يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ كُلُوا مِمَّا فِي الْأَرْضِ حَلَالًا طَيِّبًا وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُبِينٌ ﴿۱۶۸﴾ إِنَّمَا يَأْمُرُكُمْ بِالسُّوءِ وَالْفَحْشَاءِ وَأَنْ تَقُولُوا عَلَى اللَّهِ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴿۱۶۹﴾ وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمُ اتَّبِعُوا مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ قَالُوا بَلْ نَتَّبِعُ مَا أَلْفَيْنَا عَلَيْهِ آبَاءَنَا أَوَلَوْ كَانَ آبَاؤُهُمْ لَا يَعْقِلُونَ شَيْئًا وَلَا يَهْتَدُونَ ﴿۱۷۰﴾
﴾168﴿ Yaaa ayyuhan naasu kuloo mimmaa fil ardi halaalan taiyibanw wa laa tattabi'oo khutu waatish Shaitaan; innahoo lakum 'aduwwum mubeen
﴾169﴿ Innamaa yaamurukum bissooo'i walfahshaaa'i wa an taqooloo alal laahi maa laa ta'lamoon
﴾170﴿ Wa izaa qeela lahumuttabi'oo maaa anzalal laahu qaaloo bal nattabi'u maaa alfainaa 'alaihi aabaaa'anaaa; awalaw kaana aabaaa'uhum laa ya'qiloona shai'anw wa laa yahtadoon
﴾168﴿ O mankind, eat from whatever is on the earth that is lawful and pure, and do not follow the footsteps (ways) of Satan. Indeed, he is a clear enemy to you.
﴾169﴿ It is nothing but that he commands you through whispering to utter evil words and commit evil deeds, and to say about Allah that which you do not know.
﴾170﴿ And when it is said to them, “Follow what Allah has revealed,” they say, “No, rather we follow the way upon which we found our forefathers.”
Even if their forefathers knew nothing of the religion and were not rightly guided
[168] This verse refutes practical shirk—specifically the prohibition of things by other than Allah. The point is: when Allah has declared something lawful, yet someone considers it forbidden on the belief that if they use it or benefit from it, a certain saint or elder will harm them—this is like the pre-Islamic practices of Bahīrah, Sā’ibah, etc. Similarly, even today, people near the tombs of so-called saints avoid hunting birds or fishing out of fear of harm, or certain deviant elders prohibit their disciples from wearing clothes or eating good food and call this spiritual discipline.
The ruling in the Shari‘ah is that such things are not forbidden unless they are vowed for other than Allah, and practicing or accepting such beliefs is shirk.
The meaning of (خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ) refers to all sins and innovations that arise from Satan’s whispers.
The command (كُلُوا) here does not make eating obligatory, but it means: do not declare lawful things forbidden upon yourselves.
[169] This is the reason for Satan’s enmity, and "that you say about Allah" (i.e., fabricating lies against Allah) is the root of shirk and innovation.
(With evil and indecency): There is a distinction in several aspects—evil refers to verbal sins, while indecency refers to physical sins.
And evil is that whose wickedness is known through the Shariah, whereas indecency is that whose repulsiveness is also known through reason.
And evil is a sin for which there is no fixed legal punishment, while indecency is a sin that has a prescribed legal penalty.
[170] This verse is a refutation of the argument used by the polytheists, who say that they follow the path of their forefathers and accept no other way besides theirs.
This kind of imitation is called polytheistic and blameworthy imitation.
The permissible imitation is to accept the statement of a knowledgeable and rightly guided scholar because he speaks based on evidence—so in essence, it is actually following the evidence.
But when it becomes clear that the scholar’s statement contradicts a clear text, then abandoning it becomes obligatory, and if one does not abandon it, this imitation becomes polytheistic.
In Tafsir Bahr al-‘Ulum and Tafsir Ibn ‘Atiyyah, it is written that this verse is a refutation of imitation, and although the polytheists were following misguided people, imitation of scholars—even if they are Imams—without evidence is also included under this condemnation.
(Our forefathers): Here it refers to the senior scholars, and similar references appear in Surah al-Ma'idah (5:104), Surah Luqman (31:21), and Surah al-Zukhruf (43:22–23).