The Meaning of the Saying of Allah the Exalted: "But if you are prevented"
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Question : The questioner says: Honorable Shaykh, the scholars have expressed many opinions in their interpretation of the saying of Allah the Exalted: [Al-Baqarah 2:196] We would like to hear your opinion on this matter.
Answer : The meaning of the verse is clear, except that the scholars differed on the meaning of being prevented (ihsar). If you are prevented, is it a condition that the prevention be by an enemy, or is prevention anything that stops the completion of the rites? The apparent meaning of the noble verse is that prevention is general for anything that prevents the completion of the rites. Whoever says it is specific to an enemy says that the saying of Allah the Exalted:[Al-Baqarah 2:196], which is a branch derived from the statement "if you are prevented," indicates that the intended meaning is prevention by an enemy. However, the stronger position is that the intended meaning of prevention is anything that prevents the completion of the rites. So if a person enters the state of ihram for the rites but is unable to complete them due to illness, a fracture, or something else, he is considered prevented. He slaughters a sacrificial animal and exits the state of ihram. Then, if this rite was obligatory upon him, he performs it later; and if it was not obligatory, he has exited from it.
And complete the Hajj and 'umrah for Allah. But if you are prevented, then [offer] what can be obtained with ease of sacrificial animals. And do not shave your heads until the sacrificial animal has reached its place of slaughter.
وَأَتِمُّوا الْحَجَّ وَالْعُمْرَةَ لِلَّهِ فَإِنْ أُحْصِرْتُمْ فَمَا اسْتَيْسَرَ مِنَ الْهَدْيِ وَلَا تَحْلِقُوا رُءُوسَكُمْ حَتَّىٰ يَبْلُغَ الْهَدْيُ مَحِلَّهُAnswer : The meaning of the verse is clear, except that the scholars differed on the meaning of being prevented (ihsar). If you are prevented, is it a condition that the prevention be by an enemy, or is prevention anything that stops the completion of the rites? The apparent meaning of the noble verse is that prevention is general for anything that prevents the completion of the rites. Whoever says it is specific to an enemy says that the saying of Allah the Exalted:
And when you are secure, then whoever
فَإِذَا أَمِنتُمْ فَمَن تَمَتَّعَ
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، لقاء[16 من 219] معنى قوله تعالى فإن أحرصتم؟!! الشيخ ابن عثيمين - مشروع كبار العلماء — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.