Then He, glorified is He, completed this with His words:

“Out of mercy.”

Thus, it is a wing of humility born of mercy, not a wing of humility born of helplessness and weakness: the former is praiseworthy, whereas the latter is blameworthy.

He said: “And what of His words, ‘well-known months,’ when the months are not Hajj itself?”

The answer is: It is understood that the times for Hajj are well-known months. The meaning is not that the acts themselves are a period of time, nor does anyone understand this from the wording. One may, however, say that something has been omitted, and that the full expression is: “The time for Hajj is well-known months.” It is an admirable feature of Arab discourse that, for brevity, they omit what the stated words indicate, just as they sometimes add words to reinforce and emphasize the meaning.

An example of the former is His saying:

“Strike the sea with your staff, and it split apart.”

It is understood that the meaning is: “He struck it, and it split apart.” Yet there was no need to state this explicitly, since the wording, “We said, ‘Strike,’” followed by “and it split apart,” indicates that he struck it and it split apart.

Likewise, His words, “whoever believes,” are understood as “the righteousness of whoever believes,” or “befriend whoever believes.”

Similarly, His words, “Hajj is months,” mean: “The times for Hajj are months.” The meaning is therefore agreed upon; the dispute concerns calling this a metaphor. The objection, “Hajj itself is not months,” would be pertinent only if that were what the statement signified. But it is not. Rather, what it signifies to both its speaker and its hearer is that the times for Hajj are well-known months.