Tafsir of Al-Hajj 22:26

"And when We assigned to Abraham the place of the House" means: Remind these disbelievers, who obstruct the way of Allah the Almighty and the Sacred Mosque, of the time We made the place of the House a maba'ah (refuge/destination) for their ancestor Abraham—peace be upon him—meaning a place of return to which he would revert for building and worship. It is said, "He assigned him a dwelling" (bawwa'ahu manzilan) if he settled him therein; since settling necessitates making the second a refuge for the first, the preposition lam is used, rendering it a particle of transitiveness, and "the place" (makan) is the direct object.

Al-Zajjaj said: The meaning is, We clarified for him the place of the House so that he might manifest it and it would be a refuge for him and his descendants, to which they would return and perform pilgrimage. The first view is narrated on the authority of Ibn Abbas. It is also said that the lam is redundant in the direct object, and "the place" is an adverb for "assigned." This is challenged on the grounds that the lam is only added if the governed object is fronted or the governing verb is secondary, neither of which is fulfilled here, and that "the place of the House" is a specific adverb, so the verb should be made transitive to it by fi. There is a deliberation regarding this as known in Arabic grammar texts. Others said: The object of "assigned" is omitted, meaning "We assigned the people," and the lam in "for Abraham" is the lam of causality, meaning "for the sake of Abraham," out of honor to him. The reliance is on what we have previously mentioned. The direction of the command to mention the time, despite the intent being to recall the events that occurred within it, has been passed over more than once.

A "house" (bayt) fundamentally refers to where a human stays at night, though it may be said without regard to the night. Its plural is abyat and buyut, though buyut is more specific to a dwelling, and abyat is more specific to poetry. It applies to what is constructed of stone, mud, wool, or fur. The place of a thing is expressed as its "house." By "the House," what is meant is the House of Allah the Almighty, the Honored Kaaba. It was built five times: first, the construction of the angels—peace be upon them—before Adam, and it was made of red ruby, then that structure was raised to the heavens during the days of the flood. Second, the construction of Abraham—peace be upon him; it is reported that when Allah ordered him to build the House, he did not know where to build it, so Allah sent the Khajuja wind, which uncovered its original foundation, and he built upon it. Third, the construction of the Quraish in the pre-Islamic era; the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—attended it while he was a young man. When they wanted to raise the Black Stone, they disputed over it, each tribe wanting to undertake its raising, then they agreed that the first man to emerge from this alley would judge between them. The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—was the first to emerge, so he ruled that they should place it in a cloth and all the tribes raise it; they raised it, then he—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—ascended, and they lifted it to him, and he placed it in its spot. They used to call him "the Trustworthy," and this was, it is said, fifteen years before his mission. The fourth was the construction of Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr. The fifth was the construction of al-Hajjaj, which is the structure existing today.

Its height in the sky is twenty-seven cubits and a quarter cubit (a cubit being twenty-four fingers, a finger being six barleycorns, and a barleycorn being six strands of horsehair). As for its length on the ground, from the Yemeni corner to the Black corner, it is twenty-five cubits, and likewise between the Yemeni and the Western. As for its width, from the Yemeni corner to the Black corner is twenty cubits. The length of the door is six cubits and ten fingers, and its width is four cubits. The door is in its eastern wall, made of teak wood, overlaid with silver plates. The height of the space beneath the threshold of the door from the ground is four cubits and three fingers. The water spout is in the middle of the Hijr wall. The width of the Multazam—which is the space between the door and the Black Stone—is four cubits. The height of the Black Stone from the ground is three cubits save seven [fingers], and the width of the part that is visible of it is a span and four fingers joined. The width of the Mustajad—which is between the Yemeni corner and the blocked door on the back of the Kaaba, opposite the Multazam—is four cubits and five fingers. The width of the blocked door is three cubits and a half, and its length is more than five cubits.

As for the Hijr—called al-Hatim and al-Hazirah—it is in the shape of a semicircle toward the Levant and North, between the Iraqi and Levantine corners. The distance from the Kaaba wall beneath the water spout to the Hijr wall is seventeen cubits and eight fingers; seven or six cubits and a span of this is from the ground of the Kaaba, and the rest was an enclosure for the sheep of our master Ishmael—peace be upon him—so they included it in the Hijr. The distance between the two gates of the Hijr is twenty cubits. The width of the Hijr wall is two cubits. The measurement of the circumference of the Hijr wall from the inside is thirty-eight cubits, and from the outside forty cubits and six fingers. The height of the Hijr wall is two cubits. The measurement of the entire perimeter around the Kaaba and the Hijr is one hundred and twenty-three cubits and twelve fingers. This is according to what the Imam Husayn ibn Muhammad al-Adami mentioned in a treatise he wrote on the matter, and the responsibility rests with him. We pray to the Lord of the House to grant us success to visit His House and verify this with His kindness and generosity.

The "that" (an) in His saying: "that you shall not associate anything with Me" is said to be explanatory. The explanation is with regard to the assignment being for the sake of worship, so it is as if it were said: We commanded Abraham—peace be upon him—to worship, and that contains the meaning of "saying" without its letters, or because "We assigned" implies "We said to him, 'Take your place.'" Ibn Atiyyah said: It is a weakened form of the heavy anna (that), as if to interpret "We assigned" as "We informed," so the objection does not apply that it must be preceded by a verb of certainty or expectation. Abu Hayyan said: It is better to consider it the an that marks the subjunctive, and just as it connects to the imperfect, it connects to the past, the imperative, and the prohibitive; thus it does not necessarily render it in the accusative case in wording. Abu Hatim's statement that the kaf must be in the accusative in this case was refuted in al-Durr al-Masun, meaning: We did that so that you might not associate anything with Me in worship. The apparent meaning is that the address is to Abraham—peace be upon him—and this is supported by the reading of Ikrimah and Abu Nahik: "that he shall not associate" with the ya (third person). It is also said that the address is to the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

{And purify My House for those who perform circumambulation, and those who stand [in prayer], and those who bow and prostrate.}

The intent of purification includes both the physical and the metaphysical, meaning: Purify My House from idols and filth for those who circle it and pray near it. Perhaps the expression of prayer through its pillars—standing, bowing, and prostration—is to indicate that each one is independent in requiring purification, or the assignment, as was said; how much more so when they are combined? Or it is to specify this Muhammadan nation—may the best of blessings and the most perfect of greetings be upon its Prophet—since the gathering of these pillars is found only in their prayer. Prostration was not linked with a conjunction because it is of the same genus as bowing in terms of humility. It is permitted that "those who stand" means those who reside, and "those who perform circumambulation" means those who arrive, thus the intent of "bowing and prostrating" would only be the worshippers; however, the most immediate meaning of those who perform circumambulation is what was mentioned first.