because he had omitted something commanded; commanded acts are positive obligations that must be carried out, whereas prohibitions are matters of abstention that must not occur.
Commanded acts can be remedied by performing them, whereas prohibited acts have already occurred. However, if one is still engaged in the prohibited act, it must be remedied by stopping it. If someone were to say: Allah’s saying, “Our Lord, do not take us to task if we forget or make a mistake,” is general and applies both to omitting a commanded act and committing a prohibited act, the answer is that this is indeed so: one who omits a commanded act out of ignorance or forgetfulness is not held accountable for the omission. Yet, his failure to perform it requires that he be obliged to perform it once the excuse has ceased, so that he may discharge his liability.
Every sacrificial offering or feeding is for the poor of the Sacred Precinct …
His statement: “Every sacrificial offering.” The author mentions the place where the sacrificial offering is to be given. Thus, every sacrificial offering that a person presents to the House—whether it is a voluntary offering, meaning an offering that is not obligatory, or an obligatory one, such as the offering for tamattu‘ or qiran, or an expiation for omitting an obligation—is included. As for committing a prohibited act, this will be discussed later.
His statement: “Or feeding,” meaning every instance of feeding, such as feeding six poor persons as expiation for harm, or feeding the poor as compensation for hunting, and the like.
His statement: “Is for the poor of the Sacred Precinct,” meaning that it is to be distributed among the poor of the Sacred Precinct. This is not unrestrictedly applicable to every sacrificial offering, for the offerings of tamattu‘ and qiran are offerings of gratitude. Therefore, they need not be distributed exclusively to the poor of the Sacred Precinct; rather, their ruling is that of the udhiyah: one may eat from them, give some as gifts, and give charity from them to the poor of the Sacred Precinct.
Thus, if a person slaughters the offering for tamattu‘ or qiran in Makkah, then takes its meat out to al-Shara’i, Jeddah, or elsewhere, there is no harm in that. However, he must give some of it in charity to the poor of the Sacred Precinct.