PART:-•••••23...
A male camel is called a heifer whose mating produced ten female calves in succession, with no male in between. The back of such a camel was protected. It was neither ridden nor its hair was cut. Rather, it was left free in the herd of camels to mate. And no other benefit was derived from it.
Refuting these idolatrous practices of the Age of Ignorance, Allah Almighty said:
Allah has not made the sea, nor any means of communication And in another place it is said:
And they say, "What is in the bellies of these cattle is for our males only and forbidden to our wives. And if it is dead, then they are partners in it. Indeed, He is Wise, Knowing." ﴿ 139-6﴾
And they say, "What is in the bellies of these cattle is for our males only and forbidden to our wives. And if it is dead, then they are equal in it." Now Allah will punish them for their misrepresentation. Indeed, He is the Wise and the Knowing.
Some other meanings have also been given to the aforementioned types of cattle, namely Bahira, Sa'iba, etc., which are quite different from the above interpretation of Ibn Ishaq.
Hazrat Saeed bin Musayyib (may Allah have mercy on him) states that these animals were for their Taghut. And it is narrated in Sahih Bukhari in a marfoo' (highly accepted) manner that Amr bin Luha was the first person who named animals after idols. (Sahih Bukhari 1/499)
The Arabs used to do all this with their idols with the belief that these idols would bring them closer to Allah and intercede for them before Allah.
Thus, it is stated in the Holy Quran that the polytheists used to say:
We worship them only that they may bring us nearer to Allah. (39-3)
"And they worship besides Allah that which neither harms them nor benefits them, and they say: These are our intercessors with Allah." (10-18)
"And they worship besides Allah that which neither harms them nor benefits them. They neither harm nor benefit them, and they say, "These are our intercessors with Allah."
Continued........