it and you mentioned Allah's name, you can eat it.

  3. If an untrained dog catches it, you can only eat it if you reach the animal while it is still alive and perform a proper Islamic slaughter (Dhabihah).

3. Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 5

“This day [all] good foods have been made lawful for you. And the food of those who were given the Scripture is lawful for you and your food is lawful for them. And [lawful in marriage are] chaste women from among the believers and chaste women from among those who were given the Scripture before you...” (Rofiah & Haq, 2025).

Context & Hadith: Food and Marriage with the People of the Book

This verse explicitly permits Muslims to eat the meat slaughtered by Jews and Christians, and permits Muslim men to marry chaste women from their communities.

• The Sunnah of Eating Their Food: The Prophet ﷺ practically demonstrated this permission on several occasions. In a well-known Hadith recorded by Sahih al-Bukhari, a Jewish woman in Khaybar invited the Prophet ﷺ and his companions to a meal and served them a roasted sheep (which she had poisoned). The Prophet ﷺ and his companions ate from it before the Prophet realized it was poisoned. The fact that the Prophet ﷺ initially accepted and ate the meat without questioning how it was slaughtered structurally formed the Sunnah that the food/slaughter of the People of the Book is fundamentally permissible unless explicitly known to be haram (such as pork or dedicated to an idol).

• The Companion Application (Marriage): While the verse explicitly allows marriage to chaste women of the Ahlul Kitab, the Sunnah and actions of the companions added crucial administrative nuance. Prominent companions like Hudhayfah bin al-Yaman and Uthman bin Affan married Christian/Jewish women.
  However, the second Caliph, Umar bin Al-Khattab, famously requested Hudhayfah to divorce his non-Muslim wife (Rofiah & Haq, 2025). When Hudhayfah asked, "Is it haram?" Umar replied, "No, but I fear that you (Muslim men) will start desiring them over Muslim women because of their beauty, or that it will cause a trial for the household stability." (Sunan Al-Bayhaqi). This established a foundational precedent in the Sunnah that while halal, marrying outside the faith is heavily conditioned upon cultural stability and the protection of the family's Islamic identity.

References

• Aziz, N., Bakry, N., Habibi Mz, M., & Siddiq Armia, M. (2023). The paradigm of modern food products and its relevance with the concept of food in the Quran. Heliyon, 9(11), e21358.

• Al-Bukhari, M. I. (n.d.). Sahih al-Bukhari (Book of Belief, Hadith 45; Book of Hunting, Hadith 5475).

• Rofiah, Z., & Haq, A. S. (2025). Marriage between Muslim and Ahl Al-Kitab: A review of MUI Fatwa No.4/MUNAS VII/MUI/8/2005. Indonesian Journal of Shariah and Justice, 5(1), 73-95.