- “Hajj takes place during well-known months. Whoever undertakes Hajj during them must abstain from sexual relations, disobedience, and disputing during Hajj. Whatever good you do, Allah knows it. Take provisions, for the best provision is fear of Allah. And fear Me, O people of understanding.”
Allah, Most High, informs us that Hajj takes place during “well-known months”—months familiar and widely known to those being addressed, such that they required no specific identification, unlike fasting, whose month had to be designated, and the five prayers, whose times Allah, Most High, clarified.
Hajj, however, had been part of the religion of Abraham, which continued among his descendants and remained well known to them.
According to the majority of scholars, the well-known months are Shawwāl, Dhū al-Qadah, and the first ten days of Dhū al-Hijjah. These are the times during which entry into ritual consecration for Hajj ordinarily takes place.
“Whoever undertakes Hajj during them,” means whoever enters ritual consecration for it, since commencing Hajj makes its completion obligatory, even if it was initially undertaken voluntarily.
Al-Shāfi‘i and those who followed him cited this verse as evidence that one may not enter ritual consecration for Hajj before its months. I say: Were one to hold that the verse supports the majority’s view that entering ritual consecration [for Hajj] before its months is valid, this would be a plausible interpretation. The words, “Whoever undertakes Hajj during them,” indicate that this undertaking may occur during the aforementioned months and may also occur outside them; otherwise, there would have been no reason to qualify it in this way.
His words, “must abstain from sexual relations, disobedience, and disputing during Hajj,” mean that you must honor the state of ritual consecration for Hajj—especially when it occurs during its prescribed months—and safeguard it from everything that invalidates or diminishes it. This includes sexual relations, meaning intercourse and the physical and verbal acts leading to it, especially with women and in their presence.
Disobedience means every sin, including the prohibited acts of ritual consecration.
Disputing means argumentative wrangling, contention, and quarrelling, because these provoke evil and create hostility.
The purpose of Hajj is humble submission ⦗92⦘ and brokenness before Allah, drawing near to Him through every act of devotion one can perform, and keeping oneself free of sinful deeds. This is what makes Hajj accepted, and an accepted Hajj has no reward but Paradise. Although these matters are prohibited at every time and place, the prohibition against them (1) is especially emphatic during Hajj.
Know that drawing near to Allah is not complete merely by abandoning sins; His commands must also be carried out. Allah, Most High, therefore said: “Whatever good you do, Allah knows it.” He used the particle min (“any”) to make the statement explicitly all-inclusive. It thus encompasses every good deed, act of devotion, and act of worship. That is, Allah has full knowledge of it. This provides the strongest encouragement to perform good deeds, especially in those noble places and exalted sacred precincts. One should therefore seize every opportunity there to pray, fast, give charity, perform circumambulation, and show kindness in word and deed.
Allah, Most High, then commanded that provisions be taken for this blessed journey. Bringing provisions enables a person to remain independent of others and refrain from seeking their wealth, whether by asking them outright or looking to them expectantly. Taking ample provisions also brings benefit, enables one to assist fellow travelers, and constitutes an additional means of drawing near to the Lord of all creation. This provision, whose purpose is to sustain the body, is merely sufficient sustenance and a temporary benefit.
As for the true provision, whose benefit endures for a person in this world and the Hereafter, it is the provision of fear of Allah. It is the provision for the everlasting abode and leads to the most perfect delight and the most sublime bliss, enduring forever. Whoever neglects this provision will be left stranded, exposed to every evil, and prevented from reaching the abode of the God-fearing. This is praise of fearing Allah.
Allah then commanded people of understanding to possess it, saying: “And fear Me, O people of understanding.” That is: O people of sound and mature intellect, fear your Lord, for fearing Him is the foremost thing that reason commands, while neglecting it is evidence of ignorance and unsound judgment.