Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:196
And complete the Hajj and 'umrah for Allah. But if you are prevented, then [offer] what can be obtained with ease of sacrificial animals. And do not shave your heads until the sacrificial animal has reached its place of slaughter. And whoever among you is ill or has an ailment of the head [making shaving necessary must offer] a ransom of fasting [three days] or charity or sacrifice. And when you are secure, then whoever performs 'umrah [during the Hajj months] followed by Hajj [offers] what can be obtained with ease of sacrificial animals. And whoever cannot find [or afford such an animal] - then a fast of three days during Hajj and of seven when you have returned [home]. Those are ten complete [days]. This is for those whose family is not in the area of al-Masjid al-Haram. And fear Allah and know that Allah is severe in penalty.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
**And complete the pilgrimage (ḥajj) and the lesser pilgrimage (ʿumra) for the sake of Allah**
Concerning the interpretation of His word, the Exalted: En voltooit de bedevaart en de kleine bedevaart omwille van Allah
The scholars of interpretation differed concerning the meaning of this. Some of them said: its meaning is: complete the ḥajj with its rites and its transmitted practices (sunna), and complete the ʿumra with its limits and its transmitted practices.
Mention of who said that:
2599 — ʿUbayd ibn Ismāʿīl al-Hubārī related to me, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Numayr related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of ʿAlqama, concerning En voltooit de bedevaart en de kleine bedevaart omwille van Allah: he said: in the reading of ʿAbdallāh [ibn Masʿūd] it runs: En verricht de bedevaart en de kleine bedevaart tot aan het Huis (And perform the pilgrimage and the lesser pilgrimage up to the House). He said: with the ʿumra do not go beyond the House. Ibrāhīm said: I mentioned that to Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, and he said: thus also said Ibn ʿAbbās.
2600 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, that he read: "And perform the pilgrimage and the lesser pilgrimage up to the House."
2601 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of ʿAlqama, that he read: "And perform the pilgrimage and the lesser pilgrimage up to the House."
2602 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning En voltooit de bedevaart en de kleine bedevaart omwille van Allah: he says: whoever has entered the state of consecration (iḥrām) for the ḥajj or the ʿumra, it is not permitted for him to release himself from it until he completes it. The completion of the ḥajj is on the day of sacrifice (yawm al-naḥr), when he casts at the Jamrat al-ʿAqaba and visits the House; then he is fully free of his consecration. And the completion of the ʿumra is when he performs the circumambulation of the House and walks between al-Ṣafā and al-Marwa; then he is free.
2603 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us — both — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: En voltooit de bedevaart en de kleine bedevaart omwille van Allah: he said: that which is commanded of them in both.
2604 — It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār ibn al-Ḥasan, saying: Ibn Abī [ʿAfar] related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, concerning His word: En voltooit de bedevaart en de kleine bedevaart omwille van Allah: he said: Ibrāhīm said on the authority of ʿAlqama ibn Qays: he said: "the ḥajj": those are the rites of the pilgrimage, and "the ʿumra": with it one does not go beyond the House.
2605 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, concerning En voltooit de bedevaart en de kleine bedevaart omwille van Allah: he said: he said: the rites of the ḥajj are performed: ʿArafa, al-Muzdalifa and its places, and the ʿumra is at the House, that one performs the circumambulation of the House and walks between al-Ṣafā and al-Marwa, and then releases oneself.
And others said: the completion of both is that you enter the state of consecration for each of them separately from the dwelling-place of your family.
Mention of who said that:
2606 — Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Murra, on the authority of ʿAbdallāh ibn Salama, on the authority of ʿAlī, that he said: a man came to ʿAlī, and he said to him concerning this verse En voltooit de bedevaart en de kleine bedevaart omwille van Allah: that you enter the state of consecration from the dwelling-place of your family.
* Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Hārūn ibn al-Mughīra related to us, on the authority of ʿAnbasa, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Murra, on the authority of ʿAbdallāh ibn Salama, he said: a man came to ʿAlī — may Allah's good pleasure be upon him — and he said: what is your opinion concerning the word of Allah, mighty and exalted is He: En voltooit de bedevaart en de kleine bedevaart omwille van Allah? He said: that you enter the state of consecration from the dwelling-place of your family.
2607 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Sūqa, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, he said: part of the completion of the ʿumra is that you enter the state of consecration from the dwelling-place of your family.
2608 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Thawr ibn Yazīd, on the authority of Sulaymān ibn Mūsā, on the authority of Ṭāwūs, he said: their completion is: to perform them separately, each begun anew from [the dwelling-place of] your family.
* Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Thawr, on the authority of Sulaymān ibn Mūsā, on the authority of Ṭāwūs, concerning En voltooit de bedevaart en de kleine bedevaart omwille van Allah: he said: that you perform them separately, each in its time from [the dwelling-place of] your family; that is their completion.
And others said: the completion of the ʿumra is that you perform it outside the months of the ḥajj, and the completion of the ḥajj is that all its rites are fulfilled, so that the one who performs them does not become liable for a sacrificial animal (dam) on account of the joining [of ḥajj and ʿumra] (qirān) or the enjoyment (mutʿa).
Mention of who said that:
2609 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: En voltooit de bedevaart en de kleine bedevaart omwille van Allah: he said: and the completion of the ʿumra is that which takes place outside the months of the ḥajj. And what takes place during the months of the ḥajj, after which he remains until he performs the ḥajj, is a mutʿa for which he is liable for the sacrificial animal (hady) if he can find it; if not, then he fasts three days during the ḥajj and seven when he returns.
* Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: En voltooit de bedevaart en de kleine bedevaart omwille van Allah: he said: what takes place outside the months of the ḥajj is a complete ʿumra, and what takes place during the months of the ḥajj is a mutʿa for which the sacrificial animal is liable.
2610 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿAwn, he said: I heard al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad say: the ʿumra during the months of the ḥajj is not complete. He said: it was said to him: and the ʿumra in [the month of] Muḥarram? He said: they considered that complete.
And others said: the completion of both is that you set out from [the dwelling-place of] your family intending nothing other than the two of them.
Mention of who said that:
2611 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: a man related to me, on the authority of Sufyān, he said: this — that is, their completion — is that you set out from [the dwelling-place of] your family and intend nothing but the ḥajj and the ʿumra, and begin the consecration (talbiya) from the appointed place (mīqāt), and not that you set out for trade or for some need, until, when you have come near Mecca, you say: suppose I were to perform the ḥajj or the ʿumra. That suffices, but the completion is that you set out for it and not for anything else.
And others said: no, its meaning is: complete the ḥajj and the ʿumra for the sake of Allah once you have begun them.
Mention of who said that:
2612 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: the ʿumra is not obligatory upon anyone of the people. He said: I said to him: but the word of Allah, the Exalted: En voltooit de bedevaart en de kleine bedevaart omwille van Allah? He said: there is no one of the creatures whom it befits, once he has begun a matter, to do otherwise than complete it. When, therefore, he has begun it, it does not befit him to pronounce the talbiya for one or two days and then return, just as it does not befit him, when he has fasted one day, to break the fast in the middle of the day.
And al-Shaʿbī used to read it in the nominative (rafʿ).
2613 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, he said: Saʿīd ibn Abī Burda related to me that al-Shaʿbī and Abū Burda spoke with one another concerning the ʿumra. He said: al-Shaʿbī said: it is a voluntary act (taṭawwuʿ) En voltooit de bedevaart en de kleine bedevaart omwille van Allah, and Abū Burda said: it is obligatory En voltooit de bedevaart en de kleine bedevaart omwille van Allah.
2614 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: Ibn ʿAwn related to us, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, that he used to read En voltooit de bedevaart en de kleine bedevaart omwille van Allah.
But there has been transmitted from al-Shaʿbī the opposite of this statement, even though this is the statement that is best known from him. And that is what:
2615 — al-Muthannā related to me concerning that, saying: al-Ḥajjāj ibn al-Minhāl related to us, saying: Abū ʿAwāna related to us, on the authority of al-Mughīra, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, he said: the ʿumra is obligatory. The reading of the one who says that the ʿumra is obligatory places its [word] in the accusative (naṣb) with the meaning: perform the obligation of the ḥajj and the ʿumra. As:
2616 — Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar informed us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, saying: I heard Abū Isḥāq say: I heard Masrūq say: you have been commanded in the Book of Allah to four things: to the performance of the prayer (ṣalāh), the giving of the alms (zakāh), the ḥajj and the ʿumra. He said: then he recited this verse: En aan Allah is de mensen de bedevaart naar het Huis verplicht (And pilgrimage to the House is a duty owed to Allah by the people) (3:97) En voltooit de bedevaart en de kleine bedevaart omwille van Allah up to the House.
* Abū al-Sāʾib related to me, saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, saying: I heard Layth transmit on the authority of al-Ḥasan, on the authority of Masrūq, he said: we were commanded to the performance of four things: the prayer, the zakāh, the ʿumra and the ḥajj, so that the ʿumra stands to the ḥajj as the zakāh stands to the prayer.
2617 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Bakr informed us, saying: Ibn Jurayj related to us, saying: ʿAlī ibn Ḥusayn and Saʿīd ibn Jubayr — both were asked: is the ʿumra obligatory upon the people? — and both said: we know it only as obligatory, as Allah has said: En voltooit de bedevaart en de kleine bedevaart omwille van Allah.
2618 — Sawwār ibn ʿAbdallāh related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Qaṭṭān related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Abī Sulaymān, he said: a man asked Saʿīd ibn Jubayr about the ʿumra: is it an obligation or a voluntary act? He said: an obligation. The man said: but al-Shaʿbī says that it is a voluntary act. He said: al-Shaʿbī lies! And he recited: En voltooit de bedevaart en de kleine bedevaart omwille van Allah.
2619 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of someone who heard ʿAṭāʾ say concerning His word: En voltooit de bedevaart en de kleine bedevaart omwille van Allah: he said: they are both obligatory: the ḥajj and the ʿumra.
The interpretation of these [scholars] concerning His word, blessed and exalted is He: En voltooit de bedevaart en de kleine bedevaart omwille van Allah is that both are two obligations of Allah, blessed and exalted is He, who commanded their performance just as He commanded the performance of the prayer, and that both are prescribed duties, and that He made the ʿumra obligatory just as the ḥajj is obligatory. And they constitute a large number of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ and the Successors and those who came after them of the later [scholars]; we have refrained from lengthening the book by mentioning them and the transmissions from them.
And they said: the meaning of His word: En voltooit de bedevaart en de kleine bedevaart omwille van Allah is: and perform the ḥajj and the ʿumra.
Mention of who said that:
2620 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His word: En voltooit de bedevaart en de kleine bedevaart omwille van Allah: he says: perform the ḥajj and the ʿumra.
2621 — Aḥmad ibn Ḥāzim related to us, saying: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of Thuwayr, on the authority of his father, on the authority of ʿAlī: "And perform the pilgrimage and the lesser pilgrimage at the House"; then it is obligatory like the ḥajj.
2622 — Aḥmad ibn Ḥāzim related to us, saying: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl related to us, saying: Thuwayr related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of ʿAbdallāh: "And perform the pilgrimage and the lesser pilgrimage up to the House"; then ʿAbdallāh said: by Allah, were it not out of fear [of saying something incorrect] and because I have heard nothing concerning it from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, I would say that the ʿumra is obligatory like the ḥajj.
It is as if by His word "perform the ḥajj and the ʿumra" they intended: carry out both with their limits and stipulations, in accordance with what is prescribed for you.
And others, of those who read in accordance with the reading of these [scholars] with the accusative of "the ʿumra," said: the ʿumra is a voluntary act. And they held the view that their accusative of "the ʿumra" in the reading is no indication of its obligatoriness, since there are acts that the servant is obliged to perform and complete once he begins them, while initially beginning them was not obligatory upon him. That is, for example, the voluntary ḥajj: there is no disagreement among any [of the scholars] that, once he enters the state of consecration for it, he is obliged to continue with it and to complete it, while initially beginning it was not obligatory upon him. And they said: so too the ʿumra is not an obligation that one must begin initially, except that the one who has once begun it and made it obligatory upon himself must complete it after he has begun it. They said: there lies, therefore, in Allah's command to complete the ḥajj and the ʿumra no indication that they are obligatorily prescribed. They said: we derived the obligation of the ḥajj only from His word, mighty and exalted is He: En aan Allah is de mensen de bedevaart naar het Huis verplicht, voor wie in staat is de weg daarheen af te leggen (And pilgrimage to the House is a duty owed to Allah by the people, for whoever is able to make the journey thereto) (3:97). And among those who said that is a group of the companions, the Successors and those who came after them of the later [scholars].
Mention of who said that:
2623 — Abū Kurayb and Abū al-Sāʾib related to us, they said: Ibn Idrīs related to us, saying: I heard Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūba, on the authority of Abū Maʿshar, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, he said: ʿAbdallāh said: the ḥajj is an obligation, and the ʿumra is a voluntary act.
* Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī ʿArūba, on the authority of Abū Maʿshar, on the authority of al-Nakhaʿī, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, the same.
2624 — And Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUthma related to us, saying: Saʿīd ibn Bashīr related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, he said: the ʿumra is not obligatory.
2625 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Simāk, he said: I asked Ibrāhīm about the ʿumra, and he said: a good transmitted practice (sunna ḥasana).
* Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, the same.
* Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, saying: Abū ʿAwāna related to us, on the authority of al-Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, the same.
* Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, the same.
2626 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: al-Ḥajjāj related to us, saying: Ḥammād related to us, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAwn related to us, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, he said: the ʿumra is a voluntary act.
As for those who read with the nominative of "the ʿumra": they said: there is no ground for the accusative, for the ʿumra is merely the visiting of the House, and no one deserves the name "performer of the ʿumra" (muʿtamir) unless he visits it. They said: and since he deserves the name muʿtamir only by his visit, and he — as soon as he reaches [the House] and performs the circumambulation around it and around al-Ṣafā and al-Marwa — leaves no act of which completion is afterwards commanded of him, as the pilgrim (ḥājj) after his arrival and the circumambulation of [the House] and of al-Ṣafā and al-Marwa is indeed commanded to complete [his act] by going to ʿArafa and al-Muzdalifa and standing at the places where standing is commanded and performing the remaining rites of the ḥajj that belong to its completion after the coming to the House — [since that is so,] the statement of the one who says to the muʿtamir "complete your ʿumra" has no intelligible meaning; and when it has no intelligible meaning, then the correct reading for "the ʿumra" is the nominative, on the ground that it belongs to the pious works for the sake of Allah, so that it stands in the nominative by the predicate that follows it, namely His word "for the sake of Allah."
The more correct of the two readings in this regard is, in our view, the reading of the one who reads "the ʿumra" in the accusative, by coupling it to "the ḥajj," with the meaning of the command to complete both for His sake. And there is no ground for the reasoning of the one who argued for the nominative with [the assertion] that the ʿumra is the visiting of the House and that the muʿtamir, as soon as he reaches it, has no act left of which completion is commanded of him. For when he has reached the House, his visit is indeed concluded, but there remains for him the completion of the act that Allah commanded him in his ʿumra and his visiting of the House; and that is the circumambulation of the House, the walking (saʿy) between al-Ṣafā and al-Marwa, and the abstaining from what Allah commanded one to abstain from until he completes that. And that is an act — even though it was imposed upon him through his making the visit obligatory upon himself — which is not the visit itself. All this, together with the consensus of the authoritative proof concerning the reading of "the ʿumra" in the accusative, and the deviation of all the readers of the [great] cities from the reading of the one who reads that in the nominative; in that there is enough to make it unnecessary to adduce proofs for the incorrectness of the one who reads that in the nominative.
As for the more correct of the two statements that we have mentioned concerning the interpretation of His word en de kleine bedevaart omwille van Allah according to the reading with the accusative: it is the statement of ʿAbdallāh ibn Masʿūd and those who share his statement, namely that its meaning is: and complete the ḥajj and the ʿumra for the sake of Allah up to the House, after you have made both obligatory [upon yourselves] — not that this is a command of Allah, mighty and exalted is He, to commence and begin their performance and to bring their performance to completion on the basis of this verse. That is because the verse can bear both meanings that we have described: that it is a command of Allah, mighty and exalted is He, to begin them initially and an obligation imposed by Him upon the servants of their prescribed nature, and that it is a command from Him to complete both after beginning them and after the imposition by the one who has made it obligatory upon himself. And when the verse can bear both meanings that we have described, then there is for neither of the two parties an argument therein against the other, or else the other has therein the like of it against it. And when that is so, and there is no incontrovertible, excuse-cutting report concerning the obligation of the ʿumra, and the community (umma) is divided concerning its obligatoriness, then the statement of the one who says — without a proof that demonstrates the correctness of his statement — "it is obligatory" has no meaning, since the obligations are imposed upon the servants only with a clear indication that they are imposed upon them.
If someone supposes that it is obligatory just as the ḥajj is obligatory, and that the interpretation of the one who interpreted His word En voltooit de bedevaart en de kleine bedevaart omwille van Allah as: perform their limits and their obligations, is more excellent than our interpretation, on the basis of what:
2627 — Ḥātim ibn Bukayr al-Ḍabbī related to me concerning that, saying: Ashhal ibn Ḥātim al-Arṭabānī related to us, saying: Ibn ʿAwn related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Jaḥāda, on the authority of a man, on the authority of a companion of his, on the authority of the latter's father — and his father was called Abū al-Muntafiq — he said: I came to the Prophet ﷺ at ʿArafa, and I approached him until the neck of my mount and the neck of his mount crossed each other, and I said: O Messenger of Allah, tell me of a work that will save me from the punishment of Allah and admit me into His paradise (janna)! He said: "Worship Allah and associate nothing with Him, perform the prescribed prayer, give the obligatory zakāh, and perform the ḥajj and the ʿumra." Ashhal said: and I think that he said: "and fast [in the month of] Ramaḍān, and consider what you would like the people to do to you and do that to them, and what you detest that the people do to you, spare them of it."
2628 — And what Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī and Muḥammad ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of al-Nuʿmān ibn Sālim, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Aws, on the authority of Abū Razīn al-ʿUqaylī, a man of the Banū ʿĀmir, he said: I said: O Messenger of Allah, my father is a very aged old man who is not able to perform the ḥajj, nor the ʿumra, nor the journey, and Islam has reached him [in old age]; shall I then perform the ḥajj on his behalf? He said: "Perform the ḥajj on behalf of your father, and the ʿumra."
2629 — And what Yaʿqūb related to me concerning that, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Ayyūb, on the authority of Abū Qilāba, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ delivered a sermon and said: "Worship Allah and associate nothing with Him, perform the prayer, give the zakāh, and perform the ḥajj and the ʿumra, and remain steadfast, then [well-being] will be steadfast for you."
And as for what resembles that of reports — well, these are reports by which no [binding] proof is established in religion, on account of the weakness of their chains of transmission (isnād), and they have, alongside the weakness of their isnāds, in the reports counterparts that indicate that the ʿumra is a voluntary act and not an obligatory duty. And that is what:
2630 — Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayd and Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsā al-Dāmaghānī related to us concerning that, they said: ʿAbdallāh ibn al-Mubārak related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥajjāj ibn Arṭāt, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn al-Munkadir, on the authority of Jābir ibn ʿAbdallāh, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ: that he was asked concerning the ʿumra, whether it is obligatory, and he said: "No, but if you perform the ʿumra that is better for you."
2631 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us; and Yaḥyā ibn Ṭalḥa al-Yarbūʿī related to me, saying: Sharīk related to us, on the authority of Muʿāwiya ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ al-Ḥanafī, he said: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "The ḥajj is jihād, and the ʿumra is a voluntary act."
And some foolish people have claimed that it is established in their view that the ʿumra is obligatory, on the ground that one does not find a voluntary act without there being an obligatory [counterpart] as its basis; and since it is established that the ʿumra is a voluntary act, it must therefore have an obligatory [counterpart], for the obligation is the basis of the voluntary act in all deeds. To the one who says that it is said: but one has also made the [pious] retreat in the mosque (iʿtikāf) a voluntary act; what then is the obligation that is the basis of its voluntary form? Then he is asked concerning the iʿtikāf: is it obligatory or not obligatory? If he says: obligatory, then he deviates from the statement of the entire community; and if he says: a voluntary act, then it is said: what then makes the iʿtikāf a voluntary act and the ʿumra an obligation, in a manner to which one must submit? He will not be able to say anything concerning the one without the same being imposed upon him concerning the other.
By the proofs that we have adduced [it is established] that the more correct of the two readings for "the ʿumra" is the reading of the one who reads it in the accusative. And that the more correct of the two interpretations of His word En voltooit de bedevaart en de kleine bedevaart omwille van Allah is the interpretation of Ibn ʿAbbās that we have mentioned from him via the transmission of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa from him, namely that it is a command of Allah to complete the acts of both after beginning them and after making them obligatory upon oneself, in accordance with the limits and transmitted practices that He has commanded. And that the more correct of the two statements concerning the ʿumra is the statement of the one who says: it is a voluntary act and not an obligation. And that the meaning of the verse is: and complete, O believers, the ḥajj and the ʿumra for the sake of Allah, after you have begun them and made them obligatory upon yourselves, in accordance with the limits that Allah has commanded you.
Allah, blessed and exalted is He, sent down this verse to His Prophet — upon him be the blessing and the peace — only on the occasion of the ʿumra of al-Ḥudaybiya, at which one was prevented from the House, in order to make known to the believers therein what was incumbent upon them in their consecration if access to the House were to be granted to them, and to set out for them therein what the way out for them from their consecration was if they were to enter the state of consecration and then be prevented from the House, and to mention what was obligatory of them in acts in their ʿumra that they performed in the year of al-Ḥudaybiya, as well as what was incumbent upon them therein thereafter in their ʿumra and their ḥajj. He commenced with His word: Zij vragen jou over de nieuwe manen; zeg: zij zijn tijdsbepalingen voor de mensen en de bedevaart (They ask you about the new moons; say: they are time-measurements for the people and the pilgrimage). And we have already previously shown with testimonies what the meaning of the ḥajj and the ʿumra is, so we have refrained from lengthening the book by repeating it.
**And if you are prevented, then whatever is easy of a sacrificial animal**
Concerning the interpretation of His word, the Exalted: En indien jullie verhinderd worden (uḥṣirtum), dan wat gemakkelijk is aan offerdier (hady)
The scholars of interpretation differed concerning the prevention (iḥṣār) for which Allah imposed upon the one afflicted by it in his ḥajj and his ʿumra [the duty of] whatever is easy of a sacrificial animal. Some of them said: that is every impediment or detainer that impeded the person in the state of consecration (muḥrim) and held him back from the act that Allah prescribed for him in his consecration and from his arrival at the Sacred House.
Mention of who said that:
2632 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, that he used to say: the prevention (ḥaṣr) is every detaining. He says: whatever man encounters an obstacle in his ḥajj or his ʿumra, he sends his sacrificial animal from the place where he is detained. He said: and Mujāhid said concerning His word: En indien jullie verhinderd worden: that is: if a person becomes ill, or [a limb] is broken, or a matter detains him and overcomes him, whatever it may be, then he has sent whatever is easy of a sacrificial animal, and he does not shave his head and does not release himself until the day of sacrifice.
* Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the same.
2633 — Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, he said: the iḥṣār is everything that detains him.
2634 — And Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, that he said concerning the prevented one (muḥṣar): that is fear, illness and the detainer; when that befalls him, he sends his sacrificial animal, and when the sacrificial animal reaches its place of destination, he releases himself.
* Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: En indien jullie verhinderd worden, dan wat gemakkelijk is aan offerdier: he said: that is a man who is struck by fear or illness, or a detainer that holds him back from the House; he sends his sacrificial animal, and when it reaches its place of destination, he becomes free.
2635 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of Hishām ibn ʿUrwa, on the authority of his father, he said: everything that detains the muḥrim, that is iḥṣār.
2636 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Ibrāhīm — Abū Jaʿfar said: I think it is: on the authority of Sharīk, on the authority of Ibrāhīm ibn al-Muhājir, on the authority of Ibrāhīm — concerning En indien jullie verhinderd worden: he said: illness, or a fracture, or fear.
2637 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: En indien jullie verhinderd worden, dan wat gemakkelijk is aan offerdier: he says: whoever enters the state of consecration for the ḥajj or the ʿumra, and then is held back from the House by an illness that exhausts him, or a prevention that detains him, upon him rests [the duty of] making it up.
The reasoning of the one who poses this thesis is that the iḥṣār in the language of the Arabs means: the prevention by an affliction of illness and the like, not the subduing and overcoming by a subduing overpowerer, except the being overpowered by an affliction of illness, an [insect] bite, a wound, the loss of the travel provisions, or the breaking [of the leg] of the mount. As for the obstruction by an enemy, the detaining by a jailer in a prison, and the overcoming by an overpowerer who stands between the muḥrim and the arrival at the House, whether from a holder of authority or from a subduing, obstructing man — that the Arabs call only ḥaṣr and not iḥṣār. They said: and what indicates that is the word of Allah, immense is His praise: En Wij hebben de hel (jahannam) voor de ongelovigen tot een ḥaṣīr gemaakt (And We have made Hell (jahannam) a ḥaṣīr for the unbelievers) (17:8), by which He means: encompassing, that is to say: detaining. They said: and if the detaining by the subduing overpowerer — apart from the afflictions that we have described — were called iḥṣār, then one would necessarily have to say: "the enemy prevented (aḥṣara)." They said: and in the fact that the Arabic dialects agree on "the enemy was besieged (ḥūṣira)" and "the enemy is besieged (muḥāṣar)" — and not on "the enemy performed aḥṣara" and "they are muḥṣarūn" — while one [does] say "the man was prevented (uḥṣira)" by the affliction of illness and fear, lies the greatest indication that Allah, immense is His praise, by His word En indien jullie verhinderd worden intended only [prevention] by illness or fear or an obstructing affliction. They said: and we have equated the obstruction by the enemy and his prevention of the muḥrim from coming to the House with the prevention by illness only by way of analogy (qiyās) with what Allah, immense is His praise, has stipulated in this regard for the sick man whom illness prevented from coming to the House — not on the basis of the indication of the literal meaning of His word En indien jullie verhinderd worden, dan wat gemakkelijk is aan offerdier, since the obstruction by the enemy, the holder of authority and the overpowerer is an obstructing affliction, equal to the obstructing affliction of illness and fracture.
And others said: the meaning of His word En indien jullie verhinderd worden, dan wat gemakkelijk is aan offerdier is: if an enemy holds you back from the arrival at the House, or a subduing detainer from among the sons of Adam. They said: as for the afflictions that befall the bodies, such as illness, wounding and the like, that does not fall under His word En indien jullie verhinderd worden.
Mention of who said that:
2638 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid and ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, that he said: the prevention (ḥaṣr) is the prevention by the enemy. The man then sends his sacrificial animal; and if, on account of the enemy, he cannot reach the House, but he finds someone who will bring the [sacrificial animal] to Mecca on his behalf, then he sends it and releases himself [at the agreed moment from his consecration] — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr said: Abū ʿĀṣim said: we do not know whether he said "enters the state of consecration (yuḥrim)" or "releases himself (yaḥill)" — from the day on which he agrees [a time] with the owner of the sacrificial animal when it is purchased. And when he is safe, upon him rests [the duty] to perform the ḥajj or the ʿumra. And when an illness befalls him that detains him and he has no sacrificial animal with him, then he releases himself at the place where he is detained; and when he has a sacrificial animal with him, then he does not release himself until the sacrificial animal reaches its place of destination. And when he has sent the [sacrificial animal], upon him does not rest [the duty] to perform the ḥajj the following year, nor the ʿumra, unless he wishes that.
2639 — It was related to us on the authority of Abū ʿUbayd al-Qāsim ibn Sallām, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Ibn Ṭāwūs, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: there is no [valid] prevention (ḥaṣr) except for the one who is detained by an enemy.
2640 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid and ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the same as the transmission of Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr on the authority of Abū ʿĀṣim, except that he said: he then sends it, and releases himself [from his consecration] from the day on which he agrees [a time] with the owner of the sacrificial animal when it is purchased. Then he mentioned the rest of the transmission, the same as the transmission of Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr on the authority of Abū ʿĀṣim.
And Mālik ibn Anas said: "It has reached me that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ released himself, he and his companions, at al-Ḥudaybiya; they slaughtered the sacrificial animal, shaved their heads and released themselves from everything before they had performed the circumambulation of the House and before the sacrificial animal had reached the [House]. Then we do not know that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ commanded anyone of his companions or of those who were with him to make anything up or to repeat anything."
2641 — Yūnus related that to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us on his [Mālik's] authority. He said: and Mālik was asked concerning the one who is prevented by an enemy and the one for whom access to the House is barred. He said: he releases himself from everything, slaughters his sacrificial animal and shaves his head at the place where he is detained, and upon him rests no making-up, unless he has never performed the ḥajj; in that case upon him rests [the duty] to perform the obligatory ḥajj of Islam. He said: and the rule is, in our view, concerning the one who is prevented by something other than an enemy, by illness or the like, that he begins with what is unavoidable, pays a ransom (fidya), then makes it into a ʿumra, performs the ḥajj the following year and brings a sacrificial animal.
The reasoning of the one who poses this thesis — I mean the one who adheres to the statement of Mālik — is that this verse was sent down on the occasion of the prevention by the polytheists (mushrikīn) of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his companions from the House, whereupon Allah commanded His Prophet and those who were with him to slaughter their sacrificial animals and to release themselves. They said: Allah sent down this verse only on the occasion of the prevention by the enemy, so it is not permitted to transfer its ruling to a meaning other than that for which it was sent down. They said: as for the sick man, when on account of his illness he is unable to travel until ʿArafa escapes him, then he is merely a man whom the ḥajj has escaped; upon him rests [the duty] to come out of his consecration in the manner in which the one whom the ḥajj has escaped comes out of it, and he does not fall under the meaning of the prevented one (muḥṣar) on whose occasion this verse was sent down.
And the more correct of the two interpretations of His word En indien jullie verhinderd worden is the interpretation of the one who interpreted it with the meaning: if the fear of an enemy, or an illness, or an affliction prevents you from coming to the House — that is to say: your fear or your illness causes you to prevent yourselves and hold yourselves back from the fulfillment of what you have made obligatory upon yourselves of the performance of the ḥajj and the ʿumra. Therefore it was said "if you are prevented (uḥṣirtum)," because the mention of the fear and the illness has been omitted. One says of this: "my fear of so-and-so prevented me (aḥṣaranī) from meeting you" and "my illness [prevented me] from so-and-so," by which is meant: it caused me to hold myself back from it. When, however, the detainer is the man or the human being, one says: "so-and-so detained me (ḥaṣaranī) from meeting you," with the meaning: he held me back from it. For if the meaning of the verse were what the interpreter supposed of His word En indien jullie verhinderd worden, namely: if a detainer of the enemy holds you back from the arrival at the House, then it would necessarily have to be "if you are detained (ḥuṣirtum)" [in the other form].
And what confirms the correctness of what we have said, namely that by the interpretation of the verse the prevention by something other than the enemy is intended, and that by it the fear of the enemy is intended, is His word: En wanneer jullie veilig zijn (amintum), dan, wie het genieten met de ʿumra tot aan de ḥajj [verricht]... (And when you are safe, then whoever enjoys with the ʿumra up to the ḥajj...); and safety comes only through the falling away of the fear. And when that is so, then it is known that the prevention that Allah intended in this verse is the fear, by the falling away of which safety sets in. And when that is so, then the detaining by the detainer at whose detaining there is no fear for life does not fall under the ruling of the verse according to its recited literal meaning — even though its ruling is, in our view, attached to its [i.e. the enemy's] ruling by analogy, because of the fact that the detaining by the one at whose detaining there is no fear for life, such as the holder of authority whose punishment is not feared, the father and the husband of the woman — if from them or some of them there proceeds a detaining and an obstruction of the setting-out for the performance of the ḥajj or the arrival at the House, after the obstructed one has made the consecration obligatory — does not fall under the literal meaning of His word En indien jullie verhinderd worden, for what we have described that its meaning is: if the fear of an enemy prevents you, on the basis of the indication of His word En wanneer jullie veilig zijn, dan, wie het genieten met de ʿumra tot aan de ḥajj [verricht].... And the report that we have just mentioned from Ibn ʿAbbās has made clear that he said: the prevention (ḥaṣr) is the prevention by the enemy. And since that is the more correct of the two interpretations of the verse for what we have described, and since that is an obstruction of the arrival at the House, every obstruction that befalls the muḥrim and holds him back from the arrival at the House is equal to it in the ruling.
Then the scholars differed concerning the interpretation of His word: dan wat gemakkelijk is aan offerdier. Some of them said: that is a sheep.
Mention of who said that:
2642 — ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Bayān al-Qannād related to us, saying: Isḥāq al-Azraq informed us, on the authority of Yūnus ibn Abī Isḥāq al-Sabīʿī, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: wat gemakkelijk is aan offerdier is a sheep.
* Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us; and ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd related to us, saying: Isḥāq informed us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ḥabīb, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: wat gemakkelijk is aan offerdier is a sheep.
* Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Yazīd ibn Abī Ziyād, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the same.
2643 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Nuʿmān ibn Mālik, he said: I performed the mutʿa and asked Ibn ʿAbbās, and he said: wat gemakkelijk is aan offerdier. He said: I said: a sheep? He said: a sheep.
2644 — ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Bayān related to us, saying: Isḥāq related to us, on the authority of Sharīk, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Nuʿmān ibn Mālik, he said: I asked Ibn ʿAbbās about whatever is easy of a sacrificial animal. He said: from the eight [animals created in pairs]: of the camels, the cattle, the goats and the sheep.
2645 — Abū Kurayb and Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, they said: Hushaym related to us, al-Zuhrī said: he informed us and was asked concerning the word of Allah, immense is His praise: dan wat gemakkelijk is aan offerdier, he said: Ibn ʿAbbās used to say: from the small livestock.
* Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, saying: Yūnus ibn Abī Isḥāq related to us, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: whatever is easy of a sacrificial animal: from the eight [animals created in pairs].
2646 — Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Khālid related to us, saying: it was said to al-Ashʿath: what is the statement of al-Ḥasan concerning dan wat gemakkelijk is aan offerdier? He said: a sheep.
2647 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning dan wat gemakkelijk is aan offerdier: he said: a sheep.
2648 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning dan wat gemakkelijk is aan offerdier: he said: the highest of that is a sacrificial camel (badana), the middle a cow, and the least a sheep.
* Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, the same, except that it was said: the highest of that is a sacrificial camel — and he mentioned the rest of the transmission the same.
* Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, saying: Hammām related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Zurāra, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: dan wat gemakkelijk is aan offerdier is a sheep.
* Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, saying: Ayyūb related to us, on the authority of Abū Jamra, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the same.
2649 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ: dan wat gemakkelijk is aan offerdier is a sheep.
* Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Yamān related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Naqīʿ related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, the same.
2650 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, he said: the prevented one sends as a sacrificial animal a sheep or more.
2651 — ʿUbayd ibn Ismāʿīl al-Hubārī related to me, saying: Ibn Numayr related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of ʿAlqama, he said: when a man enters the state of consecration for the ḥajj and is then prevented, he sends whatever is easy of a sacrificial animal: a sheep. He said: I mentioned that to Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, and he said: thus also said Ibn ʿAbbās.
* Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: whatever is easy of a sacrificial animal: a sheep or more.
2652 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us; and al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ādam al-ʿAsqalānī related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, he said: Abū Jamra related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: whatever is easy of a sacrificial animal: a slaughter-camel (jazūr), or a cow, or a sheep, or a share in a [sacrificial] blood.
2653 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, saying: I heard Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd say: I heard al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad say: Ibn ʿAbbās held the view that the sheep [falls under] whatever is easy of a sacrificial animal.
* Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, on the authority of Khālid al-Ḥadhdhāʾ, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, that he said: whatever is easy of a sacrificial animal: a sheep.
2654 — Yaʿqūb related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, he said: whatever is easy of a sacrificial animal: a sheep.
2655 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Sahl ibn Yūsuf related to us, saying: Ḥumayd related to us, on the authority of ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr, he said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: the sacrificial animal is a sheep. It was said to him: can it be less than a cow? He said: then I shall recite to you from the Book of Allah from which you will know that the sacrificial animal is a sheep! What is [owed] for the gazelle? They said: a sheep. He said: als offer dat de Kaʿba bereikt (as an offering reaching the Kaʿba) (5:95).
* Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: al-Ḥajjāj related to us, saying: Ḥammād related to us, on the authority of Qays ibn Saʿd, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: a sheep.
2656 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Dalham ibn Ṣāliḥ, he said: I asked Abū Jaʿfar about His word "whatever is easy of a sacrificial animal," and he said: a sheep.
2657 — Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, that Mālik ibn Anas related to him, on the authority of Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad, on the authority of his father: that ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib used to say: whatever is easy of a sacrificial animal: a sheep.
* Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muṭarrif ibn ʿAbdallāh related to us, saying: Mālik related to us, on the authority of Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad, on the authority of his father, on the authority of ʿAlī — may Allah's good pleasure be upon him — the same.
* Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Mālik informed me that it had reached him that ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAbbās used to say: whatever is easy of a sacrificial animal: a sheep.
2658 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, Mālik said: and that is dearest to me.
* Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: dan wat gemakkelijk is aan offerdier: he said: upon him — that is, upon the prevented one — rests a sacrificial animal: if he is wealthy, then from the camels; if not, then from the cattle; and if not, then from the small livestock.
* Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ādam al-ʿAsqalānī related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Dhiʾb related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, the freedman of Ibn ʿAbbās, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: whatever is easy of a sacrificial animal: a sheep; and the greater the symbols of Allah, the more excellent.
* Yūnus related to me, saying: Ashhab informed us, saying: Ibn Lahīʿa informed us, that ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ related to him that whatever is easy of a sacrificial animal: is a sheep.
And others said: "whatever is easy of a sacrificial animal" is [something] from the camels and the cattle, [but] of a younger age than the [regular] age.
Mention of who said that:
2659 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muʿtamir related to us, saying: I heard ʿUbaydallāh, on the authority of Nāfiʿ, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar, he said: "whatever is easy of a sacrificial animal": the cow of lesser [value than the full-grown] cow, and the camel of lesser [value than the full-grown] camel.
2660 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Bakr related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Abū Mijlaz, he said: a man asked Ibn ʿUmar: what is easy of a sacrificial animal? He said: are you content with a sheep? It was as if he did not accept it [as sufficient].
2661 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, saying: Ayyūb related to us, on the authority of al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad and Nāfiʿ, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar, he said: whatever is easy of a sacrificial animal: a female camel or a cow. It was said to him: what is easy of a sacrificial animal? He said: the female camel of lesser [value than the full-grown] and the cow of lesser [value than the full-grown].
2662 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Yazīd ibn Abī Ziyād, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar, that he said: dan wat gemakkelijk is aan offerdier: he said: a slaughter-camel or a cow.
2663 — Abū Kurayb and Yaʿqūb related to us, they said: Hushaym related to us, al-Zuhrī said: he informed us and was asked concerning the word of Allah: dan wat gemakkelijk is aan offerdier, he said: Ibn ʿUmar said: from the camels and the cattle.
* Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Ayyūb informed us, on the authority of Nāfiʿ, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar, concerning His word, immense is His praise: dan wat gemakkelijk is aan offerdier, he said: the female camel of lesser [value] and the cow of lesser [value].
2664 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Ayyūb, on the authority of al-Qāsim, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar, concerning His word: dan wat gemakkelijk is aan offerdier, he said: the camels and the cattle.
2665 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, saying: I heard Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd say: I heard al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad say: ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿUmar and ʿĀʾisha used to say: "whatever is easy of a sacrificial animal": from the camels and the cattle.
2666 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: al-Walīd ibn Abī Hishām related to us, on the authority of Ziyād ibn Jubayr, on the authority of his brother ʿAbdallāh — or ʿUbaydallāh — ibn Jubayr, he said: I asked Ibn ʿUmar about the sacrificial animal in the mutʿa. He said: a female camel. I said: what do you say concerning the sheep? He said: are you all [capable of more than] a sheep, are you all [capable of more than] a sheep?
2667 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid and Ṭāwūs, they both said: whatever is easy of a sacrificial animal: a cow.
2668 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, concerning dan wat gemakkelijk is aan offerdier: he said in the statement of Ibn ʿUmar: a cow or more.
2669 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Abū Maʿshar related to me, on the authority of Nāfiʿ, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar, he said: "whatever is easy of a sacrificial animal": he said: a sacrificial camel or a cow; as for the sheep, that is a [voluntary] offering (nusuk).
2670 — Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: al-Ḥajjāj related to us, saying: Ḥammād related to us, on the authority of Hishām ibn ʿUrwa, on the authority of his father, he said: the sacrificial camel of lesser [value] and the cow of lesser [value]; and the sheep is merely a [voluntary] offering. He said: the cow indeed costs forty or fifty [dirham].
* Al-Rabīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn Wahb related to us, saying: Usāma related to me, on the authority of Nāfiʿ, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar, that he used to say: whatever is easy of a sacrificial animal: a cow.
2671 — And al-Rabīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn Wahb related to us, saying: Usāma ibn Zayd related to me that Saʿīd related to him, he said: I saw Ibn ʿUmar while the people of Yemen came to him and asked him about whatever is easy of a sacrificial animal, and they said: the sheep, the sheep! He said: and he answered them: the sheep, the sheep! [as if it were too small], urging them on; except that [he said]: the slaughter-camel of lesser [value] and the cow of lesser [value], but whatever is easy of a sacrificial animal: a cow.
And the more correct of the two statements is the statement of the one who says: whatever is easy of a sacrificial animal is a sheep; for Allah, immense is His praise, made obligatory only whatever is easy of a sacrificial animal, and that applies to everything that is easy for the offerer to offer, whatever that may be that he offers. Unless Allah, immense is His praise, has excepted something of that, in which case the excepted falls outside the totality of what the literal revelation can encompass, and all the remaining things are sufficient when the offerer offers them, provided it deserves the name "sacrificial animal."
If someone says: but those who refused that the sheep [falls under] whatever is easy of a sacrificial animal [held] that it does not deserve the name "sacrificial animal," any more than if someone were to offer a chicken or an egg, in which case he would not have offered a sufficient sacrificial animal? — then it is said: if there were a disagreement concerning the offering of the chicken and the egg like the disagreement concerning the offering of the sheep, then their way would be the same, in the sense that each of the two has fulfilled what was incumbent upon him according to the literal revelation, provided that neither of the two kinds of sacrificial animal excludes him from having fulfilled, by the offering of what he offered of it, that which Allah made obligatory upon him in his prevention. But since for the offerer that which is less than the yearling of the sheep, and the two-year-old of the goats, and the camels and the cattle and higher in age, is excluded from being a [valid] sacrificial animal for what Allah made obligatory upon him in his prevention or his mutʿa — by the excuse-cutting proof, transmitted from our Prophet ﷺ by way of transmission — that was excluded from being intended by His word: dan wat gemakkelijk is aan offerdier, even though it belongs to what is easy for us of sacrificial animals. And since there is disagreement concerning the yearling of the sheep and the two-year-old of the goats, that is sufficient for its offerer according to the literal revelation, because it belongs to whatever is easy of a sacrificial animal.
If someone says: what is the case-position of "what (mā)" in His word, mighty and exalted is He: dan wat gemakkelijk is aan offerdier? — then it is said: the nominative (rafʿ). If he says: by means of what? — then it is said: by means of something omitted, namely "then upon him rests (fa-ʿalayhi)," because the interpretation of the statement is: and complete the ḥajj and the ʿumra, O believers, for the sake of Allah; and if a detainer prevents you from completing them — through illness, fracture or fear of an enemy — then upon you rests, for your release if you wish the release from your consecration, whatever is easy of a sacrificial animal. And we have preferred the nominative therein, because the majority of the Qurʾān gives the [grammatical] counterparts of it with the nominative, such as His word: Wie van jullie ziek is of een kwaal aan... (Whoever of you is ill or has an ailment of...)
