“To shed blood therein”: with the fāʾ pronounced either with a kasra or a ḍamma. Al-Harawī said, “The verb safk is used only in reference to blood.”
“An hour of the daytime”: the interval between sunrise and the ʿAṣr prayer.
“Does not grant asylum”: that is, it neither shelters nor protects.
“Let no tree be cut down therein”: the verb yuʿḍad follows the pattern ḍaraba–yaḍrib (with a kasra on the ḍād) and means “to cut.”
General meaning
When ʿAmr ibn Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ, known as al-Ashdaq, resolved to send an army to Mecca—he was then Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya’s governor over Medina—to fight ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with him), Abū Shurayḥ, Khuwaylid ibn ʿAmr al-Khuzaʿī, came to dissuade him.
Because the addressee was a man of stature, Abū Shurayḥ addressed him with courtesy and gentleness—a mark of wisdom and foresight—so that the advice might be more readily accepted and its outcome safe. He asked permission to offer counsel about the expedition ʿAmr was planning, explaining that he was absolutely certain of the ḥadīth he was about to relate: his ears had heard it, his heart had preserved it, and his eyes had seen the Prophet ﷺ pronounce it. ʿAmr ibn Saʿīd permitted him to speak.
Abū Shurayḥ said, “On the morning of the Conquest of Mecca the Prophet ﷺ praised Allah and extolled Him, then declared: ‘Mecca was made sacred by Allah on the day He created the heavens and the earth.’ Thus its honor and sanctity are ancient; it was not mankind who bestowed that inviolability, as they do with temporary reserves of land, pasture, or water. Allah Himself consecrated it, making its sanctity weightier and more impressive.
“Because that consecration is primordial and from Allah, ‘it is not lawful for anyone who believes in Allah and the Last Day—if he wishes to preserve his faith—to shed blood therein or to cut down a tree.’ If someone invokes the Prophet’s fighting there on the Day of the Conquest, tell him: You are not the like of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Permission was granted to him, but it has not been granted to you.
“Moreover, fighting there was not permitted indefinitely; it was allowed only for ‘an hour of the daytime,’ just long enough to meet that necessity. Its sanctity has now returned to what it was. Let the one who is present relay this to the one who is absent.
“For that reason, O Governor, I have transmitted this to you—because I was present that morning of the Conquest and you were not.”
People later asked Abū Shurayḥ, “How did ʿAmr answer you?” He replied, “He said to me, ‘I know that better than you, Abū Shurayḥ. The Sanctuary does not shelter a sinner, nor one who has shed blood and is fleeing, nor anyone escaping with kharaba (brigandage).’”
This was a spurious excuse, for ʿAmr was marching out to fight someone better than he and more entitled to the caliphate.