Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:198
There is no blame upon you for seeking bounty from your Lord [during Hajj]. But when you depart from 'Arafat, remember Allah at al- Mash'ar al-Haram. And remember Him, as He has guided you, for indeed, you were before that among those astray.
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.
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: لَيْسَ عَلَيْكُمْ جُنَاحٌ أَنْ تَبْتَغُوا فَضْلًا مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ ("It is no transgression for you that you seek a bounty from your Lord")
Abū Jaʿfar said: He — exalted is His mention — means by this: It is no transgression for you, O believers.
* * *
And "al-junāḥ" means "constraint, burden" (al-ḥaraj), as in:
3761 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās concerning: "It is no transgression for you that you seek a bounty from your Lord" — namely: there rests no constraint upon you regarding buying and selling, before entering the state of ritual consecration (iḥrām) and after it.
* * *
And His word: "that you seek a bounty from your Lord" means: that you endeavor to obtain a bounty from your Lord.
One says of this: "ibtaghaytu faḍlan mina Llāh" — and "min faḍli Llāh" — "abtaghīhi ibtighāʾan", when one seeks it and pursues it; and "baghaytuhu abghīhi baghyan", as the slave of the Banū al-Ḥasḥās said:
"He sought you, and you do not seek him, until you found him — as though you had promised him yesterday an appointment."
He means: your seeking and your pursuing.
* * *
It has been said: the meaning of "seeking the bounty of Allah" is seeking Allah's provision by means of trade, and that this verse was revealed concerning a people who held the view that one was not permitted to engage in trade when one had entered the state of ritual consecration (iḥrām), thereby seeking piety (al-birr). Then He — exalted is His praise — let them know that there was no piety in that, and that it was permitted for them to seek His bounty by means of selling and buying.
* Mention of who said that:
3762 — Naṣr ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Awdī related to me, saying: Al-Muḥāribī related to us, on the authority of ʿUmar ibn Dharr, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: They performed the pilgrimage (ḥajj) but did not engage in trade, whereupon Allah revealed: "It is no transgression for you that you seek a bounty from your Lord." He said: during the pilgrimage season (al-mawsim).
3763 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: ʿUmar ibn Dharr informed us, saying: I heard Mujāhid transmitting, saying: There were people who did not engage in trade during the days of the pilgrimage, whereupon there was revealed concerning them: "It is no transgression for you that you seek a bounty from your Lord."
3764 — Muḥammad ibn ʿUmāra al-Asadī related to me, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Abū Laylā informed us, on the authority of Burayda concerning the saying of the Blessed and Exalted: "It is no transgression for you that you seek a bounty from your Lord." He said: that you, when you are in the state of ritual consecration, sell and buy.
3765 — Ṭalīq ibn Muḥammad al-Wāsiṭī related to us, saying: Asbāṭ informed us, saying: Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAmr informed us, on the authority of Abū Umāma al-Taymī, who said: I said to Ibn ʿUmar: "We are folk who hire out [pack animals]; do we then have a valid pilgrimage?" He said: "Do you not perform the circumambulation (ṭawāf) around the House, do you not come to the place of standing (al-Maʿraf — ʿArafāt), do you not throw the pebbles (al-jimār), and do you not shave your heads?" We said: "Yes indeed!" He said: A man came to the Prophet ﷺ and asked him the same as you have asked me, and he did not know what to say to him, until Jibrīl — peace be upon him — descended to him with this verse: "It is no transgression for you that you seek a bounty from your Lord", to the end of the verse. Then the Prophet ﷺ said: "You are pilgrims."
3766 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, saying: Ayyūb informed us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, who said: This verse was read as: "It is no transgression for you that you seek a bounty from your Lord during the seasons of the pilgrimage."
3767 — ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd related to us, saying: Isḥāq informed us, on the authority of Sharīk, on the authority of Manṣūr ibn al-Muʿtamir concerning the saying: "It is no transgression for you that you seek a bounty from your Lord." He said: That is trade — in selling and buying; and buying is no constraint.
3768 — It was related to me on the authority of Abū Hishām al-Rifāʿī, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Ṭalḥa ibn ʿAmr, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, that he read it as: "It is no transgression for you that you seek a bounty from your Lord during the seasons of the pilgrimage."
3769 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Mushir, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The trading place of the people in the time of ignorance (al-jāhiliyya) was ʿUkāẓ and Dhū al-Majāz. When Islam came, it was as though they detested that, until Allah — exalted is His praise — revealed: "It is no transgression for you that you seek a bounty from your Lord."
3770 — Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿArafa related to us, saying: Shabāba ibn Sawwār related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abū Umayma, who said: I heard Ibn ʿUmar — when he was asked about the man who performs the pilgrimage while he has merchandise with him — and Ibn ʿUmar recited: "It is no transgression for you that you seek a bounty from your Lord."
3771 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us = and Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us = he said: Yazīd ibn Abī Ziyād informed us, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: They did not engage in trade during the days of the pilgrimage, whereupon there was revealed: "It is no transgression for you that you seek a bounty from your Lord."
3772 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj informed us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, that he read: "It is no transgression for you that you seek a bounty from your Lord during the seasons of the pilgrimage."
3773 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, saying: Ṭalḥa ibn ʿAmr al-Ḥaḍramī related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, his saying: "It is no transgression for you that you seek a bounty from your Lord during the seasons of the pilgrimage." Thus did Ibn ʿAbbās read it.
3774 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Layth related to us, on the authority of Mujāhid concerning the saying: "It is no transgression for you that you seek a bounty from your Lord." He said: Trade in this worldly life, and reward in the Hereafter.
3775 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid concerning the saying of Allah the Exalted: "It is no transgression for you that you seek a bounty from your Lord." He said: Trade, which was permitted to them during the seasons. He said: They did not sell or buy in the time of ignorance (al-jāhiliyya) at ʿArafa.
3776 — Al-Muthannā related to us, 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.
3777 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, his saying: "It is no transgression for you that you seek a bounty from your Lord." This tribe of the Arabs, on the night of departure (laylat al-nafr), did not halt for a broken-down [pack animal] nor for a strayed [animal], and they called that night "the night of return" (laylat al-ṣadr); and they sought therein neither trade nor selling. Then Allah — mighty and exalted — permitted the believers all of that, that they should occupy themselves with their needs and seek the bounty of their Lord.
3778 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Ibn ʿUyayna informed us, on the authority of ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Abī Yazīd, who said: I heard Ibn al-Zubayr read: "It is no transgression for you that you seek a bounty from your Lord during the seasons of the pilgrimage."
3779 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Ibn ʿUyayna informed us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, who said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: Dhū al-Majāz and ʿUkāẓ were a trading place for the people in the time of ignorance. When Islam came, they left that off, until there was revealed: "It is no transgression for you that you seek a bounty from your Lord during the seasons of the pilgrimage."
3780 — Aḥmad ibn Ḥāzim and al-Muthannā related to us, both saying: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Sūqa, who said: I heard Saʿīd ibn Jubayr say: Some of the pilgrims were called "al-dājj" (the accompanying servants); they pitched their camp on the left side of Minā, while the pilgrims pitched their camp by the mosque of Minā. They did not engage in trade, until there was revealed: "It is no transgression for you that you seek a bounty from your Lord", whereupon they engaged in trade during the pilgrimage.
3781 — Aḥmad ibn Ḥāzim related to me, saying: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, saying: ʿUmar ibn Dharr related to us, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: There were people who performed the pilgrimage but did not engage in trade, until there was revealed: "It is no transgression for you that you seek a bounty from your Lord", whereupon permission was given to them for trade, riding [with pack animals], and provision.
3782 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, his saying: "It is no transgression for you that you seek a bounty from your Lord" — that is trade. He said: Engage in trade during the pilgrimage season.
3783 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to us, 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, his saying: "It is no transgression for you that you seek a bounty from your Lord." He said: The people, when they had entered the state of ritual consecration, did not engage in trade among themselves until they had completed their pilgrimage, whereupon Allah made it permitted for them.
3784 — Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Yazīd ibn Abī Ziyād, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: They avoided buying, selling, and engaging in trade during the days of the pilgrimage season, and said: "They are days of remembrance [of Allah]!" Then Allah revealed: "It is no transgression for you that you seek a bounty from your Lord", whereupon they engaged in trade during the pilgrimage.
3785 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Ṭalḥa ibn ʿAmr, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, that he read it as: "It is no transgression for you that you seek a bounty from your Lord during the seasons of the pilgrimage."
3786 — Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Al-Ḥimmānī related to us, saying: Sharīk related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, who said: There is no constraint against trade during the pilgrimage; then he recited: "It is no transgression for you that you seek a bounty from your Lord."
3787 — It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, his saying: "It is no transgression for you that you seek a bounty from your Lord." He said: This tribe of the Arabs did not halt for a broken-down [pack animal] nor for a strayed [animal], and did not wait for any need; they called that night "the night of return" (laylat al-ṣadr), and sought no trade therein. Then Allah permitted all of that: that they should occupy themselves with their needs and seek a bounty from their Lord.
3788 — Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Mandal related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Muhājir, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, the freedman of ʿUmar, who said: I said to ʿUmar: "O Commander of the Believers, did you engage in trade during the pilgrimage?" He said: "Was their livelihood anywhere other than in the pilgrimage?"
3789 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Al-Thawrī informed us, on the authority of al-ʿAlāʾ ibn al-Musayyab, on the authority of a man of the Banū Taym Allāh, who said: A man came to ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar and said: "O Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, we are folk who hire out [pack animals], and they claim that we do not have a valid pilgrimage!" He said: "Do you not enter the state of ritual consecration as they enter it, do you not perform the circumambulation as they perform it, and do you not throw [the pebbles] as they throw?" He said: "Yes indeed!" He said: "Then you are a pilgrim! A man came to the Prophet ﷺ and asked him the same as you have asked, whereupon this verse was revealed: 'It is no transgression for you that you seek a bounty from your Lord.'"
3790 — Al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, who said: When they departed from ʿArafāt, they did not engage in trade, and they did not halt for a broken-down [pack animal] nor for a strayed [animal]. Then Allah permitted that and said: "It is no transgression for you that you seek a bounty from your Lord", to the end of the verse.
3791 — Saʿīd ibn al-Rabīʿ al-Rāzī related to me, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: ʿUkāẓ, Majanna, and Dhū al-Majāz were markets in the time of ignorance, and they engaged in trade there. When Islam dawned, it was as though they regarded that as a sin, so they asked the Prophet ﷺ [about it], whereupon Allah revealed: "It is no transgression for you that you seek a bounty from your Lord during the seasons of the pilgrimage."
* * *
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: فَإِذَا أَفَضْتُمْ مِنْ عَرَفَاتٍ ("And when you depart from ʿArafāt")
Abū Jaʿfar said: He — exalted is His praise — means by His word "fa-idhā afaḍtum" (and when you depart): when you return to the place from which you had set out.
* * *
That is why the one who casts the arrows (al-qidāḥ) among the gamblers (al-aysār) is called "mufīḍ", on account of his gathering of the arrows and then casting them out among the players. Of this is the saying of Bishr ibn Abī Khāzim al-Asadī:
"Then I said to her: give him back his heart, and she gave it back as a 'manīḥ'-arrow is given back by a caster."
* * *
Then the linguists differed concerning "ʿArafāt", and concerning the reason why the [word] is declined with nunation (ṣurifat) even though it is a proper noun (maʿrifa), and whether it is the name of a single place or of a group of places.
Some of the grammarians of Basra said: It is a name that [originally] belonged to a plural, like "muslimāt" and "muʾmināt", by which a single place was named. It was declined with nunation when it became the name of that single place, because it was declined before the place was named by it — they left it in its original state. For the "tāʾ" in it took the place of the "yāʾ and wāw" in "muslimīn and muslimūn", because that is its masculine form, and the nunation took the place of the "nūn". When the [word] was made a proper noun, it was left in its state, just as "al-muslimūn" is left in its state when it is used as a proper noun. He said: Among the Arabs there are those who do not decline it with nunation when it is used as a proper noun, and who make the "tāʾ" resemble the "hāʾ" of the feminine; but that is ugly and weak. They adduced as evidence the saying of the poet:
"I descried her [fire] from Adhriʿāt, while her family was at Yathrib — the nearest of what is seen of her dwelling is loftily exalted."
And among them are those who do not decline "Adhriʿāt" with nunation, and likewise "ʿĀnāt", which is a place-name.
Some of the grammarians of Kufa said: "ʿArafāt" is declined with nunation only because it has the form of a feminine plural with "tāʾ". He said: Likewise applies to everything that is a feminine plural with "tāʾ" and by which a man, a place, a land, or a woman is then named: it is declined with nunation. He said: The Arabs hardly name anything with a plural without it [originally] having been a plural, which they then make singular.
Others among them said: "ʿArafāt" is neither an adopted citation-form (ḥikāya), nor is it a transferred name, but rather the place — it and its surroundings — is called "ʿArafāt"; then the place was named by it. It is a name for the place, and its singular does not occur separately. He said: This is permitted only in the case of places and locations, but it is not permitted in the case of other things. He said: That is why the Arabs give the "tāʾ" in it the naṣb ending (kasra in place of fatḥa in nunation), because it is a place. Had it been a citation-form, that would not be permitted in it, for whoever names a man "Muslimāt" or "Muslimīn" changes nothing in the declension from what it originally was. That is why "ʿĀnāt" and "Adhriʿāt" diverge from the names that are used as proper nouns by way of citation.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The scholars differed concerning the reason why ʿArafāt is called "ʿArafāt". Some of them said: It was so named because Ibrāhīm, the bosom-friend of Allah — Allah's blessings be upon him — recognized it (ʿarafa) when he saw it, by the description of it that he had with him, and said: "I have recognized it (qad ʿaraftu)", after which it was called "ʿArafāt" for that reason. This saying of the one who holds it indicates that ʿArafāt is a name for the place, and that it was so named after itself and what lies around it, as one says: "a worn-out garment (thawb akhlāq)" and "a flat land (arḍ sabāsib)", where the [singular] is put in the plural on account of what lies around it.
* Mention of who said that:
3792 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, on the authority of Asbāṭ, on the authority of al-Suddī, who said: When Ibrāhīm summoned the people to the pilgrimage, they answered him with the talbiya, and there came to him whoever came to him. Allah commanded him to set out for ʿArafāt, and described it to him, whereupon he set out. When he reached the tree at al-ʿAqaba, Satan came to meet him to drive him back, whereupon he pelted him with seven pebbles, at each pebble saying "Allāhu akbar". He [Satan] flew up and alighted at the second heap of stones (jamra), and again barred his way, whereupon he pelted him and said "Allāhu akbar". He flew up and alighted at the third heap of stones, whereupon he pelted him and said "Allāhu akbar". When he [Satan] saw that he was no match for him, and Ibrāhīm did not know where he should go, he went on until he came to Dhū al-Majāz; when he looked at it and did not recognize it, he passed on (jāza), and that is why it was called "Dhū al-Majāz". Then he went on until he arrived at ʿArafāt; when he looked at it, he recognized the description and said: "I have recognized it! (qad ʿaraftu)", whereupon it was called "ʿArafāt". Ibrāhīm halted at ʿArafāt, until, when evening fell, he betook himself to Jamʿ (izdalafa), whereupon it was called "al-Muzdalifa", and he halted at Jamʿ.
3793 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Sulaymān al-Taymī, on the authority of Nuʿaym ibn Abī Hind, who said: When Jibrīl halted with Ibrāhīm — peace be upon them both — at ʿArafāt, he said: "I have recognized it! (ʿaraftu)", whereupon it was called "ʿArafāt" for that reason.
3794 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Ibn Jurayj informed us, saying: Ibn al-Musayyab said: ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib — may Allah be pleased with him — said: Allah sent Jibrīl to Ibrāhīm and he performed the pilgrimage with him. When he came to ʿArafa, he said: "I have recognized it! (qad ʿaraftu)" — and he had already been there once before — and that is why it was called "ʿArafa".
* * *
Others said: No, it was so named after itself and after places other than itself.
* Mention of who said that:
3795 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ ibn Muslim al-Qurashī related to us, on the authority of Abū Ṭahfa, on the authority of Abū al-Ṭufayl, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: ʿArafāt was so named only because Jibrīl — peace be upon him — said to Ibrāhīm: "This is place such-and-such, this is place so-and-so", and he would say: "I have recognized it! (qad ʿaraftu)", and that is why it was called "ʿArafāt".
3796 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Abī Sulaymān, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, who said: ʿArafa was so named only because Jibrīl showed Ibrāhīm — peace be upon them both — the rites (al-manāsik), and he would say: "I have recognized it, I have recognized it! (ʿaraftu, ʿaraftu)", whereupon it was called "ʿArafāt".
3797 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Zakariyyā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: The foot of the mountain that adjoins ʿUrana and what lies beyond it is a place of standing (mawqif), until one reaches the mountain, the mountain of ʿArafa.
And Ibn Abī Najīḥ said: ʿArafāt is "al-Nabʿa" and "al-Nubayʿa" and "Dhāt al-Nābit", and that is the saying of Allah: "And when you depart from ʿArafāt", and that is the middle mountain pass (al-shiʿb al-awsaṭ).
And Zakariyyā said: What flows down from the mountain on which the imam stands as far as ʿArafa belongs to ʿArafa, and what lies on the other side of that mountain does not belong to ʿArafa.
* * *
This saying indicates that it was so named, by analogy with how the singular is named with the name of a group of different persons.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct view concerning this is, in my judgment, that one says: It is a name for a single [place], named with a plural. If it is declined with nunation, it is taken in the sense of the plural that it originally was; if the nunation is omitted, it is taken as the name of a single, known place, and then the nunation is omitted just as the nunation is omitted in the names of known towns and villages.
* * *
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: فَاذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ عِنْدَ الْمَشْعَرِ الْحَرَامِ ("Then remember Allah at the sacred landmark — al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām")
Abū Jaʿfar said: He — exalted is His praise — means by this: when you depart and return from ʿArafa to the place from which you had begun the journey toward it, "then remember Allah" — He means thereby: the prayer (al-ṣalāh) and the supplication (al-duʿāʾ) at al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām.
* * *
We have already explained earlier that "al-mashāʿir" are the landmarks (al-maʿālim), derived from the saying of someone: "shaʿartu bi-hādhā al-amr", that is "I knew it". So "al-mashʿar" is the landmark (al-maʿlam), so named because the prayer at it, the abiding, the spending of the night, and the supplication belong to the landmarks and obligations of the pilgrimage that Allah has charged His servants with. And indeed:
3798 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Zakariyyā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, who said: It is recommended for the pilgrim to pray in his place of abiding at al-Muzdalifa, if he is able to do so, and that is because Allah said: "Then remember Allah at al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām, and remember Him as He has guided you."
* * *
As for al-Mashʿar: it is that which lies between the two mountains of al-Muzdalifa, from the two mountain passes (māʾzimay) of ʿArafa to Muḥassir. And the two mountain passes of ʿArafa do not belong to al-Mashʿar.
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
3799 — Hannād ibn al-Sarī related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Zāʾida related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl informed us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, who said: Ibn ʿUmar saw the people crowding together on the small mountain at Jamʿ, whereupon he said: "O people, verily, all of Jamʿ is a landmark (mashʿar)."
3800 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj informed us, on the authority of Nāfiʿ, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar, that he was asked about the saying: "Then remember Allah at al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām." He said: It is the mountain and what lies around it.
3801 — Hannād related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Zāʾida related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl informed us, on the authority of Ḥakīm ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: What lies between the two mountains that are at Jamʿ is the landmark (mashʿar).
3802 — Hannād related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Zāʾida related to us, saying: Al-Thawrī informed us, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, the same.
3803 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Al-Thawrī informed us = and Aḥmad ibn Ḥāzim related to me, saying: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us = on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: I asked him about al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām, and he said: That which lies between the two mountains of al-Muzdalifa.
3804 — Al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of Sālim, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar, who said: "Al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām" is all of al-Muzdalifa. Maʿmar said: And that is what Qatāda [also] said.
3805 — Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Al-Thawrī informed us, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: "Then remember Allah at al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām." He said: That which lies between the two mountains of al-Muzdalifa, that is al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām.
3806 — Hannād related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Zāʾida related to us, saying: My father informed us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Maymūn, who said: I asked ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar about al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām, and he said: When you go along with me, I will show it to you. He said: So I went with him, and we halted until the imam departed; he set off and we set off with him, until, when the forelegs of the mounts descended and we found ourselves in the farthest mountains in the direction of ʿArafāt, he said: Where is the one who asked about al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām? You have entered it! I said: Where have I entered? He said: They are all landmarks (mashāʿir) up to the farthest boundary of the sacred precinct (al-ḥaram).
3807 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Isrāʾīl informed us = and Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl related to us = on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Maymūn al-Awdī, who said: I asked ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar about al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām, and he said: If you stay with me, I will show it to you. He said: When the people departed from ʿArafa and the forelegs of the mounts descended in the nearest mountains, he said: Where is the one who asked about al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām? He said: I said: Here I am. He said: You have entered it! I said: Where have I entered? He said: When the forelegs of the mounts descended in the nearest mountains — that is a landmark (mashʿar) up to Mecca.
3808 — Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of ʿUmāra ibn Zādhān, on the authority of Makḥūl al-Azdī, who said: I asked Ibn ʿUmar on the day of ʿArafa about al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām, whereupon he said: Stay with me! When the next day dawned and we came to al-Muzdalifa, he said: Where is the one who asked about al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām? This is al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām.
3809 — Hannād related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Zāʾida related to us, saying: Dāwūd informed us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: Mujāhid said: Al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām is all of al-Muzdalifa.
3810 — Hannād related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Zāʾida related to us, saying: Dāwūd informed us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: I said to ʿAṭāʾ: Where is al-Muzdalifa? He said: When you depart from the two mountain passes of ʿArafa, then it extends to Muḥassir. He said: The two mountain passes — the two mountain passes of ʿArafa — do not belong to al-Muzdalifa, but are the place from which one departs out of it. He said: Halt between the two, if you wish, but it is more pleasing to me that you halt before Quzaḥ. Come over to us, on account of the way of the people!
3811 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, who said: Ibn ʿUmar saw them crowding together on Quzaḥ, whereupon he said: Why do these crowd together? Everything that is here is a landmark (mashʿar)!
3812 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: Al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām is all of al-Muzdalifa.
3813 — 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.
3814 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, his saying: "And when you depart from ʿArafāt, then remember Allah at al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām" — and that is the night of Jamʿ. Qatāda said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: What lies between the two mountains is a landmark (mashʿar).
3815 — Mūsā related to us, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, who said: Al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām is that which lies between the mountains of al-Muzdalifa. And it is said: it is the hilltop of Quzaḥ.
3816 — It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ: "Then remember Allah at al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām" — and that is al-Muzdalifa, and that is Jamʿ.
* * *
* And it was related on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Aswad the following:
3817 — Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Aswad, who said: I have found no one who could inform me about al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām.
3818 — Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, who said: I heard Saʿīd ibn Jubayr say: Al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām is that which lies between the two mountains of al-Muzdalifa.
3819 — Aḥmad related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Qays related to us, on the authority of Ḥakīm ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: I asked Ibn ʿUmar about al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām, and he said: I do not know. And I asked Ibn ʿAbbās, and he said: What lies between the two mountains.
3820 — Aḥmad related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The small mountain and what lies around it are landmarks (mashāʿir).
3821 — Aḥmad related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of Thuwayr, who said: I halted with Mujāhid on the small mountain, and he said: This is al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām.
3822 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ḥasan ibn ʿAṭiyya related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: The small mountain and what lies around it are landmarks (mashāʿir).
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: We set the first boundary of al-Mashʿar, on the side of Minā, only at the end of the valley of Muḥassir on the side of al-Muzdalifa, because:
3823 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Zayd ibn Aslam, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, who said: "All of ʿArafa is a place of standing, except ʿUrana, and all of Jamʿ is a place of standing, except Muḥassir."
3824 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Hushaym related to me, on the authority of Ḥajjāj, on the authority of Ibn Abī Mulayka, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr, that he said: All of al-Muzdalifa is a place of standing, except the valley of Muḥassir.
3825 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Ḥajjāj, who said: There informed me the one who heard ʿUrwa ibn al-Zubayr say the same.
3826 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Hishām ibn ʿUrwa, who said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr said in his sermon: Know for certain that all of ʿArafa is a place of standing, except the lowland of ʿUrana; know for certain that all of al-Muzdalifa is a place of standing, except the lowland of Muḥassir.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: However, even though that is so, I nonetheless prefer for the pilgrim that he perform his standing for the remembrance of Allah, belonging to al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām, at Quzaḥ and what lies around it, because:
3827 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā related to us, on the authority of Ibrāhīm ibn Ismāʿīl ibn Mujammiʿ, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥārith al-Makhzūmī, on the authority of Zayd ibn ʿAlī, on the authority of ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Abī Rāfiʿ, on the authority of ʿAlī, who said: When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ reached the morning at al-Muzdalifa, he went forward in the early dawn and halted at Quzaḥ, and he placed al-Faḍl behind him on the mount, and then said: This is the place of standing, and all of al-Muzdalifa is a place of standing.
3828 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Yūnus ibn Bukayr related to us, saying: Ibrāhīm ibn Ismāʿīl ibn Mujammiʿ informed us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥārith, on the authority of Zayd ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn, on the authority of ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Abī Rāfiʿ, on the authority of Abū Rāfiʿ, on the authority of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, in similar wording.
3829 — Hannād and Aḥmad al-Dūlābī related to us, both saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn al-Munkadir, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yarbūʿ, on the authority of Ibn al-Ḥuwayrith, who said: I saw Abū Bakr halt at Quzaḥ, while he was saying: O people, enter into the morning! O people, enter into the morning! Then he departed.
3830 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Hārūn related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUthmān, on the authority of Yūsuf ibn Māhak, who said: I performed the pilgrimage with Ibn ʿUmar. When he reached the morning at Jamʿ, he prayed the morning prayer, then went forward in the early dawn and we went with him, until he halted with the imam at Quzaḥ. Then the imam departed, and he departed with his departure.
* * *
As for the saying of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, when he came to al-Muzdalifa: "All of this are landmarks (mashāʿir) up to Mecca" — the meaning of that is that they are landmarks among the landmarks of the pilgrimage, at which one performs in each place of it a portion of the rites of the pilgrimage; not that all of that is "al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām", such that whoever halts wherever he halts of it up to the interior of Mecca would thereby have fulfilled what is imposed upon him regarding the standing at al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām at Jamʿ.
* * *
And as for the saying of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Aswad: "I have found no one who could inform me about al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām" — that is because it is possible that he meant: I have found no one who could inform me about the boundary of its beginning and the end of its limit, truthfully and correctly. For the boundaries of it in their precision, such that there is in it neither addition nor diminution, are fully grasped only by a few of those who know it. However, even though one does not know the boundary of its beginning and the end of its limit with a knowledge in which there is neither addition nor diminution, except [for] whom I have mentioned, nonetheless the place that one needs for the standing is hidden from no one, neither from the inhabitants of that region nor from many of the others. And likewise applies to the remaining landmarks of the pilgrimage, and the places at which Allah — mighty and exalted — has imposed upon His servants the performance of the rites, such as ʿArafāt, Minā, and the sacred precinct (al-ḥaram).
* * *
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَاذْكُرُوهُ كَمَا هَدَاكُمْ وَإِنْ كُنْتُمْ مِنْ قَبْلِهِ لَمِنَ الضَّالِّينَ (198) ("And remember Him as He has guided you, even though you were before that time verily among those who went astray") (198)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He — exalted is His praise — means by this: And remember Allah, O believers, at al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām — by praising Him and thanking Him for His favors upon you; and let your remembrance of Him be through submission to His command, obedience to Him, and gratitude for the grace with which He has favored you regarding the success-granting (al-tawfīq) toward that to which He has guided you of the practices (sunan) of Ibrāhīm, His bosom-friend — after the state of shirk (ascribing partners to Allah), bewilderment, and blindness regarding the way of the truth in which you were, and after the going astray — just as His remembrance of you through guidance, until He thereby rescued you from the Fire (al-nār), after you stood at the edge of a precipice of it, and He delivered you from it. And that is the meaning of His word: "as He has guided you."
* * *
As for His word: "even though you were before that time verily among those who went astray" — among the linguists there are those who direct the interpretation of "in" toward the meaning of "mā" (negation), and the interpretation of the "lām" in "la-min" toward "illā" (except).
The interpretation of the sentence according to this meaning is then: And you were — before Allah's guidance of you toward that to which He has guided you, namely the religion of His bosom-friend Ibrāhīm, which He has chosen for whoever is pleasing to Him among His creatures — nothing other than among those who went astray.
* * *
And among them are those who direct the interpretation of "in" toward "qad" (verily, already).
The meaning of that, according to the saying of the one who makes this assertion, is: And remember Allah, O believers, as He has remembered you with guidance, and thus guided you toward that which was pleasing to Him of the religions and ways of faith, while you were already before that time among those who went astray.
