Sūrah Al-Ḥajj The Pilgrimage
الحج
78 verses, Madanī. The call of Ibrāhīm ﷺ to Ḥajj and all of humanity responds. The first permission to fight in self-defence. The verse of prostration. The parable of a fly. Ibn Kathīr notes this surah has both Makkī and Madanī characteristics beginning with the terror of the Hour and ending with the call to jihad.
Surah Overview
Key Themes from Ibn Kathīr
The terror of the Hour (22:1–2): "O mankind fear your Lord. Indeed the convulsion of the Hour is a tremendous thing. On the day you will see it, every nursing mother will be distracted from that which she nurses and every pregnant woman will abort her pregnancy." Ibn Kathīr: the Day is described through its effect on the most tender bond in human experience.
Ibrāhīm's call to Ḥajj (22:27): "And proclaim to the people the Ḥajj they will come to you on foot and on every lean camel they will come from every distant pass." Ibn Kathīr: Ibrāhīm ﷺ asked how his voice could reach all people Allah said: You call, I will deliver. Every soul that would ever make Ḥajj was in the loins of Ādam ﷺ at that moment, and all responded: Labbayk.
- The fly parable (22:73): If all those you worship besides Allah were to gather to create a fly they could not. And if the fly took something from them, they could not recover it. The worshipped and the worshipper are both weak. Ibn Kathīr: the ultimate refutation of polytheism a single fly is beyond the collective power of all false deities.
- First permission to fight (22:39): Revealed in Madīnah the Muslims had endured thirteen years of persecution without physical retaliation. Now: permission not command. Ibn Kathīr: permission to fight came before the commands to fight, showing the graduated nature of Islamic legislation.
- Sacrifice reaches Allah through taqwā (22:37): The pre-Islamic Arabs smeared the blood of sacrifices on the Kaʿbah. Islam abolished this the act of sacrifice is an expression of gratitude and devotion, not a payment to the divine.
- Every nation given rites of sacrifice (22:34): "And for every nation We have appointed a rite of sacrifice that they may mention the name of Allah over what He has provided for them of livestock." Sacrifice across all religions traces back to one origin the acknowledgement of the Provider.
- "Strive for Allah with the striving due Him" (22:78): The closing verse He named you Muslims before and in this so that the Messenger may be a witness over you and you may be witnesses over the people. The title of Muslim given by Allah, through Ibrāhīm ﷺ.