The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent me to my people to call them to Allah and His Messenger and to present to them the laws of Islam. I came to them, and while we were there, they brought out a bowl of blood and gathered around it to eat from it.They said, "Come, Sudayy, eat with us!"I said, "Woe to you! I have come to you from one who has forbidden this to you, and Allah has revealed this to him."They asked, "What is that?"So I recited to them this verse, "Forbidden to you are dead animals, blood, and the flesh of swine" [Maidah 5:3].
بعثني رسول الله ﷺ إلى قومي، أدعوهم إلى الله ورسوله، وأعرض عليهم شرائع الإسلام، فأتيتهم، فبينا نحن كذلك، إذ جاؤوا بقصعة من دم، فاجتمعوا عليها يأكلونها. قالوا: هلم، يا صدي! فكل. قال: قلت: ويحكم! إنما أتيتكم من عند محرم هذا عليكم. وأنزل الله عليه. قالوا: وما ذاك؟ قال: فتلوت عليهم هذه الآية. {حرمت عليكم الميتة والدم ولحم الخنزير}.
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Reported by Ibn Abu Hatim as found in the tafsir of Ibn Kathir, by Tabarani in Al-Kabir (8/279), by Hakim (3/641-642), and by Bayhaqi in Dalail (6/126), all of them through the hadith of Abu Ghalib, from Abu Umama, and he narrated it. Abu Ghalib is disputed, but his hadith is hasan.As for His saying, "and that you seek decisions through divining arrows" [Maidah 5:3], the arrows, singular zalam, sometimes pronounced with a fatha on the zay as "zalam." The Arabs in their pre-Islamic era used to practice this. It consisted of three arrows, on one of which was written "do it," on another "do not do it," while the third was blank with nothing written on it. If the arrow of command came out, the person would act on it. If the arrow of prohibition came out, he would refrain. And if the blank arrow came out, he would repeat the divination.The term istiqsam is derived from seeking a portion (qism) through these arrows. Among the greatest idols of Quraysh was an idol called "Hubal." It stood inside the Kaaba, where gifts and the wealth of the Kaaba were placed before it, and beside it were seven arrows.They had also fashioned images of Ibrahim and Ismail within the Kaaba and placed divining arrows in their hands, as has been established in the sahih.