Al-Hajj 22:37–45

The real object is not the specific rites of pilgrimage but true devotion to Allah and submission to His will which are inherent in those rites

لَن يَنَالَ اللَّهَ لُحُومُهَا (It is neither their flesh nor their blood that reaches Allah - 22:37) It means that the sacrifice of animals is a very high form of worship, but their meat and blood do not reach Allah Ta’ ala nor are these two things the real object of sacrifice. Its real aim is to recite the name of Allah and to comply with His commands with true devotion. This rule applies to all forms of worship. For instance, the object of prayers is not just the movement of limbs, or the object of fasting is not merely a denial of food and drink. The real purpose of these rites of worship is to obey the commands of Allah Ta’ ala with all sincerity. Devoid of sincerity these rites of worship are like a body without soul. Nevertheless these forms of worship are also very important because Allah Ta’ ala has prescribed these forms for different types of worship. Allah knows best. واللہ اعلم

Commentary

The previous verses contain an account of how the infidels of Makkah prevented the Holy Prophet ﷺ and his companions from entering the Haram and the Holy Mosque to perform ` Umrah when, having put on ihram, they had reached as far as Hudaibiyah, a place not far from Makkah. In this verse Allah Ta’ ala consoled the Muslims with the promise that He would deprive the infidels of their power to harm them anymore.

This incident took place in the year 6 A.H. and thereafter the power and the morale of the infidels suffered continuous decline until in the year 8 A.H. the Muslims conquered Makkah. The following verses describe this event in detail.

Commentary

First command to fight the infidels

The infidels of Makkah intensified their aggression against the Muslims and every day people arrived in Madinah bearing marks of ill-treatment which they had suffered at the hands of unbelievers. In the days before Hijrah the number of the faithful had increased considerably and they sought permission to defend themselves against the oppression to which they were being constantly subjected, but the Holy Prophet ﷺ advised them patience because he had not received Allah's permission so far to resist the infidels with force of arms. This situation persisted for about ten years. (Qurtubi)

At last, things became so bad that the Holy Prophet ﷺ was left with no choice but to leave Makkah. As he started on his journey accompanied by Sayyidna Abu Bakr ؓ he said اخرجوا نبیّھم لیھلکنّ (They have expelled their Prophet ﷺ and the time has come when they will perish). When he arrived at Madinah this verse was revealed which permitted the Muslims to take up arms against the infidels. (رواہ النسایٔی والترمذی عن ابن عباس ؓ Qurtubi)

Tirmidhi, Nasa’ i, Ibn Majah, Ibn Hibban, Hakim and others have reported on the authority of Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ that this is the first verse which permitted the Muslims to offer armed resistance to the infidels, whereas in more than seventy earlier verses armed resistance was forbidden.

The philosophy behind Jihad and war against the infidels

وَلَوْلَا دَفْعُ اللَّهِ النَّاسَ (And had Allah not repelled some people by means of some others... - 22:40) Had Allah not repelled some people by means of some others, the monasteries, the churches, the synagogues and the mosques where the name of Allah is recited abundantly would have been demolished. The command to take up arms against the unbelievers is nothing new, because the earlier prophets and their followers had received similar orders from Allah Ta’ ala and the philosophy behind this command was that without armed resistance no religion would have felt safe and their places of worship would have been destroyed by the infidels.

There have been many religions which were founded on the worship of one God and built up by means of Wahy (Divine revelations). In course of time their basics were changed and so many alterations were introduced in them that they turned into unbelief and polytheism. But before these things happened, they were true religions and it was the duty of their followers to respect and defend their places of worship. This verse refers to such places of worship only and does not include the sacred places of those religions which were not founded on prophethood and revelation (such as the fire-worshiping Magians, or the idol-worshiping Hindus) because they were at no time considered places deserving of respect.

In this verse صَوَامِعُ is the plural of صَوَمِعُہ ، which means a monastery which is a place of worship meant for Christian monks and hermits بِيَعٌ is the plural of بِیعَۃ ، which means a Christian church, and صَلَوَاتٌ is the plural of صلُوت ، which means a Jewish synagogue. And of course مَسَاجِدُ is the place of worship of the Muslims.

The meaning of this verse is that if at different times the believers had not been permitted to fight the infidels, no true religion would have felt secure and at different times during the periods of Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) ، Sayyidna ` Isa (علیہ السلام) and the Holy Prophet ﷺ the places of worship of their respective religions would have been destroyed. (Qurtubi)

Qur’ anic prophecy about the Rightly Guided Caliphs ( خُلفأے راشدین ) and its fulfillment

الَّذِينَ إِن مَّكَّنَّاهُمْ فِي الْأَرْ‌ضِ (Those who, when We give them power in the land - 22:41) In this verse the word (those) refers to those people who have been mentioned in the preceding verse: الَّذِينَ أُخْرِ‌جُوا مِن دِيَارِ‌هِم بِغَيْرِ‌ حَقٍّ (Those are the ones who were expelled from their homes without any just reason - 22:40). Referring to such people the verse says that if they are placed in authority in this world, they will use it to promote good deeds, will set up prayers, pay the obligatory charity, enjoin people to do good and abstain from evil deeds. It has already been mentioned that these verses were revealed soon after Hijrah, at a time when the Muslims did not exercise dominion anywhere on earth, which means that Allah Ta’ ala had already made it known that when, at a future date, they would come to power and establish their government, they would serve the Faith in the manner described in this verse. Sayyidna ` Uthmane ؓ said referring to this verse, ثنَا قَبلَ بَلَاء that this verse praises those people before they actually perform the praise-worthy deeds. In due course Allah Ta’ ala's prophecy was fulfilled in that the four Rightly Guided Caliphs and the Muhajirin (emigrants) from Makkah were indeed those whom the Qur'an described by the words الَّذِينَ أُخْرِ‌جُوا (those who were expelled - 22:40) and when they established their government and held sway over vast territories, they used their power and authority in setting up prayers, strengthening the system of Zakah, enjoining good and forbidding evil deeds. Many scholars are of the view that this verse is a clear evidence of the fact that accession to power of the four Caliphs (خُلفَاے راشدین) is a direct fulfillment of Allah's Prophesy, and the system of caliphate which was set up by them was in accordance with His will. (Ruh ul-Ma’ ani)

Having discussed the factual aspect of the circumstances leading up to the revelation of this verse it must, at the same time, be emphasized that where the Qur'an uses general words and phrases, their purpose is not restricted to a particular situation, but is universally applicable to all similar situations. Following this reasoning, Dahhak says that this verse contains an injunction for all those whom Allah Ta’ ala grants power and authority to do all those things which the Four Caliphs did when they controlled the rule. (Qurtubi)