The Quran

Preface

وَقالَ الَّذينَ أَشرَكوا لَو شاءَ اللَّهُ ما عَبَدنا مِن دونِهِ مِن شَيءٍ نَحنُ وَلا آباؤُنا وَلا حَرَّمنا مِن دونِهِ مِن شَيءٍ ۚ كَذٰلِكَ فَعَلَ الَّذينَ مِن قَبلِهِم ۚ فَهَل عَلَى الرُّسُلِ إِلَّا البَلاغُ المُبينُ

Yusuf Ali

The worshippers of false gods say: “If God had so willed, we should not have worshipped aught but Him - neither we¹ nor our fathers,- nor should we have prescribed prohibitions² other than His.” So did those who went before them. But what is the mission of messengers but to preach the Clear Message?³

The age-old argument: if God is Ail-Powerful, why did He not force all persons to His Will? This ignores the limited free will granted to man, which is the whole basis of Ethics. God gives man every opportunity of knowing and understanding things, hut He does nor force him, for that would be against the whole Plan on which our present Life is constituted.
The Pagan Arabs prescribed various arbitrary prohibitions in the matter of meat: see 6:143-145, These, of course, are not recognised by Islam, which also removed some of the restrictions of the Jewish Law: 6:146. The general meaning, however, is far wider. Men erect their own taboos and prohibitions, barriers and restrictions, and ascribe them to Religion. This is worng, and more consonant with Pagan practice than with Islam.
Clear Message: Mubin: in three senses: (1) a Message clear and unambiguous; (2) one that makes all things clear to those who try understand, because it accords with their own nature as created by God; (3) one preached openly and to everone.