2. Al-Baqara

And slay them wherever you come upon them, and expel them from where they expelled you, that is, from Mecca, and this was done after the Conquest of Mecca; sedition, their idolatry, is more grievous, more serious, than slaying, them in the Sacred Enclosure or while in a state of pilgrimage inviolability, the thing that you greatly feared. But fight them not by the Sacred Mosque, that is, in the Sacred Enclosure, until they should fight you there; then if they fight you, there, slay them, there (a variant reading drops the alif in the three verbs [sc. wa-lā taqtilūhum, hattā yaqtulūkum, fa-in qatalūkum, so that the sense is ‘slaying’ in all three, and not just ‘fighting’]) — such, killing and expulsion, is the requital of disbelievers.

Fight them till there is no sedition, no idolatry, and the religion, all worship, is for God, alone and none are worshipped apart from Him; then if they desist, from idolatry, do not aggress against them. This is indicated by the following words, there shall be no enmity, no aggression through slaying or otherwise, save against evildoers. Those that desist, however, are not evildoers and should not be shown any enmity.

The sacred month, in return, for the sacred month, therefore, just as they fight you during it, kill them during it: a response to the Muslims’ consideration of the momentous nature of this matter; holy things (hurumāt, plural of hurma, is what must be treated as sacrosanct) demand retaliation, in kind if these [holy things] are violated; whoever commits aggression against you, through fighting in the Sacred Enclosure, or during a state of ritual purity or in the sacred months, then commit aggression against him in the manner that he committed against you, the [Muslim] response is also referred to as ‘aggression’, because that is what it resembles formally; and fear God, when avenging yourselves and [by] renouncing aggression, and know that God is with the God-fearing, helping and assisting [them].

And spend in the way of God, in obedience to Him, in holy struggle and the like; and cast not your own hands, yourselves (the bā’ of bi-aydīkum ‘with your hands’ is extra) into destruction, by withholding funds needed for the struggle or abandoning it altogether, because this will give your enemy the advantage over you; but be virtuous, by spending etc.; God loves the virtuous, that is, He rewards them.

Fulfil the Pilgrimage and the Visitation to God, by completing them according to their due; but if you are prevented, from fulfilling them by an enemy, then [give] such offering as may be feasible, for you — a sheep — and do not shave your heads, that is, do not release yourselves from the state of pilgrimage inviolability, until the offering, mentioned, reaches its place, its place of sacrifice, that is, within the enclosure, according to al-Shāfi‘ī; the sacrifice is then made with the intention of releasing oneself from the state of pilgrimage inviolability, and is divided among the needy, after which the head is shaved and the release is effected. If any of you is sick, or has an ailment of the head, such as lice or severe pains, and has thus shaved his head while in a state of pilgrimage inviolability, then, incumbent upon him is, a redemption by fast, for three days, or a voluntary almsgiving, consisting of three cubic measures of the principal food of the town for six needy persons, or a ritual sacrifice, that is, the slaughter of a sheep (aw, ‘or’, denotes freedom of choice). To this [last] has been added the [case of the] one who shaves his head without excuse because the requirement of redemption is most obvious in his case; but also [it is required in the case of] one that enjoys, without shaving, such things as scents, attire, or oils, be it with an excuse or without. When you are secure, knowing that the enemy has gone or is not present, then whoever enjoys the Visitation, having completed it and observed its ritual prohibitions, until the Pilgrimage, until he enters its ritual inviolability in the relevant months; let his offering be such as is feasible, for him, such as a sheep that he sacrifices after entering into the state of pilgrimage inviolability, ideally, on the Day of Sacrifice; or if he finds none, because there are none available, or because he does not have sufficient funds, then, incumbent upon him is, a fast of three days in the Pilgrimage, that is to say, in a state of pilgrimage inviolability. In such a case, he should enter into the state of pilgrimage inviolability before the seventh of Dhū’l-Hijja, but ideally before the sixth, because one is discouraged from fasting on the Day of ‘Arafa. Moreover, he should not fast during these the days of tashrīq, according to the sounder of two opinions attributed to al-Shāfi‘ī. And of seven when you return, to your domicile, [be it] Mecca or any other; or when you have completed the rites of the Pilgrimage’ (there is a shift from the third [to the second] person); that is a full ten (this sentence reaffirms what has just been said); that, mentioned stipulation regarding the incumbency of the offering or the fast upon the person that has enjoyed [the Visitation], is for him whose family are not present at the Sacred Mosque, so that they are not within 50 miles of the Sacred Enclosure, according to al-Shāfi‘ī. If they are [present however], then no blood [sacrifice] or fast is obligatory in his case, even if he has enjoyed [the Visitation]. The mention of ‘family’ is intended as a notification of the proviso in the case of being ‘domiciled’ [in the vicinity of the Sacred …

The Pilgrimage, the time for it, is in months well-known: Shawwāl, Dhū’l-Qa’da and ten nights, some say all, of Dhū’l Hijja; whoever undertakes, upon himself, the duty of Pilgrimage during them, by entering into the state of pilgrimage inviolability, then no lewdness, [no] sexual intercourse for them, nor wickedness, [nor] acts of disobedience, or disputing, [or] quarrelling, in the Pilgrimage (a variant reading [for fa-lā rafathun wa-lā fusūqun wa-lā jidāla] has the accusative for all three nouns [sc. fa-lā rafatha wa-lā fusūqa wa-lā jidāla]; prohibition is meant in all three cases). Whatever good you do, by way of voluntary almsgiving, God knows it, and will reward you for it. And take provision, to suffice you your journey: this was revealed regarding the people of Yemen, who use to make the Pilgrimage and not take any provisions with them, thus, becoming a burden for others. But the best provision is piety [taqwā, ‘piety’, literally ‘guarding’] with which you are able to guard against asking others [for things]; and fear you Me, O people of pith!, [O] possessors of intellect.

You would not be at fault if you should seek bounty, sustenance, from your Lord, by engaging in commerce at the Pilgrimage: this was revealed in response to their aversion to such an idea; but when you press on, push on, from ‘Arafāt, having stood [in prayer] upon it, then remember God, after the overnight stay at Muzdalifa, by repeating the talbiya [sc. labbayka Llāhummā labbayk, ‘at thy service, O God, at thy service’], the tahlīl [lā ilāha illā Llāh, ‘no god but God’] and making supplications, at the Sacred Waymark, a mountain at the end of Muzdalifa, called Quzah. In one hadīth, the Prophet (s) stood there remembering God and supplicating until his face began to glow brightly, according to Muslim; and remember Him as He has guided you, to the principal rites of His religion and the rituals of His Pilgrimage (the kāf of ka-mā, ‘as’, is the particle denoting the reason), though previously, before His guidance, you were astray.

Then (thumma denotes the sequence intended) press on, O Quraysh, from where the people press on, that is, from ‘Arafa, by standing there together with them (for, they used to stand at Muzdalifa, disdaining to stand with other people); and seek God’s forgiveness, for your sins; God is Forgiving, Merciful, to the believers.

And when you have performed, and completed, your holy rites, that is, the devotions pertaining to your pilgrimage, having cast [stones] at the Jamrat al-‘Aqaba, performed the circumambulation and stopped at Minā, remember God, by extolling Him and repeating the takbīr [saying Allāhu akbar, ‘God is Great’], as you remember your fathers, as you used to remember them and boast about them at the end of your pilgrimage, or yet more intensely, than your remembrance of them (ashadda is in the accusative because it is a circumstantial qualifier referring to dhikr ‘remembrance’, which itself is in the accusative as the object of udhkurū, ‘remember’, because had it come after it, it would have functioned as an adjectival phrase). There are some people who say, ‘Our Lord, give to us, our lot, in this world’, and they are given it; such people will have no part, no lot, in the Hereafter.