Corruption of Islam: Prohibitions

I. God Is the Only Lawgiver

Modern Islamic teachers and imams have issued fatwas and endorsed sources that stand in direct contradiction to the Quran. Understanding why requires first understanding what the Quran actually says about the lawful blessings of this life - and who has the authority to restrict them.

Verse 11:116 is sometimes invoked to justify the prohibition of worldly pleasures, but this reading distorts the verse's actual warning. What 11:116 cautions against is excessive preoccupation with material things to the point of forgetting one's prime duty of worshipping God. It does not forbid lawful possessions, hobbies, pleasures, or natural God-given blessings. As long as a person worships God sincerely and observes their religious obligations - Salat, Zakat, and the like - they are fully entitled to enjoy every blessing God has made available. The story of Solomon in the Quran makes this explicit: God granted Solomon immense material wealth, and nowhere is this presented as a compromise of his righteousness. Wealth and blessing become a problem only when they displace God - not by their mere existence.

The Quran states this without ambiguity:

[24:37] Men who are not distracted by trade nor selling from the remembrance of God and from observing the Salat and giving the Zakat. They fear a Day when the hearts and sights will be overturned.

[7:32] Say, "Who prohibited the zinat of God which He produced for His servants and the good provisions?" Say, "They are, during the worldly life, for those who believe, and are exclusively theirs on the Day of Resurrection."

[28:77] And seek, through what God has given you, the Abode of the Hereafter, and do not forget your share of this world.

"Do not forget your share of this world" is not an afterthought. It is a divine instruction. God wants His servants to enjoy the provisions and blessings of life. Any religious authority that restricts what God has made lawful is not acting on God's behalf - it is usurping His role.

The Quran is unequivocal about who holds legislative authority in religion:

[42:21] Or do they have partners who legislate for them of the religion what God did not authorise? Had it not been for a decisive Word, they would have already been judged. Indeed, the transgressors shall have a painful punishment.

God is the only Lawgiver (6:114). Those who fabricate religious prohibitions not found in His Book are not scholars exercising legitimate authority - they are transgressors manufacturing a religion of their own.

II. The Four Dietary Prohibitions - and Only Four

The Quran states the dietary prohibitions four times: in 2:173, 5:3, 16:115, and most comprehensively in 6:145.

[6:145] Say, "I do not find in the revelations given to me any food that is prohibited for any eater except: (1) carrion, (2) running blood, (3) the meat of pigs, for it is contaminated, and (4) the meat of animals blasphemously dedicated to other than GOD." If one is forced to eat these, without being deliberate or malicious, then your Lord is Forgiver, Most Merciful.

The linguistic structure of this verse carries the force of the prohibition itself. The Arabic construction la ... illa - negation followed by exception - is the same grammatical structure that governs the Shahadah: la ilaha illa Allah, "there is no god except God." In the Shahadah, this structure negates every possibility and then affirms the single exception. In 6:145, the same structure negates every possible dietary prohibition and then specifies the four exceptions. Just as the Shahadah closes the door on all deities except God, 6:145 closes the door on all dietary prohibitions except the four named.

The verse does not say "among the prohibitions are these four." It says: in all the divine revelation given to the prophet, the only food prohibited is what follows. The scope is total. The exception is exhaustive. There is no room in this construction for additional prohibitions derived from any other source. Another fun thing to point out is the perfect synergy: The same 4 Dietary Prohibitions told among 4 different verses of the Quran. 2:173, 6:145, 16:115, & 5:3.

III. The Prophet Had No Authority to Legislate

To accept hadith-based dietary prohibitions is to accept that the prophet created religious law beyond what God revealed - a claim the Quran directly refutes. A legislator creates laws; a judge applies them. The prophet's role was the latter, never the former.

God makes this explicit through the reprimand in 66:1:

[66:1] O you prophet, why do you prohibit what GOD has made lawful for you, just to please your wives? GOD is Forgiver, Merciful.

This verse is decisive. If the prophet had been authorized to create prohibitions, God would not have rebuked him for doing so. The rebuke exists precisely because prohibiting what God made lawful - regardless of motive - exceeded the prophet's authority. The prophet's legislative boundary was the Quran. What the Quran did not prohibit, he could not prohibit.

The consequences of crossing that boundary are stated in 69:44-47:

[69:44-47] Had he uttered any other teachings, We would have punished him. We would have stopped the revelations to him. None of you could have helped him.

These are not hypothetical warnings. They define the absolute ceiling of prophetic authority. Any hadith that attributes additional dietary prohibitions to the prophet is therefore attributing to him an act that the Quran says God would have immediately punished. The hadith do not elevate the prophet - they accuse him of defying God.

IV. Hadith Dietary Prohibitions

Despite all of the above, the books of hadith attribute to the prophet a long list of dietary prohibitions that appear nowhere in the Quran.

Donkey Meat

Sahih al-Bukhari 3155 - "We were afflicted with hunger during the siege of Khaibar, and when it was the day of the battle, we slaughtered the donkeys and when the pots got boiling with their meat, the Messenger of Allah ordered all the pots to be upset and that nobody should eat any of the donkey meat. We thought the Prophet prohibited it because the Khumus had not been taken out of the booty; others said he prohibited it forever. The sub-narrator added, 'I asked Said bin Jubair who said, He has made the eating of donkeys' meat illegal forever.'" (source)

A second narration attributes the prohibition to the meat being rijs - the same word the Quran uses in 6:145 to describe pork. This is a direct attempt to import Quranic language into a hadith-based ruling that the Quran itself does not contain.

Sahih al-Bukhari 5528 - "Someone came to Allah's Messenger and said, 'The donkeys have been slaughtered and eaten.' Another man came and said, 'The donkeys have been destroyed.' The Prophet ordered a caller to announce to the people: 'Allah and His Apostle forbid you to eat the meat of donkeys, for it is impure.' Thus the pots were turned upside down while the donkeys' meat was boiling in them." (source)

Beasts with Fangs

Sahih Muslim 1933a - "The eating of all fanged beasts of prey is unlawful." (source)

Birds with Talons

Sahih Muslim 1934a - "Allah's Messenger prohibited the eating of all fanged beasts of prey, and all the birds having talons." (source)

Garlic and Onions

Sahih al-Bukhari 4215 - "On the day of Khaibar, Allah's Messenger forbade the eating of garlic and the meat of donkeys." (source)

Sahih al-Bukhari 5452 - "Whoever has eaten garlic or onion should keep away from us — or should keep away from our mosque." (source)

V. Other Prohibitions Attributed to the Prophet, Against His Own Free Will

Pictures

Sahih al-Bukhari 2105 - "I bought a cushion with pictures on it. When Allah's Messenger saw it, he kept standing at the door and did not enter the house. I noticed the sign of disgust on his face, so I said, 'O Allah's Messenger! I repent to Allah and His Apostle. What sin have I done?' Allah's Messenger said, 'What about this cushion?' I replied, 'I bought it for you to sit and recline on.' Allah's Messenger said, 'The painters of these pictures will be punished on the Day of Resurrection. It will be said to them, Put life in what you have created.' The Prophet added, 'The angels do not enter a house where there are pictures.'" (source)

Dogs

Sunan Abi Dawud 2844 - "If anyone gets a dog, except a sheep dog, hunting dog, or farm dog, a qirat of his reward will be deducted daily." (source)

See also: Bukhari 2322, 2323, 3225, 3227, 3323, 3324, 3325, 5480, 5481, 5482, Muslim 279a, 279b, 279c, 279d, 279e, 280a, 1574a, 1574b, 1574c, 1574d, 2105, Abu Dawud 382, 2555, 4157, 4158

Tattoos, False Hair, Facial Hair

Sahih al-Bukhari 4886 - "Abdullah (bin Masud) said, 'Allah curses those ladies who practice tattooing and those who get themselves tattooed, and those ladies who remove the hair from their faces and those who make artificial spaces between their teeth in order to look more beautiful whereby they change Allah's creation.' His saying reached a lady from Bani Asd called Um Yaqub who came to Abdullah and said, 'I have come to know that you have cursed such-and-such ladies?' He replied, 'Why should I not curse these whom Allah's Messenger has cursed and who are cursed in Allah's Book!' Um Yaqub said, 'I have read the whole Quran, but I did not find in it what you say.' He said, 'Verily, if you have read it, you have found it. Didn't you read: And whatsoever the Apostle gives you take it and whatsoever he forbids you, you abstain from it?' She replied, 'Yes, I did.' He said, 'Verily, Allah's Messenger forbade such things.'" (source)

See also: Bukhari 4887, 5205, 5347, 5740, 5931, 5933, 5934, 5935, 5938, Muslim 2122a, 2123a, 2126, Abu Dawud 4168, 4170

Gold Rings

Sahih al-Bukhari 5635 - "Allah's Messenger ordered us to do seven things and forbade us from seven. He forbade us to wear gold rings, to drink in silver utensils, to use Mayathir, to wear Al-Qissi, to wear silk, Dibaj, or Istabraq; and ordered us to accompany funeral processions, visit the sick, and greet everybody." (source)

Prohibited to Fast on Fridays

Sahih Muslim 1144a - "None among you should observe fast on Friday, but only that he observes fast before it or after it." (source)

Forbidden Mourning

Sahih al-Bukhari 1279 - "One of the sons of Um Atiyya died, and when it was the third day she asked for a yellow perfume and put it over her body, and said, 'We were forbidden to mourn for more than three days except for our husbands.'" (source)

See also: Bukhari 1280, 1281, 1305, Muslim 935a

& many more.

VI. Conclusion

The Quran names four dietary prohibitions. It names God as the sole lawgiver. It reprimands the prophet for prohibiting what God made lawful and declares that any teaching beyond the Quran would have been met with immediate divine punishment. The books of hadith then proceed to attribute to the prophet dozens of prohibitions - dietary and otherwise - that appear nowhere in God's Book.

These attributions do not honor the prophet. They accuse him of repeatedly violating the boundaries God explicitly set for him. The sincere believer who takes the Quran seriously has no choice but to reject them. The Quran's own testimony about the prophet's authority is the standard, and by that standard, the hadith-based prohibition system cannot stand.

[42:21] They follow idols who decree for them religious laws never authorized by God. If it were not for the predetermined decision, they would have been judged immediately. Indeed, the transgressors have incurred a painful retribution.*