The Qur'an (Oxford World's Classics)

a
This ma
 is not ‘water’, which would have the generic al- (cf. 21: 30), but is for each
animal a special, essential 
fluid, and so each creature is different, as is clear from what
follows.
The Qur
an
24: 42
224

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‘They will worship Me and not join anything with Me.’ Those who
are de
fiant after that will be the rebels.–– 56[People], keep up the
prayer, pay the prescribed alms, and obey the Messenger, so that you
may be given mercy. 
57Do not think [Prophet] that the disbelievers
can escape God on earth; the Fire will be their 
final home, an evil
end.
58Believers, your slaves and any who have not yet reached puberty
should ask your permission to come in at three times of day: before
the dawn prayer; when you lay your garments aside in the midday
heat; and after the evening prayer. These are your three times for
privacy; at other times, there is no blame on you or them if you move
around each other freely. In this way God makes messages clear:
God is all knowing, all wise. 
59When your children reach puberty,
they should [always] ask your permission to enter, like their elders
do. This is how God makes His messages clear to you: God is all
knowing, all wise. 
60No blame will be attached to elderly women who
are not hoping for sex, if they take o
ff their outer garments without
flaunting their charms, but it is preferable for them not to do this:
God is all hearing, all seeing.
61No blame will be attached to the blind, the lame, the sick.
a
Whether you eat in your own houses, or those of your fathers,
your mothers, your brothers, your sisters, your paternal uncles,
your paternal aunts, your maternal uncles, your maternal aunts,
houses you have the keys for, or any of your friends’ houses, you will
not be blamed: you will not be blamed whether you eat in company
or separately.
b
When you enter any house, greet one another with a
greeting of blessing and goodness as enjoined by God. This is how
God makes His messages clear to you so that you may understand.
62The true believers are those who believe in God and His Mes-
senger, who, when they are gathered with him on a communal mat-
ter, do not depart until they have asked his permission –
– those who
ask your permission [Prophet] are the ones who truly believe in God
and His Messenger. When they ask your permission to attend to
their private a
ffairs, allow whoever you see fit and ask God to forgive
a
Commentators state that the blind etc. refrained from eating with the healthy, or
that the healthy refused to eat with them, and many link this statement to the following
one.
b
Some commentators take this to be a quali
fication of 4: 29, which was interpreted
by some Muslims as a prohibition on eating at each other’s houses without invitation.
Light
225
24: 62

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them. God is most forgiving and merciful. 
63[People], do not regard
the Messenger’s summons to you like one of you summoning
another –
– God is well aware of those of you who steal away surrepti-
tiously –
– and those who go against his order should beware lest a trial
a
fflict them or they receive a painful punishment.
64Everything in the heavens and earth belongs to God: He knows
what state you are in –
– on the Day when all are returned to Him, He
will tell them everything they have done –
– God has full knowledge of
everything.
The Qur
an
24: 63
226

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25. THE DIFFERENTIATOR