Tafseer of The Pilgrimage · Al-Hajj · 22:67
For every religion We have appointed rites which they perform. So, [O Muhammad], let the disbelievers not contend with you over the matter but invite them to your Lord. Indeed, you are upon straight guidance.
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 (ahl al-taʾwīl) have differed among themselves over the meaning of His word لِكُلِّ أُمَّةٍ جَعَلْنَا مَنْسَكًا — which of the manāsik is intended by it. Some said: by it is meant their festival (ʿīd) which they were accustomed to celebrate.
Those who said this are mentioned here: ʿAlī related to me, saying: ʿAbdullāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word لِكُلِّ أُمَّةٍ جَعَلْنَا مَنْسَكًا هُمْ نَاسِكُوهُ — he said: a festival (ʿīd).
Others said: by it is meant a slaughter that they perform and blood that they shed.
Those who said this are mentioned here: Abū Kurayb related to me, saying: Ibn Yamān related to us, saying: Ibn Jurayj related to us, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word لِكُلِّ أُمَّةٍ جَعَلْنَا مَنْسَكًا هُمْ نَاسِكُوهُ — he said: the shedding of blood in Mecca.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, 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 His word هُمْ نَاسِكُوهُ — he said: the shedding of the blood of the sacrificial animals (hady).
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: (mansakan) — he said: a slaughter and a ḥajj.
The correct view concerning this is that one says: by it is meant the shedding of blood on the days of sacrifice (al-naḥr) at Minā, for the rites (manāsik) over which the polytheists had disputed with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ were the shedding of blood on these days — although they had also contested him over the shedding of blood in the slaughter of cattle, as Allah has reported their words in Sūrat al-Anʿām. However, those latter were not manāsik; the manāsik are only the sacrificial offerings (hadāyā) or the sacrificial offerings of the festival prayer (ḍaḥāyā). Therefore we say: by mansak in this place is meant the slaughter with the description that we have described.
His word فَلا يُنَازِعُنَّكَ فِي الأَمْرِ — Allah, exalted is His praise, says: let these polytheists not dispute with you, O Muḥammad, concerning your slaughter and your rite, with their words: "You eat what you yourselves have killed, but do not eat the carcass that Allah has killed?" For you have more right to the truth than they, because you bring the truth and they are in error.
Close to what we have said concerning this are the exegetes.
Those who said this are mentioned here: 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: فَلا يُنَازِعُنَّكَ فِي الأَمْرِ — he said: the slaughter.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: فَلا يُنَازِعُنَّكَ فِي الأَمْرِ — "let them not dispute your meat."
His word وَادْعُ إِلَى رَبِّكَ — Allah, exalted is His praise, says: invite your polytheists who dispute with you concerning your rite and your slaughter to follow the command of your Lord therein: that they eat nothing except what they have slaughtered after they have followed you and affirmed what you have brought to them from Allah, and that they shun slaughtering for the gods and the idols and disassociate themselves from that. Truly, you are upon a straight path, not deviating from the way of truth and rectitude in the rite that your Lord has appointed for you and for your community. They, by contrast, stray from the straight path, because of their transgression of Allah's command concerning their slaughters and their worship of the idols.
