﴿ ۞ قُلْ تَعَالَوْا۟ أَتْلُ مَا حَرَّمَ رَبُّكُمْ عَلَيْكُمْ ۖ أَلَّا تُشْرِكُوا۟ بِهِۦ شَيْـًۭٔا ۖ وَبِٱلْوَٰلِدَيْنِ إِحْسَٰنًۭا ۖ وَلَا تَقْتُلُوٓا۟ أَوْلَٰدَكُم مِّنْ إِمْلَٰقٍۢ ۖ نَّحْنُ نَرْزُقُكُمْ وَإِيَّاهُمْ ۖ وَلَا تَقْرَبُوا۟ ٱلْفَوَٰحِشَ مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا وَمَا بَطَنَ ۖ وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا۟ ٱلنَّفْسَ ٱلَّتِى حَرَّمَ ٱللَّهُ إِلَّا بِٱلْحَقِّ ۚ ذَٰلِكُمْ وَصَّىٰكُم بِهِۦ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ ﴾

“Say: "Come, let me convey unto you what God has [really] forbidden to you: "Do not ascribe divinity, in any way, to aught beside Him; and [do not offend against but, rather,] do good unto your parents; and do not kill your children for fear of poverty - [for] it is We who shall provide sustenance for you as well as for them; and do not commit any shameful deeds, be they open or secret; and do not take any human being's life-[the life] which God has declared to be sacred -otherwise than in [the pursuit of] justice: this has He enjoined upon you so that you might use your reason;”

In the name of Divine restrictions, people introduce different types of formal and outward restrictions, and by paying particular attention to these formalities, they feel satisfied that they have completely fulfilled their duty to God. But the regulations that God requires man to obey are real and substantial, and are not just formal rites. The first requirement is that man should accept as his God the one and only God. The greatness of anybody except Him should not dominate his mind. He should not have faith in anybody except Him; he should not entertain hopes of anybody except Him; he should not be afraid of anybody except Him; and he should not feel intense love for anybody except Him. If an individual’s parents are weak and needy, while he is strong, and if he treats them well, this is not the outcome of self-interest but of righteousness. In this way, the question of discharging the rights of parents becomes the first test of a man’s adoption of God’s religion, not just at the level of mere talk but as a matter of practical action. If he places emphasis on the parents’ rights rather than on their weakness, if his love for his friends and his wife and children does not take him away from his parents, he has, as it were given the first proof that his behaviour will be subject to principles and regard for rights and not to self-interest and self-consideration. But there are many who, out of greed, act oppressively, in that they do not allow God-created provision to reach all of God’s subjects in the proper manner. Then, when the artificially created problems of scarcity of essential commodities arise, they take the lives of unborn children. All such action amounts to negating God’s system of provision. Moreover, there are many wrongs that are so lewd in nature that no special knowledge is required to understand their evil, and man’s nature and his conscience are enough to indicate that it is not proper for such acts to be perpetrated upon anyone. Under these circumstances, if someone indulges in acts of shamelessness, he proves, as it were, that he is devoid of even the most rudimentary humanity. Every human being’s life is sacred. It is not legitimate to take the life of any man unless he commits a crime in terms of the Creator’s law, in which case it would be legitimate to take his life on the fulfilment of certain conditions. All these things are so clear that no one who exercises his mind could fail to realize this.