Tafseer of The Pilgrimage · Al-Hajj · 22:33
For you the animals marked for sacrifice are benefits for a specified term; then their place of sacrifice is at the ancient House.
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 exegetes differed over the meaning of the benefits that Allah mentioned in this verse and of which He informed His servants that they hold until an appointed term — comparable to their disagreement over the meaning of the symbols (al-shaʿāʾir) which He, the Exalted, mentioned in His words وَمَنْ يُعَظِّمْ شَعَائِرَ اللَّهِ فَإِنَّهَا مِنْ تَقْوَى الْقُلُوبِ . Those who said that by the shaʿāʾir the sacrificial camels (al-budn) are meant said that the meaning of this is: for you, O people, there are benefits in the sacrificial camels. But even those who held this view differed among themselves over the circumstance in which those benefits hold for them and over the appointed term concerning which Allah, the Exalted, said إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُسَمَّى . Some of them said: the circumstance about which Allah, the Exalted, informed that there are benefits for them in it is the circumstance in which the owner has not yet made them obligatory and has not yet designated them as a "sacrificial camel" and has not equipped them with a garland. The benefits in that circumstance are, so they said: drinking the milk, riding the backs, and what Allah grants them of young and offspring. The appointed term about which Allah, the Exalted, informed that it holds for His believing servants until that moment is the moment at which they make the sacrificial-camel obligation — once they have done that, this lapses and they have nothing more from it.
Mention of who said that: Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn ʿĪsā 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, concerning the words لَكُمْ فِيهَا مَنَافِعُ إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُسَمَّى — he said: as long as it has not yet been designated as a sacrificial camel.
ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Bayān related to us, saying: Isḥāq ibn Yūsuf informed us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the words لَكُمْ فِيهَا مَنَافِعُ إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُسَمَّى — he said: the riding, the milk and the offspring; as soon as one has designated it as a sacrificial camel or sacrificial animal, all of this lapses.
Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning this verse لَكُمْ فِيهَا مَنَافِعُ إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُسَمَّى — he said: for you there are the backs, the milk and the wool, until they become sacrificial camels.
He said: Ibn ʿAdī related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, on the authority of Mujāhid, the same.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAnbasa, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, and Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid: لَكُمْ فِيهَا مَنَافِعُ إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُسَمَّى — he said: in their hair, wool and milk, before one designates them as a sacrificial camel.
He said: Hārūn ibn al-Mughīra related to us, on the authority of ʿAnbasa, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, likewise.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us, both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the words لَكُمْ فِيهَا مَنَافِعُ إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُسَمَّى — he said: in the sacrificial camels the meats, the milk, the hair, the wool and the hair-tuft, before the designation as a sacrificial animal.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, likewise — and he added: and that is the appointed term.
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj informed us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, concerning the words لَكُمْ فِيهَا مَنَافِعُ إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُسَمَّى ثُمَّ مَحِلُّهَا إِلَى الْبَيْتِ الْعَتِيقِ — he said: the benefits are in their milk, back and wool; إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُسَمَّى — until they are hung with the garland.
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Juwaybir informed us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, likewise.
Yaʿqūb related to me; he said: Ibn ʿUlayya said: I heard Ibn Abī Najīḥ say concerning the words لَكُمْ فِيهَا مَنَافِعُ إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُسَمَّى — he said: until one makes it obligatory as a sacrificial camel.
He said: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Qatāda: لَكُمْ فِيهَا مَنَافِعُ إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُسَمَّى — he says: in their backs and milk; when they have been equipped with the garland, their destination is to the Ancient House.
Others among those who said that the shaʿāʾir in the words وَمَنْ يُعَظِّمْ شَعَائِرَ اللَّهِ are the sacrificial camels, and that the pronoun in لَكُمْ فِيهَا refers to the shaʿāʾir, said: the meaning of لَكُمْ فِيهَا مَنَافِعُ is: for you there are benefits in the symbols which you venerate in honor of Allah after you have designated them as sacrificial camels or sacrificial animals for Allah — by riding their backs when you have need of that, and drinking their milk when you are compelled to it. The appointed term is, so they said: until they are slaughtered.
Mention of who said that: Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAnbasa, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ: لَكُمْ فِيهَا مَنَافِعُ إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُسَمَّى — he said: riding the sacrificial camels and drinking their milk when one has need of that.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ said, concerning the words لَكُمْ فِيهَا مَنَافِعُ إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُسَمَّى — he said: until they are slaughtered. He said: he may let them be ridden by whoever is in distress and by whoever has fallen behind out of necessity. The Prophet ﷺ commanded that when the owner of a sacrificial camel had need of her, she should be loaded and ridden when he was exhausted. I asked ʿAṭāʾ: who then? He said: the man on foot, the one who cannot endure it, the one who is being escorted, and when she has a young one: let the young one ride on her; drinking of her milk only what is left over after her young — if there is a surplus in her milk, the one who has offered her as a sacrificial animal may drink of it, and so too the one who has not offered her.
As for those who said that the shaʿāʾir in the words وَمَنْ يُعَظِّمْ شَعَائِرَ اللَّهِ are the symbols of the pilgrimage — namely the places where one performs the rituals for Allah — they too differed over the meaning of the benefits about which Allah said لَكُمْ فِيهَا مَنَافِعُ . Some of them said: the meaning is: for you there are benefits in these symbols which you venerate, through your trading there, your buying and selling in their vicinity and your visiting the market there. The appointed term is: the departing of the symbols to elsewhere and the leaving of the places where the rituals are performed for other places — in the view of some.
Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī al-Ṣudāʾī related to me, saying: Abū Usāma related to us, on the authority of Sulaymān al-Ḍabbī, on the authority of ʿĀṣim ibn Abī al-Najūd, on the authority of Abū Razīn, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning the words لَكُمْ فِيهَا مَنَافِعُ — he said: their markets; he mentioned the benefits only in favor of the worldly life.
Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Yazīd ibn Hārūn related to us, saying: Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind informed us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Abī Mūsā, concerning the words لَكُمْ فِيهَا مَنَافِعُ إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُسَمَّى — he said: the appointed term is the departing of them to elsewhere.
Others of them said: the benefits that Allah mentioned in this place are the work for Allah in accordance with the rituals of the pilgrimage that He commanded. The appointed term is, so they said: the end of the pilgrimage period in which one performs the rituals for Allah.
Mention of who said that: Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning the words لَكُمْ فِيهَا مَنَافِعُ إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُسَمَّى ثُمَّ مَحِلُّهَا إِلَى الْبَيْتِ الْعَتِيقِ — he recited Allah's words وَمَنْ يُعَظِّمْ شَعَائِرَ اللَّهِ فَإِنَّهَا مِنْ تَقْوَى الْقُلُوبِ : for you there are benefits in those symbols until an appointed term — when those days have passed you will no longer see anyone going to ʿArafāt to stand there seeking reward, nor to Muzdalifa, nor to cast the stones; they have traveled from the towns for those days in which the benefits are; the benefits are only until those days, and that is the appointed term; then the destination — when those days have ended — is to the Ancient House.
Abū Jaʿfar says: we have shown earlier that Allah's words وَمَنْ يُعَظِّمْ شَعَائِرَ اللَّهِ pertain to everything that is an act or a place which Allah has appointed as a symbol for the pilgrimage rituals of His creatures, because He, the Exalted, has excepted nothing of it, neither by a report nor by reason. Thus it is clear that the meaning of لَكُمْ فِيهَا مَنَافِعُ إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُسَمَّى is: in these symbols there are for you benefits until an appointed term. Whatever of these symbols is a sacrificial animal or sacrificial camel, in it the benefits are for you from the moment you possess them until you have made them obligatory as a sacrificial animal or sacrificial camel. Whatever of them are places where one performs the rituals for Allah, in them the benefits are the trade for Allah there and the performing of what He commanded, until the departing from those places. Whatever of them are time-periods for obeying Allah by performing the pilgrimage acts and seeking livelihood through trade therein, it holds until one performs the ṭawāf around the House — in some cases — or visits the sacred precinct — in other cases — or leaves the sacred precinct — in yet other cases.
The exegetes whose disagreement we have mentioned over the interpretation of لَكُمْ فِيهَا مَنَافِعُ إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُسَمَّى also differed over the interpretation of ثُمَّ مَحِلُّهَا إِلَى الْبَيْتِ الْعَتِيقِ . Those who said that by the shaʿāʾir in this place the sacrificial camels are meant said that the meaning is: then the destination of the sacrificial camels is until they have reached Mecca, for that is where the Ancient House stands.
Mention of who said that: Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym informed us, saying: Ḥajjāj informed us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ: ثُمَّ مَحِلُّهَا إِلَى الْبَيْتِ الْعَتِيقِ — to Mecca.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us, both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: ثُمَّ مَحِلُّهَا إِلَى الْبَيْتِ الْعَتِيقِ — that is to say: the destination of the sacrificial camels once they have been designated, is to the Ancient House.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: ثُمَّ مَحِلُّهَا — once they have been designated as a sacrificial animal — إِلَى الْبَيْتِ الْعَتِيقِ . He said: the Kaʿba has been freed by Allah from the tyrants. These exegetes have directed the interpretation of the verse toward the fact that the place of slaughter of the sacrificial camels and sacrificial animals which you have taken upon yourself as an obligation is in the sacred precinct. They said that by the Ancient House the entire sacred precinct is meant, just as His words فَلاَ يَقْرَبُوا الْمَسْجِدَ الْحَرَامَ are meant for the entire sacred precinct.
Others said: the meaning is: then your destination, O people, from the rituals of your pilgrimage is to the Ancient House, so that you perform the ṭawāf around it on the Day of Sacrifice after you have completed what Allah has made obligatory upon you in your pilgrimage.
Mention of who said that: Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Hārūn related to us, saying: Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind informed us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Abī Mūsā: ثُمَّ مَحِلُّهَا إِلَى الْبَيْتِ الْعَتِيقِ — he said: the destination of all these symbols is the ṭawāf around the House.
Others said: the meaning is: then the destination of the benefits of the pilgrimage period is to the Ancient House at its expiry.
Mention of who said that: Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning the words ثُمَّ مَحِلُّهَا إِلَى الْبَيْتِ الْعَتِيقِ — when those days have passed, the pilgrimage period, to the Ancient House.
The most correct view about this, in my judgment, is that of the one who said: the meaning is: then the destination of the symbols — of which you enjoy benefits until an appointed term — is to the Ancient House. Whatever of them is a sacrificial animal or sacrificial camel, then the destination is in the sacred precinct; whatever of them is a ritual, then the destination is the ṭawāf around the House.
We have set forth the correct judgment of the interpretation of the shaʿāʾir.
