and paying zakah.” He said: “Good, (1) except that I have leaders whose decision I cannot override. Perhaps I shall accept Islam and bring them with me.”

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, had said to his Companions: “A man from Rabi'ah will enter before you, speaking with the tongue of Satan.” Shurayh then left his presence, and the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “He entered with the face of a disbeliever and departed with the back of a traitor; the man is not a Muslim.” He passed by the grazing livestock of Medina, drove them away, and departed. They pursued him but did not catch up with him.

The following year, he set out for the pilgrimage among the pilgrims of Bakr ibn Wa'il from al-Yamamah, accompanied by abundant merchandise. He had garlanded the sacrificial animals. The Muslims said to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him: “This is al-Hutam, who has set out on pilgrimage; let us deal with him.” The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, replied: “He has garlanded the sacrificial animals.” They said: “Messenger of Allah, this is something we used to do in the pre-Islamic period.” But the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, refused, and Allah, Most High, revealed: “O you who believe, do not violate the rites of Allah.” (3)

Ibn Abbas and Mujahid said: These are the rites of the pilgrimage. The polytheists used to perform the pilgrimage and offer sacrificial animals, so the Muslims wished to raid them; but Allah prohibited them from doing so.

Abu Ubaydah said: The rites of Allah are the sacrificial animals that have been ritually marked. Ritual marking derives from the word for a distinguishing sign. To mark them is to identify them by something through which it is known that they are sacrificial animals. Here, ritual marking means piercing the side of a camel’s hump with an iron instrument until blood flows, thereby making it a sign that it is a sacrificial animal. This is a sunnah for sacrificial animals when they are camels, on account of what Abd al-Wahid al-Mulayhi informed us: Ahmad ibn Abdullah al-Nu'aymi informed us; Muhammad ibn Yusuf informed us; Muhammad ibn Isma'il narrated to us; Abu Nu'aym narrated to us; Aflah narrated from al-Qasim, from Aishah, may Allah be pleased with her, who said: “I twisted the garlands for the Prophet’s sacrificial camels with my own hands. Then he garlanded them, marked them, and sent them as sacrificial offerings; yet nothing that had been lawful for him became forbidden to him.” (4)

Al-Shafi'i analogized cattle to camels with regard to ritual marking. As for sheep, they are not marked by wounding, since their weakness does not allow them to bear a wound. According to Abu Hanifah, sacrificial animals are not ritually marked.

Atiyyah reported from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them: “Do not violate the rites of Allah” means that you hunt while in the state of consecration, as indicated by His, Most High, words: “When you have left the state of consecration, then hunt.” Al-Suddi said: What is meant is the Sanctuary of Allah. It was also said that it means the prohibition of killing within the Sanctuary. Ata said: The rites of Allah are Allah’s sacred ordinances, avoiding His wrath, and adhering to obedience to Him.

His words, “nor the sacred month,” mean: by fighting during it. Ibn Zayd said: It refers to the postponement of the sacred months, for in the pre-Islamic period they would deem it lawful one year and sacred the next. “Nor the sacrificial animals”: this means everything offered to the House of Allah, whether it be a camel or