1 The Virtues of Surah Al-Ma'idah; When It was Revealed Surah to ...

The Prohibition of Using Al-Azlam for Decision Making
Allah said,
25
وَأَن تَسْتَقْسِمُواْ‏ بِالأَزْلاَمِ‏
(Forbidden) also is to make decisions with Al-Azlam,
The Ayah commands, "O believers! You are
forbidden to use Al-Azlam (arrows) for decision
making,'' which was a practice of the Arabs
during the time of Jahiliyyah.
They would use three arrows, one with the word
`Do' written on it, another that says `Do not',
while the third does not say anything. Some of
them would write on the first arrow, `My Lord
commanded me,' and, `My Lord forbade me,' on
the second arrow and they would not write
anything on the third arrow. If the blank arrow
was picked, the person would keep trying until
the arrow that says do or do not was picked, and
the person would implement the command that
he picked.
Ibn Abbas said that;
the Azlam were arrows that they used to seek
decisions through.
Muhammad bin Ishaq and others said that;
the major idol of the tribe of Quraysh was Hubal,
which was erected on the tip of a well inside the
Ka`bah, where gifts were presented and where
the treasure of the Ka`bah was kept. There, they
also had seven arrows that they would use to
seek a decision concerning matters of dispute.
Whatever the chosen arrow would tell them, they
would abide by it!
Al-Bukhari recorded that;
when the Prophet entered Al-Ka`bah (after
Makkah was conquered), he found pictures of
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