Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:203
And remember Allah during [specific] numbered days. Then whoever hastens [his departure] in two days - there is no sin upon him; and whoever delays [until the third] - there is no sin upon him - for him who fears Allah. And fear Allah and know that unto Him you will be gathered.
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.
Explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَاذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ فِي أَيَّامٍ مَعْدُودَاتٍ ("And remember Allah during a number of appointed days") (2:203).
Abū Jaʿfar [al-Ṭabarī] said: He — exalted be His remembrance — means: Remember Allah by professing His oneness (tawḥīd) and by proclaiming His greatness during a counted number of days, and these are the days of casting the pebbles (jimār). He commanded His servants on those days to perform the takbīr after the prayers, and at the casting, with each pebble of the pebbles of the jimār with which one pelts one of the jimār-pillars.
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken:
* Mention of who said that:
3886 - Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, he said: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Abū Bishr, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying: "And remember Allah during a number of appointed days," he said: The days of tashrīq.
3887 - Muḥammad ibn Nāfiʿ al-Baṣrī related to me, he said: Ghundar related to us, he said: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Hushaym, on the authority of Abū Bishr, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the same.
3888 - Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, he said: my father related to me, he said: my uncle related to me, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, his saying: "And remember Allah during a number of appointed days," that is to say: the appointed days are the days of tashrīq, and these are three days after the day of sacrifice (al-naḥr).
3889 - And al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, his saying: "And remember Allah during a number of appointed days," that is to say: the days of tashrīq.
3890 - Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, he said: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abū Bishr, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the same.
3891 - And Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Makhlad related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: he heard him on the day of departure (yawm al-ṣadar), after he had departed, performing the takbīr in the mosque and explaining it: "And remember Allah during a number of appointed days."
3892 - ʿAlī ibn Dāwud related to us, he said: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "And remember Allah during a number of appointed days," that is to say: the days of tashrīq.
3893 - ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Bayān al-Sukkarī related to us, he said: Isḥāq informed us, on the authority of Sharīk, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ concerning the saying of Allah, Mighty and Exalted: "And remember Allah during a number of appointed days," he said: These are the days of tashrīq.
3894 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of Ṭalḥa ibn ʿAmr, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, the same.
3895 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: 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, Mighty and Exalted: "And remember Allah during a number of appointed days," he said: The days of tashrīq in Minā.
3896 - Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAnbasa, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid and ʿAṭāʾ, they both said: These are the days of tashrīq.
3897 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the same.
3898 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, the same.
3899 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, he said: The appointed days: the days of tashrīq.
3900 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: Yaḥyā related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, the same.
3901 - Yaʿqūb related to me, he said: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, he said: Yūnus informed us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, he said: The appointed days: the days after the day of sacrifice.
3902 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, he said: Shuʿba related to us, he said: I asked Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid about "the appointed days," he said: The days of tashrīq.
3903 - Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, he said: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, his saying: "And remember Allah during a number of appointed days," he said: we were told that they are the days of tashrīq.
3904 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda concerning His saying: "And remember Allah during a number of appointed days," he said: These are the days of tashrīq.
3905 - Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, he said: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: As for the appointed days, these are the days of tashrīq.
3906 - It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, the same.
3907 - Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, on the authority of Mālik, he said: "The appointed days" are three days after the day of sacrifice.
3908 - It was related to me on the authority of Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh al-Faḍl ibn Khālid say: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān informed us, he said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His saying: "during a number of appointed days," he said: The three days of tashrīq.
3910 - Ibn al-Barqī related to me, he said: ʿAmr ibn Abī Salama related to us, he said: I asked Ibn Zayd about "the appointed days" and "the well-known days," whereupon he said: "The appointed days" are the days of tashrīq, and "the well-known days" are the day of ʿArafa, the day of sacrifice, and the days of tashrīq.
* * *
We have said only that "the appointed days" are the days of Minā and the days of casting the jimār, because of the abundance of narrations from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that he said concerning those days that they are the days of the remembrance of Allah, Mighty and Exalted.
* Mention of the narrations that have been transmitted concerning that:
3911 - Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm and Khallād ibn Aslam related to me, he said: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of ʿUmar ibn Abī Salama, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "The days of tashrīq are days of eating and remembrance."
3912 - Khallād related to us, he said: Rawḥ related to us, he said: Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Ibn Shihāb related to me, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent out ʿAbdullāh ibn Ḥudhāfa to go around in Minā and call out: "Do not fast these days, for they are days of eating and drinking and the remembrance of Allah, Mighty and Exalted."
3912m - And Ḥumayd ibn Masʿada related to us, he said: Bishr ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us = and Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, he said: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us = they both said: Khālid related to us, on the authority of Abū Qilāba, on the authority of Abū al-Malīḥ, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha: that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Truly, these days are days of eating and drinking and the remembrance of Allah."
3913 - Yaʿqūb related to me, he said: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Laylā, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha, she said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade fasting on the days of tashrīq and said: "They are days of eating and drinking and the remembrance of Allah."
3914 - Yaʿqūb related to me, he said: Hushaym related to me, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Abī Sulaymān, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār: that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent out Bishr ibn Suḥaym, and he called out during the days of tashrīq and said: "Truly, these days are days of eating and drinking and the remembrance of Allah."
3915 - Yaʿqūb related to me, he said: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Sufyān ibn Ḥusayn, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, he said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent out ʿAbdullāh ibn Ḥudhāfa ibn Qays, and he called out during the days of tashrīq and said: "Truly, these days are days of eating and drinking and the remembrance of Allah, except for one who has a fast to fulfill on account of a sacrificial animal (hady)."
3916 - Yaʿqūb related to me, he said: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Ḥakīm ibn Ḥakīm, on the authority of Masʿūd ibn al-Ḥakam al-Zuraqī, on the authority of his mother, she said: It is as if I am still looking at ʿAlī — may Allah be pleased with him — upon the white mule of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, when he halted at the mountain pass of the Anṣār and said: "O people, these are not days of fasting; they are only days of eating and drinking and remembrance."
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar [al-Ṭabarī] said: If someone were to say: When the Prophet ﷺ said concerning the days of Minā that they are days of eating and drinking and the remembrance of Allah, he did not inform his community that these are "the appointed days" which Allah mentions in His Book — what then do you deny in the possibility that the Prophet ﷺ, by his words "and the remembrance of Allah," intended "the well-known days"?
To this it is answered: It is not permissible that he intended that. For Allah did not make obligatory upon "the well-known days" that same remembrance of Him which He made obligatory upon "the appointed days." He — exalted be His remembrance — described "the well-known days" only as days upon which the name of Allah is pronounced over the cattle, for He said: لِيَشْهَدُوا مَنَافِعَ لَهُمْ وَيَذْكُرُوا اسْمَ اللَّهِ فِي أَيَّامٍ مَعْلُومَاتٍ عَلَى مَا رَزَقَهُمْ مِنْ بَهِيمَةِ الأَنْعَامِ ("That they may witness benefits for themselves and pronounce the name of Allah during well-known days over what He has provided them of cattle") [al-Ḥajj: 28]. Thus He did not make obligatory upon "the well-known days" the same remembrance of Him which He made obligatory upon "the appointed days," but rather informed that they are days of His remembrance over the cattle. For this reason it was known that — when he ﷺ said of the days of tashrīq: "Truly, they are days of eating and drinking and the remembrance of Allah," and thus left his words "and the remembrance of Allah" unqualified, without condition and without any addition that would tie it to remembrance over the cattle — he thereby intended that remembrance which Allah mentioned in His Book and imposed upon His servants unqualified, without condition and without the addition of any meaning, upon "the appointed days." And had he ﷺ thereby intended the description of "the well-known days," then he would have connected his words "and remembrance" with the fact that it is the remembrance of Allah over what He has provided them of cattle, just as Allah described it. But he left it unqualified under the heading of remembrance, without connecting it to anything, just as the Blessed and Exalted left it unqualified under the heading of remembrance, when He said: "And remember Allah during a number of appointed days." That, then, is one of the clearest proofs that he thereby intended what Allah mentioned in His Book and made obligatory upon "the appointed days."
* * *
Explanation of the saying of the Exalted: فَمَنْ تَعَجَّلَ فِي يَوْمَيْنِ فَلا إِثْمَ عَلَيْهِ وَمَنْ تَأَخَّرَ فَلا إِثْمَ عَلَيْهِ لِمَنِ اتَّقَى ("And whoever hastens in two days, there is no sin upon him, and whoever delays [to later], there is no sin upon him — for whoever fears [Allah]") (2:203).
Abū Jaʿfar [al-Ṭabarī] said: The exegetes disagree concerning the explanation of this:
Some of them said: Its meaning is: Whoever hastens in two days of the days of tashrīq and departs on the second day, there is no sin upon him in his departing and the hastening of his departure; and whoever delays his departure on the second day of the days of tashrīq until the third day, until he departs on the third day, there is no sin upon him in his delaying.
* Mention of who said that:
3917 - Aḥmad related to us, he said: Abū Aḥmad al-Zubayrī related to us, he said: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, he said: There is no sin upon him in his hastening, and there is no sin upon him in his delaying.
3918 - Aḥmad related to us, he said: Abū Aḥmad related to us, he said: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of ʿAwf, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, the same.
3919 - Aḥmad related to us, he said: Abū Aḥmad related to us, he said: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of ʿIkrima, the same.
3920 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid concerning His saying: "Whoever hastens in two days," the day of departure, "there is no sin upon him," there is no objection against him, "and whoever delays, there is no sin upon him."
3921 - Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, he said: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: As for "Whoever hastens in two days, there is no sin upon him," he says: Whoever departs in two days, there is no objection upon him, and whoever delays and departs on the third day, there is no objection upon him.
3922 - Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, his saying: "Whoever hastens in two days," he says: Whoever hastens in two days — that is to say: of the days of tashrīq — "there is no sin upon him," and whoever is overtaken by night in Minā on the second day before he departs, for him there is no departure until the sun has declined the following day. "And whoever delays, there is no sin upon him," he says: Whoever delays until the third day of the days of tashrīq, there is no sin upon him.
3923 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda concerning His saying: "Whoever hastens in two days, there is no sin upon him," he said: Allah has permitted them to depart in two of them if they wish, and whoever delays until the third day, there is no sin upon him.
3924 - Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, he said: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm that he said concerning this verse: "Whoever hastens in two days, there is no sin upon him," he said: in his hastening.
3925 - Hannād ibn al-Sarī related to me, he said: Ibn Abī Zāʾida related to us, he said: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, he said: "There is no sin upon him," no sin is upon whoever hastens, and no sin is upon whoever delays.
3926 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, he said: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, he said: This refers to the hastening.
3927 - Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, he said: Abū Aḥmad related to us, he said: Sharīk and Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of Zayd ibn Jubayr, he said: I heard Ibn ʿUmar say: Departure in two days is permitted for whoever fears [Allah].
3928 - Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Laylā, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, on the authority of Miqsam, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "Whoever hastens in two days, there is no sin upon him" in his hastening, "and whoever delays, there is no sin upon him" in his delaying.
3929 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Ibn Jurayj informed us, he said: I said to ʿAṭāʾ: May the inhabitant of Mecca depart in the first departure? He said: Yes, Allah, Mighty and Exalted, has said: "Whoever hastens in two days, there is no sin upon him," and this applies to all people together.
3930 - Aḥmad related to us, he said: Abū Aḥmad related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: "Whoever hastens in two days, there is no sin upon him," he said: There is no sin upon him.
3931 - Al-Muthannā related to us, he said: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "Whoever hastens in two days" after the day of sacrifice, "there is no sin upon him," he says: Whoever departs from Minā in two days after the day of sacrifice, there is no sin upon him, "and whoever delays, there is no sin upon him" in his delaying, there is no objection upon him.
3932 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: "Whoever hastens in two days, there is no sin upon him" in his hastening, "and whoever delays, there is no sin upon him" in his delaying.
* * *
And others said: Its meaning is rather: Whoever hastens in two days, he is forgiven, there is no sin upon him; and whoever delays, likewise.
* Mention of who said that:
3933 - Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, he said: Abū Aḥmad related to us, he said: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of Thuwayr, on the authority of his father, on the authority of ʿAbdullāh [ibn Masʿūd]: "Whoever hastens in two days, there is no sin upon him, and whoever delays, there is no sin upon him," he said: There is no sin upon him.
3934 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ḥammād, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of ʿAbdullāh: "Whoever hastens in two days, there is no sin upon him," that is to say: he is forgiven, "and whoever delays, there is no sin upon him," he said: he is forgiven.
3935 - Aḥmad ibn Ḥāzim related to us, he said: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, he said: Misʿar related to us, on the authority of Ḥammād, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of ʿAbdullāh: "Whoever hastens in two days, there is no sin upon him," that is to say: he is forgiven.
3936 - Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: al-Muḥāribī related to us = and Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, he said: Abū Aḥmad related to us = both, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ḥammād, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of ʿAbdullāh concerning His saying: "Whoever hastens in two days, there is no sin upon him, and whoever delays, there is no sin upon him," he said: He has already been forgiven.
3937 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ḥammād, on the authority of Ibrāhīm concerning His saying: "Whoever hastens in two days, there is no sin upon him, and whoever delays, there is no sin upon him," he has already been forgiven.
3938 - Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, he said: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Ḥammād, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of ʿAbdullāh, who said concerning this verse: "Whoever hastens in two days, there is no sin upon him, and whoever delays, there is no sin upon him," he said: He is free of sin.
3939 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, he said: Ḥammād ibn Salama related to us, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Zayd, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar: "Whoever hastens in two days, there is no sin upon him," he said: he returns while he is forgiven.
3940 - Yaʿqūb related to me, he said: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid concerning His saying: "Whoever hastens in two days, there is no sin upon him, and whoever delays, there is no sin upon him," he said: He has already been forgiven.
3941 - Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, he said: Abū Aḥmad related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of Abū ʿAbdillāh, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "Whoever hastens in two days, there is no sin upon him," he said: He has already been forgiven. They explain it in a manner that contradicts its true explanation; truly, the ʿumra wipes out the sins that accompany it — how much more then with the ḥajj!
3942 - Aḥmad related to us, he said: Abū Aḥmad related to us, he said: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of Abū Ḥaṣīn, on the authority of Ibrāhīm and ʿĀmir: "Whoever hastens in two days, there is no sin upon him, and whoever delays, there is no sin upon him," they both said: he is forgiven.
3943 - Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: one whose truthfulness I affirm related to me, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, his saying: "There is no sin upon him," he said: He has come out of all sin. "And whoever delays, there is no sin upon him," he said: he is free of all sin, and that is at the departure from the ḥajj. Ibn Jurayj said: And I heard a man narrate on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib — may Allah be pleased with him — that he said: "There is no sin upon him," he said: he is forgiven, "and whoever delays, there is no sin upon him," he said: he is forgiven.
3944 - Aḥmad ibn Ḥāzim related to me, he said: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, he said: Aswad ibn Sawāda al-Qaṭṭān related to us, he said: I heard Muʿāwiya ibn Qurra say: He comes out of his sins.
* * *
And others said: Its meaning is: "Whoever hastens in two days, there is no sin upon him, and whoever delays, there is no sin upon him," in what lies between that moment and the year that comes after it.
* Mention of who said that:
3945 - Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, he said: Abū Aḥmad related to us, he said: Isḥāq ibn Yaḥyā ibn Ṭalḥa related to us, he said: I asked Mujāhid about the saying of Allah, Mighty and Exalted: "Whoever hastens in two days, there is no sin upon him, and whoever delays, there is no sin upon him," he said: That applies to whoever is in the ḥajj; there is no sin upon him until the ḥajj of the following year.
* * *
And others said: Its meaning is rather: there is no sin upon him, if he fears Allah in the remainder of his life.
* Mention of who said that:
3946 - Aḥmad related to us, he said: Abū Aḥmad related to us, he said: Abū Jaʿfar al-Rāzī related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya: "Whoever hastens in two days, there is no sin upon him, and whoever delays, there is no sin upon him," he said: All his sin has gone if he fears [Allah] in what remains to him.
3947 - It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, the same.
3948 - It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya, the same.
3949 - Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: "Whoever hastens in two days, there is no sin upon him, and whoever delays, there is no sin upon him," he said: That applies to whoever fears [Allah], conditionally.
3950 - Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, he said: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "Whoever hastens in two days, there is no sin upon him," there is no objection upon him, "and whoever delays" until the third day, there is no objection upon him, for whoever fears [Allah]. And Ibn ʿAbbās used to say: I would wish that I were among these, among those upon whom the name of God-fearing (taqwā) applies.
3951 - Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, he said: Ibn Jurayj said: It is in the copy (muṣḥaf) of ʿAbdullāh as: "for whoever fears Allah."
3952 - Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: ʿAbdullāh related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "Whoever hastens in two days, there is no sin upon him, and whoever delays, there is no sin upon him," there is no objection upon him, he says: for whoever fears [and avoids] disobedience toward Allah, Mighty and Exalted.
* * *
And others said: Its meaning is rather: "Whoever hastens in two days" of the days of tashrīq, "there is no sin upon him," that is to say: there is no objection upon him in his hastening his departure, if he is careful not to kill game until the third day has passed; and whoever delays until the third day and does not depart [earlier], there is no objection upon him.
* Mention of who said that:
3953 - Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Hushaym related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Abī Ṣāliḥ informed us: "for whoever fears [Allah]," [that is to say] that he is careful not to strike anything of the game until the third day passes.
3954 - Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, he said: my father related to me, he said: my uncle related to me, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "Whoever hastens in two days, there is no sin upon him," and it is not permitted to him to kill game until the days of tashrīq have elapsed.
* * *
And others said: Its meaning is rather: "Whoever hastens in two days" of the days of tashrīq and departs, "there is no sin upon him," that is to say: he is forgiven; "and whoever delays" and departs on the third day, "there is no sin upon him," that is to say: he is forgiven, if he is careful not to strike anything in his ḥajj that Allah has forbidden him.
* Mention of who said that:
3955 - Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, his saying: "for whoever fears [Allah]," he said: he says: for whoever guards over his ḥajj. Qatāda said: we were told that Ibn Masʿūd used to say: Whoever guards in his ḥajj, he is forgiven what preceded it of sins — or: what has elapsed of sins.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar [al-Ṭabarī] said: The correct of these statements is the statement of the one who says that its explanation is: "Whoever hastens in two days" of the three days of Minā and departs on the second day, "there is no sin upon him," because Allah has taken away his sins, if he has feared Allah in his ḥajj, has avoided in it what Allah has commanded him to avoid, has done in it what Allah has commanded him to do, and has obeyed Him by accomplishing it according to the limits (ḥudūd) with which He has charged him; "and whoever delays" until the third of them and does not depart [earlier] in the second departure, but departs only on the day after the first departure, "there is no sin upon him," because Allah remits him what preceded of sins and offenses, if he has feared Allah in his ḥajj by accomplishing it according to its limits.
We have said only that this is the correct of the interpretations, because of the abundance of narrations from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that he said: "Whoever performs the pilgrimage to this House and does not engage in sexual intercourse nor in transgression (fisq), comes out of his sins as on the day his mother bore him." And that he ﷺ said: "Perform ḥajj and ʿumra one after the other, for they drive away the sins as the blacksmith's bellows drives away the dross of iron, gold, and silver."
3956 - ʿAbdullāh ibn Saʿīd al-Kindī related to us, he said: Abū Khālid al-Aḥmar related to us, he said: ʿAmr ibn Qays related to us, on the authority of ʿĀṣim, on the authority of Shaqīq, on the authority of ʿAbdullāh, he said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Perform ḥajj and ʿumra one after the other, for they drive away poverty and sins as the blacksmith's bellows drives away the dross of iron, gold, and silver; and for the accepted ḥajj there is no reward below the Garden (janna)."
3957 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: al-Ḥakam ibn Bashīr related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Qays, on the authority of ʿĀṣim, on the authority of Zirr, on the authority of ʿAbdullāh, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, with similar wording.
3958 - Al-Faḍl ibn al-Ṣabbāḥ related to us, he said: Ibn ʿUyayna related to us, on the authority of ʿĀṣim ibn ʿUbaydillāh, on the authority of ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿĀmir ibn Rabīʿa, on the authority of his father, on the authority of ʿUmar, that he attributed it to the Prophet ﷺ, he said: "Perform ḥajj and ʿumra one after the other, for performing the one after the other drives away poverty and sins as the blacksmith's bellows drives away the dross — or: the dross of iron."
3959 - Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿīd related to us, he said: Saʿd ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd related to us, he said: Ibn Abī al-Zinād related to us, on the authority of Mūsā ibn ʿUqba, on the authority of Ṣāliḥ, the mawlā of al-Tawʾama, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "When you have completed your ḥajj, you are like as your mother bore you."
* * *
And similar narrations, the enumeration of which in their entirety would lengthen the book, indicate that whoever performs the ḥajj and accomplishes it according to its limits as Allah has commanded him, comes out of his sins, as He — exalted be His praise — said: "there is no sin upon him, for whoever fears [Allah]" in his ḥajj. Thus there lay in the words of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that which clarifies that the meaning of His saying, Mighty and Exalted: "there is no sin upon him," is that he comes out of his sins, that his sins have been taken away from him and his offenses forgiven him — and that there is no basis for the statement of the one who explained His words "there is no sin upon him" as: there is no objection upon him in his departing on the second day, and there is no objection upon him in his remaining until the third day. For the objection is removed from the agent only with respect to something whose omission rested upon him, so that it is permitted to him to do it by the removal from him of the objection in that doing; or with respect to something whose doing rested upon him, so that it is permitted to him to omit it by the removal from him of the objection in that omitting. As for that whose doing rests upon the agent, there is no sense in removing the objection from him if he does it, while his duty is precisely the doing of it, for it is impossible that one who fulfills an obligation should be sinful (ḥarij) by fulfilling it, such that it could be said: We have removed from you the objection therein.
And since that is so — and the pilgrim, according to whoever explained His saying "there is no sin upon him" as "there is no objection upon him" or "there is no blame upon him," can be in no other case than that his duty is departure on the second day of the days of tashrīq, whereby the objection in remaining is removed from him, or that his duty is remaining until the third day, whereby the objection in departing on the second day is removed from him — it holds: if his duty on the second day of the days of tashrīq is remaining until the third of them, whereby the objection in his departing on the second of them is removed from him — and that is the hastening concerning which it was said: "Whoever hastens in two days, there is no sin upon him" — then His saying, according to the explanation of whoever explained it thus: "there is no sin upon him," meaning "there is no blame upon him," "and whoever delays, there is no sin upon him," has no meaning. For whoever delays until the third day merely delays the fulfillment of a duty resting upon him and omits accepting the permission to depart, and so there is no basis to say: "there is no objection upon you in your remaining to fulfill the duty resting upon you," for what we have described earlier. Or: if his duty on the second day is departure, and it is permitted to him to remain until the third day, then there is no sense in saying: "there is no objection upon you in your hastening the departure, which is your duty and which you must do," for the reason we have adduced earlier.
Likewise, there is no basis for the statement of the one who said that its meaning is: "Whoever hastens in two days, there is no sin upon him" and there is no objection upon him in that departure, if he is careful not to kill game until the end of the third day. For if that were an acceptable explanation for whoever says it, then in His saying "and whoever delays, there is no sin upon him" there would be something that nullifies his claim; for there is no disagreement within the community that the game for the pilgrim, after his departure from Minā on the third day, is permitted (ḥalāl). What then is that on account of which He would have removed the objection from him in His saying "and whoever delays, there is no sin upon him," when he delays until the third day and then departs? This, in addition to the consensus of the authoritative testimony that the person in iḥrām, when he has cast, slaughtered, shaved the head, and performed the circumambulation around the House, has everything permitted to him again — and the explicit mention of the narration that has been transmitted on the authority of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to that effect, namely that which:
3960 - Hannād ibn al-Sarī al-Ḥanẓalī related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥīm ibn Sulaymān related to us, on the authority of Ḥajjāj, on the authority of Abū Bakr ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr ibn Ḥazm, on the authority of ʿAmra, she said: I asked ʿĀʾisha, the mother of the believers — may Allah be pleased with her — when [everything] becomes permitted again for the person in iḥrām? She said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "When you have cast, slaughtered, and shaved, everything is permitted to you again except the women." He [the narrator] said: And al-Zuhrī mentioned, on the authority of ʿAmra, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, the same.
* * *
As for the one who explained that in the sense of: "there is no sin upon him until the following year," there is no basis for limiting it to a [particular] time and removing the sin of the pilgrim for a future year, to the exclusion of his preceding sins. For Allah — exalted be His praise — did not restrict that to the removal of a sin of a future time, neither in the clear wording of the revelation, nor by the tongue of the Messenger — peace and blessings be upon him. Rather, the indication of the clear wording of the revelation shows that both the one who hastens in the two days and the one who delays, neither of them bears sin in the state in which he is, to the exclusion of other states.
And the narration of the Messenger ﷺ explicitly declares that he, by accomplishing his ḥajj as he was commanded, comes out of his sins as on the day his mother bore him. Therein lies — in the indication of the clear wording of the revelation and in the explicit statement of the Messenger ﷺ — a clear indication of the incorrectness of the statement of the one who said that the meaning of His saying "there is no sin upon him" is: there is no sin upon him from the moment of completing his ḥajj until the following year.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar [al-Ṭabarī] said: If someone were to ask us: What governs the "lām" [preposition] in His saying "for whoever fears [Allah]" (li-man ittaqā), and what is its meaning?
To this it is answered: What governs it is the meaning of His saying "there is no sin upon him." For in His saying "there is no sin upon him" lies the meaning: We have taken away his sins and remitted his offenses; therein lies, then, the meaning: We have made the remission of sins for whoever has feared Allah in his ḥajj. Thus the mention of "We have made the remission of sins" was omitted, because the indication of His saying "there is no sin upon him" sufficed.
Some grammarians of Basra have claimed that it is as though, when He mentioned this permission, He thereby informed of something, and so said: "for whoever fears [Allah]," that is to say: this is for whoever fears [Allah]. Some of them rejected that from his statement and claimed that the adverbial element (the ṣifa) necessarily requires something to which it attaches, because it cannot stand on its own; rather, it is, according to what they claim, connected to an omitted "saying." Thus the meaning of the text according to him was [as though]: "We said: and whoever delays, there is no sin upon him, for whoever fears [Allah]," and His saying "and whoever delays, there is no sin upon him" stood in place of the "saying."
And some Arabists claimed that the place of the removal of sin is [really] with the one who hastens, but that it was [also] granted to the one who delays — and that is the one who has fulfilled [his duty] and has not fallen short — equal to what was granted to the one falling short, as one says in speech: "If you give alms in secret, that is good, and if you do it openly, that is good," while those two are different, for whoever gives alms openly, provided he does not intend showing off (riyāʾ), does good, even though in secret it is better.
And in the description of the two states of those who give alms as "good" there lies no qualification of either as sin. Allah, Mighty and Exalted, however, informed concerning the two departing ones that the sin of both of them has been removed, and it is impossible that He would remove from both of them anything other than that whose omission [thereof] would be sin — according to the explanation that the proponents of this statement gave to it. And in the consensus of all that both of them, if they were to omit the departure and remain in Minā, neither of them would be sinful, lies what demonstrates the incorrectness of the explanation that the one whose statement we have rendered gave.
And he [that Arabist] also said: Therein lies yet another possibility, namely the meaning of the prohibition to the two groups that the one group should brand the other as sinful, as though by His saying "there is no sin upon him" He intended: let not the one who hastens say to the one who delays: "you are sinful," and let not the one who delays say to the one who hastens: "you are sinful," in the meaning: let neither of them brand the other as sinful.
This too is an explanation that contradicts the statement of all the exegetes, and that suffices as witness to its incorrectness.
* * *
Explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّكُمْ إِلَيْهِ تُحْشَرُونَ ("And fear Allah and know that to Him you will be gathered") (2:203).
Abū Jaʿfar [al-Ṭabarī] said: He — exalted be His praise — thereby means: And fear Allah, O believers, in that which He has imposed upon you of obligations; fear Him, then, against neglecting and failing in them, and in that which He has forbidden you in your ḥajj and your rites, that you should commit or do it, and in that with which He has charged you in your iḥrām for your ḥajj, that you should fall short in accomplishing and carrying it out. "And know that to Him you will be gathered," for He will requite you according to your deeds — the doer of good among you according to his good, and the doer of evil according to his evil — and He will repay every soul among you in full for what it has performed, while no injustice will be done to you.
