of the Age of Ignorance, and one who pursues the blood of a person without right, intent on spilling it.”
[Corruption and its Categories]
The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—informed us that the most detested people to Allah are these three, because corruption (fasād) is either in matters of religion or in matters of this world. The gravest worldly corruption is the unlawful taking of life, which therefore ranks as the greatest of the major sins after the highest form of religious corruption, namely disbelief (kufr).
Religious corruption itself is of two kinds: one concerns the deed, and the other concerns the place in which the deed is performed.
The corruption that relates to the deed is the adoption of a practice from the Age of Ignorance.
The corruption that relates to the place is committing sacrilege within the Sacred Precinct, for the greatest of all places in which deeds are done is the ḥaram. Violating the sanctity of place is more serious than violating the sanctity of time. For that reason, the consumption of lawful game or plants is forbidden in the Sacred Town, whereas the same is not forbidden in the sacred months.
Hence, the soundest opinion is that the prohibition of fighting within the Sacred Precinct remains in force, as confirmed by authentic texts, unlike the sacred months. For this reason—Allah knows best—the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned both committing sacrilege in the ḥaram and seeking to revive a practice of the Age of Ignorance.