He said:

“the festivals of the idolaters.”

He also related with his chain from ʿAmr ibn Murrah, concerning the Almighty’s words,

“Those who do not bear witness to falsehood” (al-Furqān 25:72),

that they said: “They do not support (1) the people of shirk in their shirk, nor do they mingle with them” (2).

And with his chain from ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār (3) who reported that ʿUmar said:

“Beware of adopting the speech of non-Arabs, and of entering the idolaters’ churches on the day of their festival” (4).

The statement of these Successors—“It refers to the festivals of the unbelievers”—is not at odds with the remark of some that it signifies shirk, or that it alludes to an idol (5) from the Age of Ignorance; nor with the view of others that it denotes gatherings of obscenity, or that it refers to singing. The practice of the early scholars in their exegesis was like this: a man would mention one type within a broader category to meet the listener’s need or to draw attention to the genus. It is like a non-Arab who asks, “What is bread?” and is given a loaf and told, “This,” pointing to the species, not to that specific loaf.