Explaining the meaning of the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He: “There is no blame on him if he circumambulates them”

The Shaykh : Regarding the circumambulation of the Ka'bah, Allah the Exalted said: What is the meaning of in this noble verse? This verse was difficult for Urwah, previously mentioned, the son of al-Zubayr, the son of the sister of Lady Aisha. One day he said to Lady Aisha: “I do not see that a man who performs Hajj and has not circumambulated the House or walked between al-Safa and al-Marwah…” He said: “I do not see that his Hajj is valid.” His aunt Aisha said to him: “Why is that?” So he recited this verse; meaning: He understood it as any person would understand it at first, given his knowledge of Arabic style and secondly, his knowledge of the occasion for which this verse was revealed: “There is no blame on him if he circumambulates them” means there is no sin on him… circumambulate, so the implication of this is that he is also not required to do what? Not to circumambulate. That is how Urwah understood it. What did Lady Aisha say to him? She said: “If the matter were as you say, the verse would have been: ‘There is no blame on him if he does not circumambulate them.’” But the verse says: “There is no blame on him if he circumambulates,” not that he does not circumambulate. With this much, the intended meaning does not end, but Lady Aisha explained the issue with a sufficient explanation. She said and provided the summary that this verse was revealed after the Muslims, after the Companions believed and embraced Islam and knew Islam, so they distanced themselves from their previous pre-Islamic age of ignorance. Before Islam, when they came to the Ka'bah and circumambulated between al-Safa and al-Marwah, they would proclaim the talbiyah for one of their idols and for one of their statues. When Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, guided them to the oneness of Allah and Islam, they refrained from proclaiming the talbiyah, meaning responding with the talbiyah, at the Ka'bah and between al-Safa and al-Marwah, because they used to worship that statue there. They did not find it appropriate for their oneness of Allah and their faith in Allah to return and circumambulate the place where they used to proclaim the talbiyah and respond with the talbiyah in the name of the idol previously. So they felt hesitant. Then Allah revealed this verse. The verse was revealed to remove the hesitation that arose in their hearts, not to show them that there is nothing on him if he circumambulates or if he does not circumambulate. It is not as if it says: “Circumambulation is what we commanded you, and there is no blame on you to circumambulate because you used to circumambulate there and proclaim the talbiyah in the name of the idol. Since you have disbelieved in this idol and believed in Allah alone, with no partner for Him, there is no blame on you to circumambulate the Ancient House now.” And therefore, he affirmed this matter that the Messenger, peace be upon him, said: , And among the ignorance of the Sunnah that has spread among the people of this Ummah in this era is that I saw some of those who compiled some small treatises and included in them snippets of hadiths that pleased him. Among the hadiths he included were hadiths encouraging the seeking of provision, because in the present age, materialism has dominated the minds of people, and previously there were invocations encouraging asceticism and leaving work. When we entered a material age and many Muslims were affected by it, they began to display the excellences of Islam, some of which are true and good and many, and some of which are not true. Among the excellences of Islam is that it commands work. In the Qur'an, for example: It did not say “Eat from His provision before you walk,” but rather it said: . So some writers in our country compiled a small treatise and gathered in it hadiths of this type that show the virtue and perfection of Islam. He brought in the context of encouraging the seeking of provision this hadith: He understood the walking to be what? For the sake of provision. And the intended meaning is the walking between al-Safa and al-Marwah. Why? Because he found the hadith, for example, in al-Jami' al-Saghir, and he did not know what the occasion of it was, so he took the Arabic “So walk in its mountainsides,” the Qur'anic verse. “So walk,” therefore seek provision. Whereas the intended meaning is: Allah has written upon you the walking between al-Safa and al-Marwah, so walk, because Allah has made it obligatory upon you. This is the explanation of the meaning of this noble verse: “There is no blame on him if he circumambulates them” at the time when he was hesitant about circumambulating them.