Living The Quran
From Issue: 681 [Read full issue]
Occasions of Revelation
Al Maidah (The Table Spread) - Chapter 5: Verse 93
"No harm falls upon those who believe and do good works for what they have consumed as long as they are conscious of God and believe and do good works and then are conscious of God and believe and then are conscious of God and do good. Verily, God loves those who do good."
The occasions of revelation (asbab al-nuzul) give context for Quranic statements for which there may or may not be correlating information for the Sunna. Without the background of the occasions of revelation, the normative value of many Quranic statements could be misunderstood if the verses are read in a literal fashion.
There is a report that some early Muslims understood this verse to permit believers to consume alcohol. The claim that this verse permits a sincere believer to consume anything he wishes was contested by one of the Companions, who said, "If they had known the occasion of revelation they would not have said that: (the occasion) is that when wine was forbidden [by Quran 5:90], people used to say, 'What about those who were killed in the path of God [before this prohibition] and died after they had been drinking wine which is an abomination?' Then this verse was revealed."
The point of this verse, then, is not that the sacred law is waived for those who have faith and do good works, but that those who are ignorant of the law will not be punished for lack of compliance with it. What this shows is that a decontextualized reading of the Quran can lead to a grave misunderstanding of its meaning.
Compiled From:
"The Story of The Quran: Its History and Place in Muslim Life" - Ingrid Mattson, p. 198