do not swallow up your property among yourselves by wrongful means...
do not swallow up your property among yourselves by wrongful means, except that it be trading by your mutual consent... (4:29) . The verse under discussion may easily be interpreted in this wider sense, because it is general, not restricted. It would therefore mean: Eat, make use of, and enjoy the usufruct of the bounties of Allah that are in the earth, and which the earth has prepared and kept in store for you by permission of Allah; and it should be in a lawful and proper way.
But you should see that there is no snag or hindrance in eating or using it, either from your own nature or from the nature of the earth. For example, there are some things which by their nature cannot be eaten; there are others which man by his nature does not want to eat; and lastly there are things which are eatable and useable, but your own nature rejects them and does not want to touch them at all, for example, a food that was obtained by unlawful means.
Thus, the words of Allah, “eat the lawful (and) good things out of what is in the earth”, promulgate general permission of eating all the lawful and good things of the earth, without any condition, without any restriction. But the next sentence, “and do not follow the footsteps of the Satan”, shows that there are some things (related to this lawful and good eating) which are called “the footsteps of the Satan”.
They are of two categories: either refraining from some food as a result of following the Satan, or eating it for the same reason. Thereafter, Allah mentions a general principle applicable to all that is done for following the Satan, that it is evil and indecency, as well as speaking against Allah what one does not know. Desisting from a food is not allowed except when Allah is pleased with such abstaining; like-wise one should not audaciously use any thing without the per-mission of Allah.
Eating out of what is in the earth is not lawful and good unless Allah permits and allows it. And He has allowed it in this and similar verses. Also, one should ascertain that a particular thing is not forbidden or prohibited by Allah, as He says after a few verses: He has only forbidden you what dies of itself, and blood, and flesh of swine... (2:173) .