Tafsir of Al-Baqarah 2:203

(And remember Allah as you remember your forefathers) and so on. The reckoning is either taken according to its literal meaning, as is the position of the People of Truth—that texts are to be taken according to their apparent sense unless there is a diverting factor—or it is a metaphor for the creation of their necessary qualities, their actions, and the consequence of those actions in quantity and quality, or for His rewarding them for those actions.

(It is not righteousness that you enter houses) which are the houses of your hearts, from the direction of your senses and your bodily perceptions taken from the sensory faculties; for those are the outward appearances of the hearts which are adjacent to the body. (But) righteousness is from he who guards against the preoccupations of the senses, the disturbances of the imagination, and the promptings of the commanding soul (al-nafs al-ammarah). Enter those houses (from their doors) which are adjacent to the spirit, from which Truth enters. Fear Allah regarding the seeing of your own piety, so that you may succeed through Him.

(And fight in the way of Allah those who fight you) from among the powers of your souls and the impulses of your humanity; for that is the greater Jihad. (And do not transgress) by neglecting these powers or by lingering with their appetites; or do not exceed the limits in the fight such that you weaken the body from performing the rites of obedience and the functions of servitude—for many a starvation is worse than over-satiety—(Indeed, Allah does not love the transgressors) who linger with their souls or exceed the shadow of Unity, which is justice.

(And kill them) wherever you find them; that is, restrain those powers from tasting the delights of desires and whims wherever they may be. (And drive them out) from the Mecca of the breast just as they drove you out of it, descended you into the region of the lower soul, and stood between you and the abode of the heart. Their sedition, which is the worship of whim and prostrating to the idols of pleasures, is more severe than killing entirely. Your affliction upon the takeover of the soul is more severe than the killing which is the wiping out of preparation and the erasing of instincts, due to the pain of separation from the Presence of Holiness that follows it, which has no end.

(And do not fight them at the Inviolable Mosque) which is the station of the heart, if they agree with you in your orientation, until they contend with you regarding your goals, draw you away from the religion of Truth, and call you to worship the calf of looking toward others. But if they contend with you, (then kill them) with the sword of Truth and sever the substance of those impulses. (Such is the recompense of the disbelievers) who veil the Truth.

(But if they cease) from their contention, (then Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. And fight them) with constant observation and sincere servitude (until there is no fitnah) and there occurs no turning toward other-than-Him, (and the religion is entirely for Allah) through the turning of the collective toward the Holiest Threshold and the Sacred Essence. (But if they cease, then there is no aggression) except against the transgressors of the limits.

(The sacred month) which the soul has established for its rights (for the sacred month) which is the time of your presence and your vigilance, (and sacred things are subject to retaliation) so do not mind violating their sanctity. (And spend in the way of Allah) what you possess of knowledge through acting upon it and guidance. Do not cast your own hands into the destruction of omission, and do well by witnessing your Lord in all your actions; indeed, Allah loves those who witness Him. Complete the Hajj of the Unification of the Essence and the Umrah of the Unification of the Attributes for Allah, by completing all the stations and states.

(If you are prevented) by the enemies of the souls or the sickness of slackness, then strive in Allah by driving the guidance of the soul and sacrificing it at the annihilation of the Kaaba of the heart. Because of the difference in the preparations of souls, He said: "Whatever is easy of the offering." Do not shave your heads and do not remove the traces of nature, and do not choose the emptiness of the mind until the guidance of the soul reaches its destination; at that time, you will be safe from confusion and the clouding of purity.

(So whoever among you is sick) weak of preparation, (or has an ailment of the head) meaning afflicted with attachments, and the journey is not easy for him as it should be, then a compensation is incumbent upon him: refraining from some of his pleasures and preoccupations, or performing an act of righteousness or a discipline that suppresses some of his powers.

(Then when you are secure) from the obstructing barrier, whoever enjoys the taste of the manifestation of the Attributes—using it as a means to the Hajj of the manifestation of the Essence—must provide whatever offering is possible according to his state. (And whoever cannot find) due to the weakness of his soul and its subjugation, (then a fast of three days during Hajj) meaning he must abstain from the actions of the powers which are the strong roots at the time of manifestation and absorption in the collective and annihilation; these are the intellect, the conjecture, and the imagination. (And seven when you return) to the station of detail and multiplicity—these are the five outward senses, anger, and desire—so that when you are upright in things, you are upright by Allah Almighty. (Those are ten complete) necessitating strange effects and containing strange secrets.

(That is for those whose family is not present at the Inviolable Mosque) among the perfect ones who are present at the station of Unity; for those are not addressed or reproached, and whoever has arrived has found rest.

(Hajj is in months well-known) which is the duration of the vanishing life, or from the time of reaching puberty until forty, as He said in Al-Baqarah: "Neither old nor young, but in between." Hence it is said: "The Sufi after forty is cold." Yes, being near-sighted is better than being blind, and a little is better than deprivation. (So whoever makes Hajj mandatory therein) upon himself with determination, then no rafath—that is, he does not incline toward the world and its ornaments—(and no fusuq)—and he does not lead the power of anger out of the obedience of the heart, rather he does not depart from the time, nor does he enter into what causes hatred—(and no jidal in Hajj)—meaning he does not contend with anyone in the station of turning toward Him, the Exalted, for all is from Him and to Him. Whoever contends with Him regarding a thing should surrender it to Him and greet him (with peace). (And when the ignorant address them, they say: Peace). Whatever good you do in leaving any of these matters, Allah knows it and will reward you for it. Provide yourselves with provisions of the virtues which require the avoidance of vices. (For the best of provisions is taqwa [piety]), and its perfection is the negation of other-than-Him. (And fear Me, O you of understanding), for the case of the intellect, which is pure from the taint of conjecture and the shell of matter, is the fear of Allah Almighty.

There is no blame upon you when returning to multiplicity that you seek comfort for your souls according to what the Greatest Manifestation, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, has limited. So when you push your souls from the Arafat of Gnosis, (then remember Allah at the Sacred Monument [Mash'ar al-Haram]), that is, witness His Beauty, the Sublime, at the spiritual secret called the "Hidden" (al-khafi). It is called a Mash'ar because it is the place of awareness (shu'ur) of Beauty, and it is described as "Sacred" (haram) because it is forbidden for others to reach it. (And remember Him as He has guided you) to remembering Him in the hierarchies, (though you were before) reaching the Arafat of Gnosis and standing at it, (among those who were astray) from these remembrances in the pursuit of the world. (Then depart) to the outward aspects of worship (from where the rest of the people depart) to them, and be as one of them; for the end is the return to the beginning. Or, depart from where the Prophets, upon them be peace, departed for the sake of fulfilling rights and having compassion for the servants of Allah Almighty through guidance and teaching. (And seek Allah's forgiveness), for the Greatest Legislator, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, would have his heart veiled and would seek Allah's forgiveness seventy times a day. And who are you, O poor one, after him? (Indeed, Allah is Forgiving, Merciful).

(And when you have completed your rites) and finished the Hajj, (then remember Allah as you remember your forefathers) before the spiritual journey, (or with greater remembrance), for He is the True Origin. So be occupied with Him as His Essence, the Sublime, requires. Some people do not seek but the world, and do not worship except for its sake; they have no share in the station of annihilation due to the deficiency of their ambition and their acquisition of the darkness that opposes the light. Others seek the good of the two abodes and guard against being veiled by darkness and being punished by the fires of nature. (Those will have a share of what they have earned) of the fortunes of the Hereafter, the dazzling lights, the lasting delights, and the exalted stations. And Allah is swift in account.

(And remember Allah), that is, magnify Him after the prayers, during the slaughtering of sacrifices, the stoning of the pillars, and other such acts, (in numbered days), which are the three days of Tashriq. This is what is narrated in the famous report from Umar, Ali, and Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them. Ibn Abi Hatim recorded from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them, that they are four days, adding the Day of Sacrifice to them. Some have used the specificity as evidence that this sentence is conjoined to His saying, the Sublime, (Then remember Allah), etc. It is as if it were said: "When you have completed your rites, then remember Allah in numbered days." The fa (then) is for succession, which necessitates excluding the Day of Sacrifice from the days. Whoever considers the conjunction and succession, and makes a part of a day a full day, has used the verse as evidence for the beginning of the takbir after the prayer from the noon of the Day of Sacrifice. Those who say the takbir is made after the voluntary prayers used its generality as evidence.

The description of "days" with "numbered" (ma'dudat) is considered problematic because "days" (ayyam) is the plural of "day" (yawm), which is masculine, and ma'dudat is the feminine plural. So how can it be an adjective for it? The apparent reading is ma'dudah. It is permissible to describe a plural of non-rational beings with a singular feminine adjective. It was also answered that ma'dudat is the plural of ma'dud (numbered), not ma'dudah. Often, masculine nouns are pluralized with feminine endings, like hammamat and sijillat. It is also said that the day is considered feminine in consideration of its hours. It is also said that the meaning is that it is numbered in every year, and in the years they are numbered; so it is a plural of ma'dudah in reality. The implications of this are not hidden.

(So whoever hastens), meaning hastens in the departure or seeks to hasten the departure from Mina. It has been mentioned by more than one that 'ajila and ista'jala come as intransitive verbs meaning "to hasten." It is said: "He hastened in the matter," and "He hurried." They also come as transitive verbs: "He hastened the departure." According to Al-Zamakhshari, the intransitive is more consistent with His saying, the Sublime, (And whoever delays), just as it is in the saying: "The deliberate one may attain some of his needs / and the hurried one may slip." The goal is the deliberate one. Some researchers went to the preference of the transitive because the intent is to explain matters of hastening, not hastening absolutely. It is said [it is transitive] because the intransitive requires the assumption of "in," and thus the attachment of the prepositional phrase requires the connection of one to the verb and the other to "in two days," which is not allowed.

The two days are the Day of Sacrifice, the Day of Qarr, and the day after. The meaning is: whoever departs on the second day of Tashriq before sunset after stoning the pillars—according to the Shafi'is—and before the dawn of the third day after finishing the stoning—according to us. Departure on the first day is not allowed. The prepositional phrase "two days" is used broadly, considering that the preparation for it is on the first day. The statement that the meaning is "in one of two days," but it is ambiguous and explained by the second day, or "in the last of two days," is a departure from the taste of contemplation.

(There is no sin upon him) for his hastening. And whoever delays the departure until he stones on the third day—before noon or after, according to us, and only after, according to Al-Shafi'i—(there is no sin upon him) for what he did of delaying. The intent is to give a choice between hastening and delaying. The superiority of the second does not contradict this, contrary to the author of Al-Insaf. The mention of the negation of sin is only to explicitly refute the people of the Age of Ignorance, as they were divided regarding it: some accusing the hastener of sin, others accusing the delayer.

(For he who is mindful [muttaqi])—this is the predicate of a deleted subject. The lam (for) is either for causality or for specification. That is, this choice is for the sake of the mindful, by the proximity of the context, so that he is not harmed by abandoning what he intended of hastening or delaying, because he is a cautious person who avoids what brings doubt. Or, that this mentioned choice relates to the rulings of Hajj generally, as there is no definitive specifier, even if it is general for all believers, it is specified for the mindful because he is the pilgrim in reality and the one who benefits from them. The meaning of taqwa in both cases is avoiding what causes sin, whether by action or abandonment. It is not permissible to interpret it as avoiding polytheism, because the address in all that preceded is for the believers. Some have used the verse as evidence that if the pilgrim is mindful in performing the limits and requirements of Hajj, all his sins are forgiven. This is narrated from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them. Ibn Jarir recorded from him that he interpreted the verse that way, then said: "People interpret it with other than its interpretation," and it is of high strangeness.

(And fear Allah) in all your affairs to which resolution relates, so that you may be organized in the string of those who benefit from the mentioned rulings. Or beware of failing in what was mentioned of the matters of Hajj. (And know that to Him you will be gathered) for the recompense for your actions after the coming to life and the Resurrection. The root of hashr (gathering) is the bringing together and joining of the separated. This is an emphasis of the command to piety and a necessity for complying with it, for whoever knows of the gathering, the reckoning, and the recompense, that is one of the strongest motivations for him to adhere to piety. He advanced "to Him" out of care for the one to whom the gathering takes place, and to seek the harmony of the pauses.