وَٱلْبُدْنَ جَعَلْنَٰهَا لَكُم مِّن شَعَٰٓئِرِ ٱللَّهِ لَكُمْ فِيهَا خَيْرٌ فَٱذْكُرُوا۟ ٱسْمَ ٱللَّهِ عَلَيْهَا صَوَآفَّ فَإِذَا وَجَبَتْ جُنُوبُهَا فَكُلُوا۟ مِنْهَا وَأَطْعِمُوا۟ ٱلْقَانِعَ وَٱلْمُعْتَرَّ
Wa'l-budna jaʿalnāhā lakum min shaʿāʾiri'llāhi lakum fīhā khayr · Fa'dhkuru'sma'llāhi ʿalayhā ṣawāff · Fa-idhā wajabat junūbuhā fa-kulū minhā wa aṭʿimu'l-qāniʿa wa'l-muʿtarr · Kadhālika sakhkharnāhā lakum laʿallakum tashkurūn
"The large sacrificial beasts too We have appointed for you among the shaʿāʾir of God; in them there is good for you. Make mention of the name of God over them as they stand in rows. When their flanks fall to the ground, eat of them and feed both the one who is content and the one who asks. Thus have We made them subservient to you, that you may give thanks."
The sense of the root: body, trunk; to be bulky, to grow fat. Badan is of the same root; bādin — heavy-bodied.
This is a matter of law; I confine myself to transmitting the views, and I issue no ruling. This record is not binding.
The root of the word is worth recording, and I give this as an observation: the animal is named not by its species or its name but by the bulk of its body. And the thirty-seventh verse will touch exactly this point: luḥūmuhā wa lā dimāʾuhā — flesh and blood.
The root: to be in a row, to be drawn up. Ṣaff, ṣufūf are of the same root; the sūra names al-Ṣaff and al-Ṣāffāt come from this root.
The word's work here is to build a scene, and I record this as an observation: the animals are described standing and drawn up in a row. The verse describes not the moment of slaughter but the moment before it.
A note on variant readings: it is transmitted that the word is also read as صَوَافِنَ (ṣawāfin — standing on three legs). I do not name a reader. Both readings describe the animal's stance.
The root و-ج-ب: to fall, to come down to the ground; and to become necessary. The lexicographers join the two senses: for a thing to be "obligatory" is for it to have settled into its place, to have become unavoidable.
I record this as an observation: the verse does not name death directly. It conveys it by the standing animal's toppling onto its side. And this makes an exact contrast with the preceding word (ṣawāff — standing drawn up): upright stance → falling to the side.
And the relation of roots must be recorded: junūb (flanks) is of the same root (ج-ن-ب) as ijtanibū (pass by) in the thirtieth verse. The same root, six verses apart, one a command and one a scene.
Two words answer to two separate kinds of needy person, and the lexicographers dwell on the difference between them.
| Word | Root | The distinction the lexicographers give |
|---|---|---|
| ٱلْقَانِع | ق-ن-ع | The one who is content — satisfied with what is given, who does not ask |
| ٱلْمُعْتَرّ | ع-ر-ر | The one who comes and stands by — who shows himself, who draws near |
A record is needed about the root ق-ن-ع: the root can mean both "to be content" and "to ask" (qaniʿa — he was content; qaniʿa — he asked). The lexicographers record this distinction, and which of the two is meant here has been debated.
The root ع-ر-ر: ʿarra — to come and settle upon a place, to fasten upon. A muʿtarr is one who comes into view without asking openly.
The use of the two words together builds a scope, and I give this as my own reading: one is the one who does not ask, the other the one who cannot ask but is seen. The verse therefore covers both types who do not voice their need.
And the same type was treated at al-Baqara 2/273: yaḥsabuhumu'l-jāhilu aghniyāʾa mina't-taʿaffuf — "one who does not know thinks them rich, because they refrain from asking." The word differs, the attitude described is the same.