Tafsir alJalalayn Sura المائدة Ayah No. 95

O you who believe, do not slay game while you are in the state of pilgrimage inviolability, for the hajj or the ‘umra; whoever of you slays it wilfully, then the compensation shall be (read fa-jazā’un, ‘then the compensation [shall be]’, followed by a nominative [mithlu, ‘the like of’]) that is to say, a compensation is incumbent on him, and that is, the equivalent of what he has slain, of flocks, in other words, a similar creature (a variant reading has an annexation construction for jazā’, ‘compensation’, [sc. fa-jazā’u mithli, ‘then the compensation of’]), to be judged, that is, the equivalent [is to be judged], by two just men among you, both possessing astuteness, with which they are able to identify the nearest [animal] in equivalence to it [the slain animal]. Ibn ‘Abbās, ‘Umar and ‘Alī, may God be pleased with them, all adjudged a beast of sacrifice [as redemption] for an ostrich [slain]; Ibn ‘Abbās and Abū ‘Ubayda adjudged a cow [as redemption] for wildebeest or wild ass; [‘Abd Allāh] Ibn ‘Umar and [‘Abd al-Rahmān] Ibn ‘Awf, a sheep for a gazelle, and, as Ibn ‘Abbās, ‘Umar and others did, [a sheep] also [as a redemption] for [slaying] pigeons, because they [pigeons] resemble these [sheep] in taking scoops of water [when drinking]; an offering (hadyan is a circumstantial qualifier referring to jazā’, ‘compensation’) to reach the Ka‘ba, that is, to be taken into the Sanctuary, sacrificed there and given as a voluntary offering to its needy [residents], and it cannot be sacrificed wherever [else] it may be (bāligha l-ka‘ba, ‘to reach the Ka‘ba’, is in the accusative because it is an adjectival qualification of what precedes, even if it stands as an annexation, since such an annexation is only morphological and not [valid] as a [grammatical] characterisation); if there is no equivalent beast of flock for the game slain, as in the case of a small bird or locusts, then the person is obliged [to compensate] with [equivalent] value. Or, it is incumbent on him [to make], an expiation: other than compensation, and if he should find the means then this [expiation] is, food for the poor, [food] to be taken from the principal food of the town, equivalent to the value of the compensation, being one mudd measure for each poor person (a variant reading has kaffāra, ‘expiation’, in an annexation with the following noun [sc. kaffāratu ta‘āmin, ‘the expiation of food’] as an explication [of kaffāra, ‘expiation’]); or, it is incumbent on him [to compensate with], the equivalent of that, food, in fasting, so that he fasts one day for every mudd measure [that he is unable to provide]; but if he has the means to [provide the food] then it is incumbent on him to do so, so that he may taste the evil consequence, the burden of the compensation, of his deed, the one he has perpetrated. God has pardoned what is past, of game slain before it was prohibited; but whoever offends again, God will take vengeance on him; God is Mighty, His way will prevail, Lord of Retribution, against those who disobey Him. Unintentional slaying [of game] is also included with intentional slaying in what has been mentioned [of required compensation or expiation].

Tafsir al-Jalalayn, trans. Feras Hamza
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