The Qur'an (Oxford World's Classics)

68
The Quran 5: 4
practice – today the disbelievers have lost all hope that you will
give up your religion. Do not fear them: fear Me. Today I have
perfected your religion for you, completed My blessing upon you,
and chosen as your religion islam: [total devotion to God]; but if
any of you is forced by hunger to eat forbidden food, with no
intention of doing wrong, then God is most forgiving and
merciful.
4 They ask you, Prophet, what is lawful for them. Say, ‘All good
things are lawful for you.’ [This includes] what you have taught
your birds and beasts of prey to catch, teaching them as God has
taught you, so eat what they catch for you, but first pronounce
God’s name over it. Be mindful of God: He is swift to take account.
5 Today all good things have been made lawful for you. The food of
the People of the Book is lawful for you as your food is lawful for
them. So are chaste, believing, women as well as chaste women of
the people who were given the Scripture before you, as long as you
have given them their bride-gifts and married them, not taking them
as lovers or secret mistresses. The deeds of anyone who rejects faith
will come to nothing, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the
losers.
6 You who believe, when you are about to pray, wash your faces and
your hands up to the elbows, wipe your heads, wash your feet up to
the ankles and, if required, a wash your whole body. If any of you is
sick or on a journey, or has just relieved himself, or had intimate
contact with a woman, and can find no water, then take some clean
sand and wipe your face and hands with it. God does not wish to
place any burden on you: He only wishes to cleanse you and perfect
His blessing on you, so that you may be thankful. b 7 Remember
God’s blessing on you and the pledge with which you were bound
when you said, ‘We hear and we obey.’ Be mindful of God: God has
full knowledge of the secrets of the heart.
8 You who believe, be steadfast in your devotion to God and bear
witness impartially: do not let hatred of others c lead you away from
a e.g. after sexual intercourse or discharging semen.
b ‘Perfecting the blessing’ is seen in instructing believers to avoid what is unclean in
food and to wash before worship. This is also noted in 4: 43, where there is an instruction
to wash before the prayer following an instruction to keep away from the pollution
of the immoral acts mentioned in the preceding verses.
c This resumes the instruction in vv. 1–2.