rivals to Him and His House, such as idols, graves, and the like. Before this, He affirms His oneness, declaring:

“There is no deity worthy of worship except Him, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful.”

He then mentions the signs that attest to His oneness. Next, He discusses what is lawful and unlawful, granting broad permission regarding food, for the Messenger was sent with the religion of pure monotheism and its emblem, the House. He describes its ease regarding permissible matters and cases of bloodshed, through the retribution He prescribed and the acceptance of blood money.

He then mentions acts of worship connected to time: bequests, which are connected to death, followed by fasting, which is connected to Ramadan, and the devotional retreat associated with it. He mentions this retreat among both place-bound and time-bound acts of worship, since it is restricted to mosques and, in time—whether by recommendation or obligation—to periods of fasting. Earlier, He placed it between circumambulation and prayer, because circumambulation is restricted to the Sacred Mosque, whereas prayer is prescribed throughout the earth, and devotional retreat lies between the two.

He follows this with the prohibition against consuming wealth wrongfully, explaining that forbidden things fall into “two categories”: those forbidden in themselves, such as carrion, and those forbidden because of how they are acquired, such as usury and usurped property. Thus, He follows the discussion of what is fixed with things whose prohibition is fixed and intrinsic, while amid acts of worship tied to changing times, He mentions things whose prohibition is variable.

For this reason, He follows it with His words:

“They ask you about the new moons,”

and the rest of the verse. These mark the times of time-bound acts of worship. He explains that He has made them measures of time for people in their religious and worldly affairs, and for Hajj, since angels and jinn also perform pilgrimage to the House. This too was