168 Preface يا أَيُّهَا النّاسُ كُلوا مِمّا فِي الأَرضِ حَلالًا طَيِّبًا وَلا تَتَّبِعوا خُطُواتِ الشَّيطانِ ۚ إِنَّهُ لَكُم عَدُوٌّ مُبينٌYusuf AliO ye people! Eat of what is on earth, Lawful and good1; and do not follow the footsteps of the evil one, for he is to you an avowed enemy.We now come to the regulations about food. First (2:168-71) we have an appeal to all people, Muslims, Pagans, as well as the People of the Book; then (2:172-73) to the Muslims specially; then (2:174-76) to the sort of men who then (as some do now) either believe in too much formalism or believe in no restrictions at all. Islam follows the Golden Mean. All well-regulated societies lay down reasonable limitations. These become incumbent on all loyal members of any given society, and show what is “lawful” in that society. But if the limitations are reasonable, as they should be, the “lawful” will also coincide more and more with what is “good.” Good: Tayyib= Pure, clean, wholesome, nourishing, pleasing to the taste. The general principle then would be: what is lawful and what is good, should be followed, not what is evil, or shameful, or foisted on by false ascription to divine injunctions, or what rests merely on the usage of ancestors, even though the ancestors were ignorant or foolish. An example of a shameful custom would be that among the Pagan Arabs of talking congealed blood and eating it fried.