Overall meaning : Allah commands all human beings, believers and unbelievers alike, to eat of anything on earth, plants or animals, as long as two conditions are met: (1) It must be something that Allah has declared lawful and (2) pure and wholesome, in that it is not bound to cause any harm whatsoever.
He also forbids them to follow in the footsteps of Satan and obey him by eating of the food he makes unlawful for them even though Allah has made it lawful and abstain from the food he makes lawful for them though Allah has declared it unlawful. He adds that Satan is an outright enemy to them and never wishes them any good; rather, he prompts them to commit all sorts of evil deeds and the ugliest abominations and to invent falsehoods about Allah by forging wrong acts and attributing them to Allah, such as prohibiting foods Allah has permitted and permitting foods He has forbidden.
The Almighty further states that when those who worship false gods besides Him are enjoined to follow and strictly adhere to what has come to them from Him and to ensure that what they permit and forbid should be in accordance with the laws He has laid down in His Book, they reply, saying that they will follow only what their fathers practised, albeit contradictory to what Allah has permitted and forbidden! Allah vehemently disapproves of such blind imitation, saying: how can they so blindly follow their fathers who were not in a position entitling them to be models to follow? In fact, their fathers were devoid of reason and so were unable to perceive the truth; besides, they lacked beneficial knowledge that should make their actions correct and illuminate their path for them.
Allah then strikes out a parable for the unbelievers when the caller calls them to faith but they do not benefit from what they hear him say: They are just like sheep to which the shepherd calls out but they hear his voice and do not comprehend what he says. By the same token, when the hearts of these unbelievers did not believe for the first time, their senses became entirely useless, and so they do not hear the truth with a view to understanding and following it, they do not speak it and they do not perceive its path, with the result that they do not comprehend the truth in the least.
After that, Allah Almighty commands the faithful to eat only the pure and wholesome foods He has provided for them and to give thanks to Him, with their hearts, tongues and through their actions, stating that if they truly submit to His will and are obedient to Him alone, they will surely carry out these two orders.
After commanding the believers to eat only the foods that are pure and wholesome, Allah Almighty mentions certain things He has forbidden in this respect in order for them to avoid: He has forbidden the flesh of the animals lawful for consumption that die of themselves and not slaughtered according to Islamic law; blood that is poured forth (not that which is left in the veins of such organs as the liver and spleen); the flesh of pigs; and any animal that is consecrated other than in the name of Allah, such as those sacrificed to idols and those sacrificed by pronouncing other than Allah’s name at the time of sacrificing them. However, those who are driven by necessity to consume them will not be committing a sin as long as they do not transgress the bounds of necessity. Allah, Exalted be He, is All-Forgiving, for He does not consider such consumption a sin under such circumstances; He is also All-Merciful, as He has widened the scope of permissibility in this respect by allowing such an exception so that they will not experience any difficulty or hardship in their religion.