Tafsir of Al-Hajj 22:37

"Neither its meat nor its blood reaches Allah" (i.e., Allah, the Exalted, is not reached by the meat given in charity, nor the blood shed during the sacrifice, in their capacity as meat and blood).

"But it is piety from you that reaches Him" (but what reaches Him is what accompanies that: the piety of your hearts, which calls you to venerate Him, the Exalted, to seek nearness to Him, the Glorified, and to be sincere to Him, the Mighty and Majestic).

Mujahid said: The Muslims wanted to do as the polytheists did—slaughtering, slicing the meat, setting it up around the Kaaba, and sprinkling it with blood—in order to venerate it and draw near to Him, the Exalted. So, this verse was revealed. Similar accounts have been narrated from Ibn Abbas and others.

Ya’qub and a group read [the verb] with a ta (lan tanala and wa lakin tanalahu). Abu Ja’far read the first with a ta and the second with a ya at the end of the letters. It is narrated from Yahya ibn Ya’mar and al-Jahdari that they read the reverse of this. Zayd ibn Ali, may Allah the Exalted be pleased with them both, read both with the passive voice (lan yunalu and wa lakin yunalu), with luhumuha and dima’uha in the accusative.

"Thus He has subjected them to you"—He, the Exalted, repeated this to remind of the blessing and to provide a justification for it with His saying: "That you may magnify Allah" (i.e., that you may recognize His greatness, the Exalted, through His power over that which none other than He, the Mighty and Majestic, has power, and thus declare His Oneness with majesty). It is also said: That you may say "Allahu Akbar" upon beginning the state of ihram or at the time of slaughter.

"For that He has guided you" (i.e., for His guidance and direction of you to the path of subjecting them and the manner of drawing near through them). Ma is a source-denoting particle (masdariyyah). It is permissible that it be descriptive or relative, in which case a pronoun is omitted. This must be considered as being in the accusative case for those who stipulate that an omitted pronoun in a prepositional phrase must be in the same case and have the same meaning as the object of the relative preposition. "Upon" (’ala) is linked to "magnify" because it implies the meaning of gratitude or praise, as if to say: "That you may magnify Him, the Exalted, while being grateful or praising Him for that which He has guided you." Some have said that "upon" (’ala) carries the meaning of the causal lam, and there is no need to assume such implication. This is supported by the statement of the suppliant at Safa: "Allahu Akbar for that which He has guided us, and praise be to Allah, the Exalted, for that which He has bestowed upon us." It is not hidden that the lack of such implication here has a justification not present in the current case, so understand this.

"And give good tidings to the virtuous"—meaning those who are sincere in all that they perform and all that they leave in the affairs of their religion. According to Ibn Abbas, they are those who declare His Oneness.

"O mankind, fear your Lord"—by turning away from all else and seeking the reward. "Indeed, the convulsion of the Hour"—which are the beginnings of the Great Resurrection—"on the day you see it, every nursing mother will be distracted"—these are the "materials" of things, for every celestial matter has a spirit that nurses its offspring from the Kingdom (malakut) and nurtures it in the cradle of potentiality—"and every pregnant one will lay down"—these are the prime matters (hayula)—"her burden"—which are the forms, on the day the earth is replaced by other than the earth, and the heavens as well.

"And you see the people intoxicated"—this is the intoxication of bewilderment—"while they are not intoxicated"—this is the intoxication of love. It is said: The intoxication of the enemies is from seeing the manifestations of force; the intoxication of the conformists is from seeing the wonders of divine actions; the intoxication of the seeker (murid) is from the shimmering of lights; the intoxication of the lovers is from the unveiling of secrets; the intoxication of the yearning is from the appearance of the splendor of attributes; the intoxication of the passionate is from the revelation of the Essence; the intoxication of the brought-near is from awe and majesty; the intoxication of the knowers is from entering the curtains of union; the intoxication of the monotheists is from their immersion in the seas of Primacy; and the intoxication of the prophets and messengers, peace be upon them, is from their witnessing the mysteries of Eternity:

A Cupbearer passed by us, whose description defies expression, In his glance is wine, and in the unveiling is wine. My companions are intoxicated by the wine of his palm, And I, by Allah, am intoxicated by the wine of his glance.

"And of the people is he who worships Allah on an edge"—this includes those who worship Allah, the Exalted, out of greed for miracles, the praise of people, and the attainment of their worldly affairs. If he sees any of that, he settles into worship; if he sees none, he abandons it and becomes negligent. "He has lost this world"—by losing status, acceptance, and being disgraced before people—"and the Hereafter"—by remaining veiled from witnessing the Truth and being scorched by the fire of distance.

"Whoever thinks that Allah will not help him in this world and the Hereafter, let him extend a rope to the sky"—in this is an allusion to the beautiful station of surrender and contentment with what the Wise, whose majesty is magnified, has done.

"And when We designated for Abraham the place of the House"—in this is the exaltation of the Kaaba. Allah, the Exalted, made it an exemplar of His Throne, and He made those who circle it from among mankind like the angels who encompass the Throne, glorifying the praise of their Lord. However, the glorification and praise of humans for Him, the Mighty and Majestic, is through divine Quranic words. Thus, in their glorification and praise through those words—insofar as they are His words, the Exalted—they act as His deputies, the Mighty and Majestic, in that matter. They are the "People of the Quran," and they are, as the Hadith says, the People of Allah and His special ones.

The Kaaba also has a distinction over the Throne and the other fourteen houses due to a matter conveyed to us—something that is neither in the Throne nor in any other of those houses: the Black Stone, which came in reports to be the "Right Hand of Allah," the Mighty and Majestic. Furthermore, He, the Exalted, gave His House four corners for a divine mystery. In reality, they are three, for it is shaped like a cube; the corner near the stone is like the stone in appearance, cube-shaped, and that is why it is called the Kaaba, resembling the ankle-bone (ka’b).

Just as Allah, the Exalted, made a House for Himself in the macrocosm, He made its counterpart in the microcosm, which is the heart of the believer. It has been mentioned that it is more honorable than this House: "Neither My earth nor My heaven could contain Me, but the heart of My believing servant did." He made the thoughts that pass through it like those who circle the House, with both the praiseworthy and the blameworthy among them. He made the place of thoughts within it like the corners of the House: the place of the divine thought is like the Stone’s corner; the place of the angelic thought is like the Yemeni corner; the place of the ego-driven thought is like the cube within the Stone—and nothing else. The satanic thought has no place in it. This is the case for the hearts of the prophets, peace be upon them.

It is sometimes said: The place of the ego-driven thought is like the Syrian (Shami) corner, and the place of the satanic thought is like the Iraqi corner. This was assigned to the Iraqi corner because the Lawgiver legislated that one should say there: "I seek refuge in Allah, the Exalted, from discord, hypocrisy, and bad character." This is the case for the hearts of believers, other than the prophets, peace be upon them. He, the Glorified, deposited within it a treasure that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, wished to bring out but did not, for a wisdom he perceived. Similarly, Umar wished to do so but refrained, following the example of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Likewise, He, the Majestic and Glorified, deposited in the heart of the Perfect One the treasure of knowledge concerning Him, the Exalted.

The height of the House, as mentioned, is twenty-seven and a quarter cubits. Some say twenty-eight cubits; accordingly, this is analogous to the stages of the heart traversed by the moving stars of faith to manifest events occurring in the soul, just as the moving stars traverse their stations in the celestial sphere to manifest events in the elemental world, and other matters known only to the people of unveiling.

"For you therein are benefits for a specified term; then their place of sacrifice is at the ancient House"—meaning toward that which is adjacent to it, for the slaughter is in Mina. It was made a place for offerings, as the Great Sheikh Muhyi al-Din, may his secret be sanctified, mentioned, because it is the attainment of the goal (munyah), and whoever reaches the prescribed goal has reached the end. In the slaughtering of offerings, there is the destruction of spirits from the management of animal bodies so that they may nourish human bodies; their spirits look toward them during their state of isolation, then they are managed by humanity after they were managed by camels or cattle. This is a subtle issue not grasped except by those whose insight Allah, the Exalted, has enlightened from among the People of Allah. End quote. Its comprehension is delegated to those who possess it, so strive to be among them.

"And give good tidings to the humble, who, when Allah is mentioned, their hearts feel fear"—according to what they receive of the manifestation (tajalli) at that moment. Sometimes, the remembrance results in the tranquility of the heart due to the requirements of the manifestation at that time. Some mentioned that every Name has a special manifestation; thus, when Allah, the Exalted, is remembered, it occurs according to one’s preparedness. Hence, there is at times fear and at times tranquility. "When" (idha) does not necessitate universality; rather, it is often used in conditional statements for partial cases. It is said: When the knower hears the remembrance from other than Him, the Exalted, his heart fears; when he hears it from Him, the Glorified, he finds tranquility. It is understood from the outward sense of their words that the hearer of the remembrance is either fearful or tranquil, and they did not specify another category. If there is one, he remains in his state from before the hearing. Most of the sheikhs of our time dance when they hear the remembrance, and I do not know if their dancing arises from fear of Him, the Exalted, or from tranquility. That will appear on the Day when secrets are tested and consciences are revealed.

"And the camels—We have made them for you among the symbols of Allah. For you therein is good, so mention the name of Allah upon them when they are lined up"—it has preceded for you that they slaughter the camels with the left leg tied, standing on the rest of its legs. They mentioned the secret of this: since slaughtering them is an act of drawing near, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, sought appropriateness in the manner of their slaughter regarding "oddness" (witriyya). So, he stood it on three legs, because Allah, the Exalted, is Odd and loves the odd, and three is the beginning of singleness; it has the first of the ranks in that, and the beginning is also "odd." He made it standing because standing (qayyumiyya) is, like oddness, a divine attribute. So, the one who slaughters it remembers the witnessing of the One who stands over every soul for what it has earned. It has been authenticated that the rites were only legislated to establish the remembrance of Allah. The two legs are paired due to His saying: "And the leg is wound about the leg"—which is the meeting of the affair of this world with the Hereafter. The right hand was isolated from the hand of the camel so that it would not rely on anything except an "Odd" (God) who has the power. The intellect was in the left hand because it is devoid of the strength that the right possesses, and standing cannot occur except from strength. Muslim narrated from Ibn Abbas that he said: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, prayed Dhuhr at Dhu al-Hulayfah, then called for his she-camel and marked it on the right side of its hump, wiped the blood from it, and garlanded it with two sandals, then mounted his riding beast... the hadith.

The secret in his offering, peace be upon him, being from the camels—even though it came in reports that they are devils, and therefore prayer in their resting places is disliked—is an allusion to his station, peace be upon him: returning those who are distant from Allah, the Exalted, to a state of being brought near. In marking it on its hump—which is its highest point—there is an indication from him, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, that he came upon them with the attribute of the "Majesty" (kibriya) which they held in their souls, so let them avoid it. For the Hereafter is only made for those who do not desire exaltation in the earth or corruption. The marking occurred on the right side because the right is the place of power and strength, and "the side" (safhah) is from safh (pardon/turning away). In this is an indication that Allah, the Exalted, pardons those with this attribute if they seek closeness to Allah, the Exalted, and depart from their pride, which necessitated their distance. He, peace be upon him, made the indication of the removal of pride in the "deviltry" of the camel by hanging the sandals on their necks, for none are pardoned with sandals except the people of humility and baseness. Whoever is in this state, there remains in him no pride to witness. He hung the sandals on the garlands of the covenant so that he might remember thereby what Allah, the Exalted, intended, and the mountains will be like wool, teased out. They mentioned that all the actions of Hajj have secrets of this kind. To me, most of them are acts of worship (ta’abbudiyyah), and most of what they have mentioned is of the nature of poetry. Allah, the Exalted, is the Grantor of success toward correctness.