Tafsir of Al-Hajj 22:27

"And proclaim to the people"—that is, call out to them—"the Hajj"—that is, with the invitation to the Hajj and the command for it. Ibn Abi Shaybah in his Musannaf, Ibn Jarir, Ibn al-Mundhir, al-Hakim (who authenticated it), and al-Bayhaqi in his Sunan recorded from Ibn Abbas that he said: When Ibrahim, peace be upon him, finished building the House, he said: "Lord, I have finished." He said: "Proclaim to the people the Hajj." He said: "Lord, how far will my voice reach?" He said: "Proclaim, and upon Me is the delivery." He said: "Lord, what should I say?" He said: "Say: O people, the Hajj to the Ancient House has been prescribed for you." Then the people of the heavens and the earth heard it; do you not see that they respond from the farthest lands, reciting the Talbiyah?

It is narrated in another report from him that Ibrahim, peace be upon him, climbed Mount Abu Qubays, placed his fingers in his ears, and then called out: "O people, verily Allah has prescribed for you the Hajj, so answer your Lord." They answered him with the Talbiyah while in the loins of men and the wombs of women. The first to answer were the people of Yemen, and there is no pilgrim who performs Hajj from that day until the Hour is established except for those who answered Ibrahim, peace be upon him, on that day. In another report, it is said he stood on the Hijr and called out. Mujahid says he stood on al-Safa. In yet another report, it is said that the ground rose up with him until he was as tall as a mountain on the earth, and then he proclaimed the Hajj. It is possible to reconcile these by assuming the proclamation was repeated. Regardless, the address is to Ibrahim, peace be upon him.

Some claimed that it was our Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—who was commanded to do this during the Farewell Hajj. This is narrated from al-Hasan, but it is very contrary to the apparent meaning and lacks any evidence. It is also said that the fact that the Surah is Meccan precludes this, and you have already learned what pertains to that at the beginning of the Surah.

Al-Hasan, Ibn Muhaysin, and others read "A’dhin" (with madd and takhfif), meaning "inform," as some have said. Others said the meaning here is "to cause the announcement to take place," because in the first reading, it should have been transitive by itself, not through fi (in). It is like the saying: “He wounds in their tendons with the spear-head.”

Ibn Atiyah said that this reading was corrupted in the transmission of Ibn Jinni, for he narrated from them (wa-adhana) as a past tense verb and linked it to (bawwa’na). Abu Hayyan countered that it is not a corruption, but rather that Abu Abdullah al-Husayn ibn Khalawayh narrated it in his Shawadh al-Qira’at (Rare Readings) from his collection. Ibn Abi Ishaq read "bil-hajj" with a kasrah on the ha wherever it occurs.

His saying, Exalted is He, "they will come to you" is a jazm (jussive) as a response to the command, which is “A’dhin” (according to the two readings) or “Tahhir” (according to the third), as the author of al-Lawami said. The attribution of the "coming" to his pronoun, peace be upon him, is because it is a result of his call. The meaning is "they will come to your House."

His saying, Glory be to Him, "on foot" is in the position of a hal (state), meaning "walking," being the plural of rajil, just as qiyam is the plural of qa’im.

Ibn Abi Ishaq read "rijalan" with a dammah on the ra and takhfif. This is also reported from Ikrimah, al-Hasan, and Abu Mijlaz, and it is a collective noun for rajil, like tu’ar for ta’ir, or it is a rare plural. It is reported from them, as well as Ibn Abbas, Muhammad ibn Ja’far, and Mujahid—may Allah be pleased with them—as "rujjalan" with a dammah and tashdid, on the basis that it is a plural of rajil like tajir and tujjar. From Ikrimah, it is reported he read "rijala" like sukara, which is the plural of rajlan or rajil. From Ibn Abbas, Ata, and Ibn Hudayr, the same is reported, except that they stressed the jim.

His saying, Exalted is He, "and on every lean mount" is a conjunction to "on foot"—that is, "and as riders on every lean camel," made lean by the distance of the journey. The word damir (lean) is used for both masculine and feminine. The use of this term instead of the more concise rukbanan (riders) is to indicate the multitude of those coming from distant places.

The verse indicates the permissibility of walking and riding during the Hajj. Ibn al-Arabi said: "Our scholars deduced from the precedence of 'on foot' that walking is superior." This is also reported from Ibn Abbas, for Ibn Sa’d, Ibn Abi Shaybah, al-Bayhaqi, and others recorded that he said: "I do not regret anything that I missed except that I did not perform Hajj walking, until old age overtook me. I hear Allah, Exalted is He, saying: 'They will come to you on foot and on every lean mount,' and He began with those on foot before those riding." There is a marfu’ hadith regarding this; Ibn Sa’d, Ibn Marduyah, and others recorded from him that he said: "I heard the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—say: 'For the riding pilgrim, there are seventy good deeds for every step his mount takes, and for the walking pilgrim, there are seven hundred good deeds for every step from the good deeds of the Sanctuary.'" It was said: "O Messenger of Allah, what are the good deeds of the Sanctuary?" He said: "The good deed is one hundred thousand good deeds." Ibn Abi Shaybah recorded from Mujahid that Ibrahim and Ismail, peace be upon them, performed Hajj while walking.

Ibn al-Faras said: "Some inferred from the verse that Hajj is not obligatory for someone whose path is by sea, or who has no other way, because it was not mentioned in the verse." This was countered by saying it is a weak inference, because Makkah is not on the sea; one reaches it by one of two states: walking or riding. Furthermore, the lack of mention does not necessarily imply the lack of obligation.

His saying, Exalted is He, "they will come" is an adjective for damir (lean mount) or for kull (every). The plural form is used in consideration of the meaning, as if it were said: "and as riders on lean mounts, they will come." The word "kull" here is for augmentation, not for totality. The claim that "when kull is added to an indefinite noun, its meaning is rarely considered" has been refuted by this verse and its likes. Likewise, the claim that it is only permissible when in two sentences is refuted because this is a single sentence.

Abu Hayyan suggested that the pronoun might include both the pedestrians and the riders, with the sentence acting as an adjective for all of them, in the sense of groups and companies. This was countered by the fact that it would necessitate giving precedence to non-rational beings over rational ones, which they have explicitly forbidden. Indeed, Abdullah, his companions, al-Dahhak, and Ibn Abi Ablah read "ya’tun" (they will come), where the precedence is according to the standard rules. The most famous view is that the pronoun refers to "on foot and on riders," so there is no issue of precedence. It is also permissible to make the pronoun refer to "the people," and the sentence acts as an isti’naf (commencement).

"From every deep pass"—that is, road, as is reported from Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, Qatadah, al-Dahhak, and Abu al-Aliyah. It is originally a path between two mountains and is used for a wide road. It is as if they stripped it of the meaning of "width" because it does not fit here, and indeed it is not without some defect.

"Deep"—that is, distant. The group also interpreted it as such. Its origin is "distant in depth," which is not appropriate here.

Ibn Mas’ud read "mu’iq." Al-Layth said: It is said ’amiq and mu’iq for the Tamim dialect. "I deepened the well" and "I made it deep." It has become deep (’amuqa) and mu’iqa with ’amaqah and ma’aqah, meaning it is of great depth.