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Al-Hajj (The Pilgrimage)
Name
This Surah takes its name from v. 27.
Period of Revelation
As this Surah contains the characteristics of both the Makki and the Madani
Surahs, the commentators have differed as to its period of revelation,
but in the light of its style and themes we are of the opinion that a
part of it (vv. 1-24) was sent down in the last stage of the Makki life
of the Holy Prophet a little before migration and the rest (vv. 25-78)
during the first stage of his Madani life. That is why this Surah combines
the characteristics of both the Makki and the Madani Surahs.
The sudden change of the style from v. 25 shows that probably vv. 25-78
were sent down in the month of Zul-Hijjah in the very first year after
Hijrah. This is indicated by vv. 25-41 and confirmed by the occasion of
the revelation of vv. 39-40. It appears that the month of Zul-Hijjah must
have brought to the immigrants nostalgic memories of their homes in Makkah
and naturally they must have thought of their Sacred City and of their
Hajj congregation there, and grieved to think that the mushrik Quraish
had debarred them from visiting the Sacred Mosque. Therefore, they might
even have been praying for and expecting Divine permission to wage war
against those tyrants who had expelled them from their homes and deprived
them of visiting the House of Allah and made it difficult for them to
follow the way of Islam. It was at this psychological occasion that these
verses were sent down. That is why the purpose for which Masjid-al- Haram
was built has been specifically mentioned. It has been made plain that
Hajj(pilgrimage) had been enjoined for the worship of One Allah. But it
is an irony that afterwards it had been dedicated to the rituals of shirk
and the worshipers of One Allah had been debarred from visiting it. Therefore,
permission for waging war against those tyrants has been given to oust
them from there and to establish the righteous way of life for establishing
virtue and eradicating evil. According to Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, Urwah bin
Zubair, Zaid bin Aslam, Muqatil bin Hayyan, Qatadah and other great commentators,
v. 39 is the first verse that grants the Muslims permission to wage war.
Collections of Hadith and books on the life of the Holy Prophet confirm
that after this permission actual preparations for war were started and
the first expedition was sent to the coast of the Red Sea in Safar A.H.
2, which is known as the Expedition of Waddan or Al- Abwa.
Subject Matter and Theme
This Surah is addressed to: (1) The mushriks of Makkah, (2) the wavering
Muslims, and (3) the True Believers. The mushriks have been warned in
a forceful manner to this effect: "You have obdurately and impudently
persisted in your ideas of ignorance and trusted in your deities instead
of Allah, though they possess no power at all and you have repudiated
the Divine Messenger. Now you will meet the same end as has been the doom
of those like you before. You have only harmed yourselves by rejecting
Our Prophet and by persecuting the best element of your own community;
now your false deities shall not be able to save you from the wrath of
God". At the same time, they have been admonished time and again for their
creed of shirkand sound arguments have been given in favour of Tauhid
and the Hereafter.
The wavering Muslims, who had embraced Islam but were not prepared to
endure any hardship in its way, have been admonished to this effect: "What
is this faith of yours? On the one hand, you are ready to believe in Allah
and become His servants provided you are given peace and prosperity but,
on the other, if you meet with afflictions and hardships in His Way, you
discard your Allah and cease to remain His servant. You should bear in
mind that this wavering attitude of yours cannot avert those misfortunes
and losses which Allah has ordained for you." As regards the true Believers,
they have been addressed in two ways: (1) in a general way so as to include
the common people of Arabia also, and (2) in an exclusive way:
- The Believers have been told that the mushriks of Makkah had no right
to debar them from visiting the Holy Mosque. They had no right to prevent
anyone from performing Hajj because the Holy Mosque was not their private
property. This objection was not only justified but it also acted as
an effective political weapon against the Quraish. For it posed this
question to the other clans of Arabia: Were the Quraish mere attendants
of the Holy Mosque or its owners? It implied that if they succeeded
in debarring the Muslims from Hajj without any protest from others,
they would feel encouraged in future to debar from Hajj and Umrah the
people of any other clan, who happened to have strained relations with
the Quraish. In order to emphasize this point, the history of the construction
of the Holy Mosque has been cited to show that it was built by Prophet
Abraham by the Command of Allah and he had invited all the peoples to
perform Hajj there. That is why those coming from outside had enjoyed
equal rights by the local people from the very beginning. It has also
been made clear that that House had not been built for the rituals of
shirk but for the worship of One Allah. Thus it was sheer tyranny that
the worship of Allah was being forbidden there while the worship of
idols enjoyed full licence.
- In order to counteract the tyranny of the Quraish, the Muslims were
allowed to fight with them. They were also given instructions to adopt
the right and just attitude as and when they acquired power to rule
in the land. Moreover, the Believers have been officially given the
name of "Muslims", saying, "You are the real heirs to Abraham and you
have been chosen to become witnesses of the Truth before mankind. Therefore
you should establish salat and pay the zakat dues in order to become
the best models of righteous life and perform Jihad for propagating
the Word of Allah." (vv. 41,77, 78.)
It will be worth while to keep in view the introductions to Chapters
II (Al-Baqarah) and VIII (AlAnfal).
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