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.

But if they desist from unbelief and become Muslims surely God is Forgiving Merciful to them.

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.

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.

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.