What is the meaning of the saying of Allah the Exalted: "Indeed, the postponing of the sacred month is only an increase in disbelief. By it, those who disbelieve are led astray, making it lawful in one year and forbidden in another..."?
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The questioner : What is the meaning of the saying of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) in Surat al-Tawbah: [At-Tawbah 9:37]?
The Shaykh : The saying of Allah the Exalted:[At-Tawbah 9:37] The meaning of *nasī'* is postponement. In the pre-Islamic age of ignorance, they believed that the month of Safar was forbidden, because it is one of the four sacred months that Allah the Exalted mentioned in His saying: [At-Tawbah 9:36] These are three consecutive months and one separate month. The consecutive ones are Dhul-Qa'dah, Dhul-Hijjah, and Muharram, and the separate one is the month of Rajab. So in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance, they would postpone the month of Muharram, making it lawful, and place the prohibition in the month of Safar. They would say, "We have made four months in the year forbidden, so we have matched what Allah has forbidden." But in reality, they made lawful what Allah the Exalted had forbidden, which is the month of Muharram, and their postponing it to Safar is misguidance from them and an increase in disbelief. For this reason, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) said: [At-Tawbah 9:37].
Indeed, the postponing [of restriction within sacred months] is an increase in disbelief by which those who have disbelieved are led [further] astray. They make it lawful one year and unlawful another year to correspond to the number made unlawful by Allah and [thus] make lawful what Allah has made unlawful
إِنَّمَا النَّسِيءُ زِيَادَةٌ فِي الْكُفْرِ يُضَلُّ بِهِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا يُحِلُّونَهُ عَامًا وَيُحَرِّمُونَهُ عَامًا لِيُوَاطِئُوا عِدَّةَ مَا حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ فَيُحِلُّوا مَا حَرَّمَ اللَّهُThe Shaykh : The saying of Allah the Exalted: