(5) “Today, wholesome things have been made lawful for you. The food of those who were given the Scripture is lawful for you, and your food is lawful for them. Lawful for you in marriage are chaste women from among the believers and chaste women from those who were given the Scripture before you, provided that you give them their bridal dues, seeking chastity rather than fornication or taking secret lovers. Whoever rejects faith, his deeds have come to nothing, and in the Hereafter he will be among the losers.”
Allah Most High reiterates the lawfulness of wholesome things to demonstrate His gracious favor and to call His servants to thank Him and remember Him abundantly, for He has permitted them the wholesome things they need and from which they benefit.
“The food of those who were given the Scripture is lawful for you”—that is, animals slaughtered by Jews and Christians are lawful for you, O Muslims, to the exclusion of those slaughtered by all other unbelievers, whose slaughtered animals are not lawful for Muslims. This is because the People of the Scripture claim affiliation with the prophets and scriptures.
All the messengers agreed that slaughtering for anyone other than Allah is forbidden, for it is polytheism. The religion professed by Jews and Christians therefore prohibits slaughtering for anyone other than Allah, which is why their slaughtered animals are permitted, unlike those of others.
The evidence that “their food” means the animals they slaughter is that food not produced through slaughter, such as grains and fruits, is not peculiar to the People of the Scripture; it is lawful even when it comes from others. Moreover, Allah attributed the food to them, indicating that it is considered their food because they slaughtered it. It cannot be said that this attribution merely denotes ownership and that the intended meaning is food they own, for food taken by usurpation is not lawful, whether it belongs to them or to Muslims.
“And your food,” O Muslims, “is lawful for them”—that is, it is lawful for you to feed it to them. “And”—He has also made lawful for you—“chaste women,” meaning free, chaste women, “from among the believing women,” as well as free, chaste women “from those who were given the Scripture before you,” meaning Jews and Christians.
This restricts the general import of Allah Most High’s words, “Do not marry polytheistic women until they believe” ⦗222⦘. The verse also implies that free men may not marry enslaved believing women, and this is indeed the case.
As for enslaved women from the People of the Scripture, they are not lawful under any circumstances, and free men may never marry them, because Allah Most High says, “from among your believing slave women.” Enslaved Muslim women, however, may be married by free men only under two conditions: that the man lacks the means to marry a free woman and fears falling into fornication.
As for immoral women who do not refrain from fornication, it is not lawful to marry them, whether they are Muslim or from the People of the Scripture, until they repent. This is based on Allah Most High’s words, “The fornicator does not marry except a fornicatress or a polytheistic woman,” to the end of the verse.
His words, “provided that you give them their bridal dues,” mean: We have permitted you to marry them when you give them their dowries. If a man is determined not to give a woman her dowry, she is not lawful for him.
Allah commands that the dowry be given directly to her if she is of sound judgment and capable of receiving it; otherwise, the husband must give it to her guardian. Calling the dowries theirs is evidence that a woman owns her entire dowry and that no one has any right to any part of it, except what she willingly gives to her husband, guardian, or anyone else.
“Seeking chastity rather than fornication”—that is, you husbands must remain chaste with your wives by refraining from sexual relations with anyone else. “Rather than fornication” means not committing fornication indiscriminately, “or taking secret lovers.” The latter means committing fornication with mistresses.
Among fornicators during the pre-Islamic period of ignorance, some would fornicate indiscriminately; such a person was a fornicator. Others would fornicate with a particular lover and beloved companion. Allah Most High states that all of this is incompatible with chastity and that a condition of marriage is that a man be chaste and refrain from fornication.
Allah Most High’s words, “Whoever rejects faith, his deeds have come to nothing,” mean that whoever disbelieves in Allah Most High or in anything that must be believed—such as His scriptures, His messengers, or any part of the revealed laws—has rendered his deeds void, provided that he dies in unbelief. Allah Most High says, “Whoever among you turns back from his religion and dies as an unbeliever—it is they whose deeds have become void in this world and the Hereafter.” “And in the Hereafter he will be among the losers”—that is, among those who will lose themselves, their wealth, and their families on the Day of Resurrection and suffer everlasting misery.