or for other reasons. All of this becomes clear only from the context and the accompanying verbal indicators, which, according to the majority, do not make the expression any less literal, since the composite expression has come to signify that meaning by convention; or from circumstantial indicators, which, according to the majority, make it figurative. When a statement is uttered without either kind of indicator, however, it conveys unrestricted negation, which occurs frequently in speech.

The same applies to the Prophet’s statements, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“The month is only twenty-nine days,”

and:

“The month is twenty-nine days,”

when intended as restrictive statements about the category. Allah Most High attached rulings to the month, as in His words:

“The month of Ramadan,”

“Hajj is during well-known months,”

and:

“two consecutive months,”

and similar passages. Some minds might immediately assume that a month, without qualification, means thirty days. Perhaps someone who has not counted the days of the months might imagine that the year consists of three hundred and sixty days and that every month has thirty days. Thus, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was saying that the fixed, indispensable duration of a month is twenty-nine days. The additional day may or may not be included.

This is like saying that Islam is the testimony that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. This is what is indispensable. Anything beyond that may become obligatory upon a person, but he may die before speaking, in which case his Islam consists only of what he has uttered.