—exalted is He—“Pilgrimage to the House is a duty owed to Allah by those who are able to make the journey” [Āl ʿImrān 97], and that this expression was intended to convey the obligation of pilgrimage to the House in Mecca. The same applies to His words, exalted is He, “The month of Ramadan” [al-Baqarah 185], and His words, exalted is He, “Establish prayer and give zakat” [al-Baqarah 43], and similar passages.

When someone hears such an expression, he knows with certainty that this meaning was intended, just as he knows that the Messenger—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—intended and meant this meaning. Both are therefore known with certainty. If someone were to say, “I affirm the obligation of Hajj and fasting the month of Ramadan, for that has been transmitted through mass transmission. But I say that ‘fasting Ramadan’ means allegiance to thirty men, and ‘pilgrimage to the House’ means pilgrimage to the houses of knowledge and wisdom, and what is meant by it is the Friday prayer,” the falsity of this would be immediately and necessarily known.

Moreover, when someone who does not know an expression’s meaning is first taught what it means, he seeks to understand it, and it is explained to him in terms of the known meaning transmitted from the Messenger—may Allah bless him and grant him peace. When he hears the expression, it reminds him of what Allah Most High has commanded and what He has declared. He thus recalls what Allah Most High has made obligatory upon him and what He has declared, so that he may carry out the former and believe the latter.

We do not deny that some people’s understanding of certain expressions may depend on the probable premises he mentioned. What we reject, however, is his claim that this is universally or generally the case. For