Ten Commandments of Sorts

There are several further discussions of meats and of animals, and of laḥm al-khinzīr, and a reiteration of the prohibition given in al-Māʾidah. But now to verse 151. This is almost a ten commandments of sorts. From here — this is the famous verse containing the ten directions that ought to be understood by all people of a divinely ordained religion, a divinely revealed religion. It may almost be called a ten commandments of sorts.

The first of them is this: qul taʿālaw atlu mā ḥarrama rabbukum ʿalaykum allā tushrikū bihi shayʾā. Many of us may have read it many times, but consider what it says: that you ascribe no partners to Allah. The second: wa-bi-l-wālidayni iḥsānā. This is owed to Allah: they are the first who care for you when you come into this world. After Allah — who gives you birth in this world, who grants you your allowance and your existence in it — He hands the charge to your parents. He is present still, but now your parents bear a responsibility; they are the first. Hence, after Allah, your parents come first. All your teachers, and everyone else, come afterwards; your parents come first.

Wa-lā taqtulū awlādakum min imlāq: the third, then, is: do not kill your children for fear of poverty. Indeed the whole question of contraception — without entering upon it at length — is that in Islam it is permitted in many cases; but the one case in which it is not permitted is where a man fears he cannot feed his children and therefore ceases to have them. For:

Allah has taken that responsibility upon Himself. Wa-lā taqtulū awlādakum min imlāqin naḥnu narzuqukum wa-iyyāhum: We shall provide for you and for them. In other places:

Naḥnu narzuquhum wa-iyyākum; but here it is said: We shall provide for you and for them.