Tafseer of The Table · Al-Maaida · 5:97
Allah has made the Ka'bah, the Sacred House, standing for the people and [has sanctified] the sacred months and the sacrificial animals and the garlands [by which they are identified]. That is so you may know that Allah knows what is in the heavens and what is in the earth and that Allah is Knowing of all things.
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 discourse on the explanation of His statement: جَعَلَ اللَّهُ الْكَعْبَةَ الْبَيْتَ الْحَرَامَ قِيَامًا لِلنَّاسِ وَالشَّهْرَ الْحَرَامَ وَالْهَدْيَ وَالْقَلائِدَ (Allah has made the Kaʿba, the Sacred House, a support (qiyām) for the people, and also the sacred month, the sacrificial offering (hady), and the garlands (qalāʾid).)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose remembrance is lofty, says: Allah has made the Kaʿba, the Sacred House, a support (qiwām) for the people who had no support in the form of a leader who would restrain their strong from their weak, their evildoer from their righteous one, and their oppressor from their oppressed — "and the sacred month, the sacrificial offering, and the garlands," so that through each of these He restrained some of them from others, since they had no support other than this; and He made these into marks of their religion and into matters of common welfare for their affairs.
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And "al-Kaʿba" is, according to what has been said, called "Kaʿba" because of its square shape.
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* Mention of who said that:
12780 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: it is called "al-Kaʿba" only because it is square (murabbaʿa).
12781 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Hāshim ibn al-Qāsim related to us, on the authority of Abū Saʿīd al-Muʾaddib, on the authority of al-Naḍr ibn ʿArabī, on the authority of ʿIkrima, who said: it is called "al-Kaʿba" only because of its square shape.
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And one reads "qiyāman li-l-nās" with the yāʾ, although the [word] is of the wāw-category, [and this is] because of the kasra of the qāf — which is the "fāʾ" of the verb — so that its "ʿayn" became a "yāʾ" on account of the kasra, just as one says, in the verbal noun of "qumtu," "qiyāman," and [in that of] "ṣumtu," "ṣiyāman"; so one has converted the "ʿayn" of the verb — which is a "wāw" — into a "yāʾ" because of the kasra of its fāʾ. For in origin it is: "qumtu qiwāman" and "ṣumtu ṣiwāman," and likewise His statement: "Allah has made the Kaʿba, the Sacred House, a support for the people" — one has converted its wāw into a yāʾ, since it is "qiwām."
And this is also transmitted in their language as it is pronounced in its original form; the rajaz-poet said:
qiwāmu dunyā wa-qawāmu dīn (The support of the worldly life and the support of religion)
So he brought it with the wāw, in its original form.
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And the Exalted, whose remembrance is lofty, has made the Kaʿba, the sacred month, the sacrificial offering, and the garlands a support for whoever among the Arabs held this sacred and venerated it, in the manner of the leader through whom the affair of his followers is established.
As for "al-Kaʿba," that is the entire sanctuary (al-ḥaram). And Allah, the Exalted, has called it "ḥarām" (forbidden, sacred), because of His prohibition that its game be hunted, or its grass be cut, or its trees be felled; and we have already expounded this with its proof-texts earlier.
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And His statement: "and the sacred month, the sacrificial offering, and the garlands" — the Exalted, whose remembrance is lofty, says: and He has made the sacred month, the sacrificial offering, and the garlands likewise a support for the people, just as He made the Kaʿba, the Sacred House, a support for them.
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And concerning "the people" for whom He made this a support, there has been disagreement.
Some of them said: Allah made this a support for all people in the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya).
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And some of them said: no, by this the Arabs in particular were meant.
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And in accordance with what we have said in the explanation of "al-qiwām," the exegetes spoke.
* Mention of who said: Allah, the Exalted, whose remembrance is lofty, meant by His statement: "Allah has made the Kaʿba, the Sacred House, a support for the people," al-qiwām, in accordance with what we have said:
12782 - Hannād related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Zāʾida related to us, saying: one who heard Khuṣayf relate informed us, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning: "Allah has made the Kaʿba, the Sacred House, a support for the people," he said: a support (qiwām) for the people.
12783 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿUbaydallāh related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Khuṣayf, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: "a support for the people," he said: a soundness (ṣalāḥ) for their religion.
12784 - Hannād related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Zāʾida related to us, saying: Dāwūd informed us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning: "Allah has made the Kaʿba, the Sacred House, a support for the people," he said: when they hoped for no Paradise and feared no Fire, and Allah strengthened that through Islam.
12785 - Hannād related to me, saying: Ibn Abī Zāʾida related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Abū al-Haytham, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning His statement: "Allah has made the Kaʿba, the Sacred House, a support for the people," he said: a firmness (shidda) for their religion.
12786 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Abū al-Haytham, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, the same.
12787 - Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement: "Allah has made the Kaʿba, the Sacred House, a support for the people," he said: its being a support means that whoever turns toward it is safe.
12788 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement: "Allah has made the Kaʿba, the Sacred House, a support for the people, and also the sacred month, the sacrificial offering, and the garlands," he means: a support for their religion, and marks for their pilgrimage.
12789 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "Allah has made the Kaʿba, the Sacred House, a support for the people, and also the sacred month, the sacrificial offering, and the garlands" — Allah made these four a support for the people; it is the support of their affair.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And although the wordings of these statements differ among those who said them, their meanings nonetheless arrive at what we have said concerning this, namely that the "qiwām" of a matter is that by which it is in good order, just as the supreme king is the support of his subjects and of those under his authority, because he governs their affair, restrains their oppressor from their oppressed, and wards off from them that harm which is done to them by their enemies and adversaries. And likewise the Kaʿba, the sacred month, the sacrificial offering, and the garlands were the support of the affair of the Arabs, through which their welfare was established in the time of ignorance; and in Islam they are, for its adherents, the marks of their pilgrimage and their rites, the direction toward which they turn for their prayer, and their prayer-direction (qibla) the facing of which completes their obligation.
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And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the group of exegetes spoke.
* Mention of who said that:
12790 - Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Jāmiʿ ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement: "Allah has made the Kaʿba, the Sacred House, a support for the people, and also the sacred month, the sacrificial offering, and the garlands" — barriers that Allah maintained between the people in the time of ignorance; thus a man, even if he had committed every crime and then took refuge in the sanctuary, would not be touched or approached. And a man, if he encountered the murderer of his father in the sacred month, would not attack him nor approach him. And a man who wished to go to the House would put on a garland from it, which protected him and kept the people away from him. And when he departed, he would put on a garland of idhkhir-grass or of the bark of the samur-tree, which kept the people away from him until he reached his family — barriers that Allah maintained between the people in the time of ignorance.
12791 - Yūnus related to us, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement: "Allah has made the Kaʿba, the Sacred House, a support for the people, and also the sacred month, the sacrificial offering, and the garlands," he said: all peoples had among them kings who protected some of them against others. He said: but among the Arabs there were no kings who protected some of them against others, so Allah, the Exalted, made for them the Sacred House a support, through which some of them were protected against others, and likewise the sacred month — Allah protects some of them against others through the sacred months — and the garlands. He said: and a man would encounter the murderer of his brother or of his paternal cousin and would not attack him. And all this has been abrogated (nusikha).
12792 - Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "and the garlands" — some people in the time of ignorance would put on the bark of the tree when they wished to perform the pilgrimage, and they were recognized thereby.
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And we have already given the exposition concerning the mention of "the sacred month," "the sacrificial offering," and "the garlands," in a manner that relieves us from repetition in this place.
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The discourse on the explanation of His statement: ذَلِكَ لِتَعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الأَرْضِ وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ (97) (That is so that you may know that Allah knows what is in the heavens and what is on the earth, and that Allah is All-Knowing of all things.) (97)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose remembrance is lofty, means by His statement "that" His making of the Kaʿba, the Sacred House, a support for the people, and of the sacred month, the sacrificial offering, and the garlands. The Exalted, whose remembrance is lofty, says: I have made that a support for you, O people, so that you may know that He who instituted for you, for the welfare of your worldly life, that which He instituted — namely that by which your support exists — out of His knowledge of what benefits you and what harms you, likewise knows everything that is in the heavens and what is on the earth of that in which lies the welfare of your near and your later life; and so that you may know that He is "All-Knowing" of all things, that nothing of your affairs and your deeds is hidden from Him, and that He reckons it against you, until He requites the righteous one among you for his good deed and the evildoer among you for his evil deed.
