the earth to consume the flesh of the prophets.”

As for His words, Exalted is He,

“Whoever enters it is safe,”

this concerns the Sacred House. As He, Exalted is He, says:

“Have they not seen that We have made a secure sanctuary, while people are snatched away all around them?”

And He, Exalted is He, says:

“Let them worship the Lord of this House, who has fed them against hunger and secured them against fear.”

And He, Exalted is He, says:

“Have We not established for them a secure sanctuary to which fruits of every kind are brought?”

During the days of pre-Islamic ignorance, they would kill one another outside the Sanctuary. But when they entered the Sanctuary, even a man who encountered his father’s killer would leave him unharmed. This was among the signs Allah placed within it, as He says:

“In it are clear signs, including the standing place of Abraham. Whoever enters it is safe.”

Islam further increased its sanctity. Thus, the position of most jurists is that someone who commits an offence punishable by a prescribed penalty outside the Sanctuary and then takes refuge within it is not subjected to that penalty until he leaves. This was the view expressed by Ibn ‘Umar and Ibn ‘Abbās, and it is the position of Abū Hanīfah, Ahmad and others. For it is authentically established in the Sahīh that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Allah made Makkah sacred; it was not people who made it sacred. It is therefore not lawful for anyone who believes in Allah and the Last Day to shed blood or cut down trees there. Its inviolability was not suspended for anyone before me, nor will it be suspended for anyone after me. It was suspended for me only for an hour of one day, and today its sanctity has returned to what it was yesterday.”