The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page 262
CH. 2 AL-BAQARAH obeyed; he did an act willingly and voluntarily. The infinitive & means: (1) obedience; (2) doing an act willingly without its being obligatory on one. ε means, he performed an act with effort and volition. means, he performed a good act which was not obligatory on him (Aqrab & Mufradāt). Commentary: To a superficial observer the verse under comment dealing with the subject of Pilgrimage appears to have no connection with the preceding ones which deal with the subject of trials and sacrifices. But a deeper study will at once disclose a very close connection between the two. The preceding verses warned Muslims to be prepared for sacrifices and gave them the glad tidings that if they performed the required sacrifices willingly and patiently, God would bless them greatly and would show special mercy to them and would remember them with kindness and would provide guidance for them whenever needed. Now, in order to bring home to them the truth of this promise, He invites the attention of Muslims to the great sacrifice of Abraham near the site of As-Safa and Al-Marwah. Abraham obeyed His Lord and left his wife Hagar and his son Ishmael near these two hills of Mecca, which was then a most desolate tract. The seed was sown in a soil which was apparently the most barren of all soils, but how wonderfully it prospered! God was a most Loving and Faithful God who so fondly remembered His servants, Abraham and Ishmael, even after the 262 PT. 2 lapse of 2,500 years, and Muslims can expect the same love and the same fidelity from Him, if they too love and obey Him. Ṣafā and Marwah, as explained under Important Words above, are two hills which stand as a memorial to Hagar's great patience and extraordinary loyalty to God on the one hand and to God's special treatment of her and her son on the other. A visit to these hills makes the pilgrim deeply impressed with the love, fidelity and power of God. The words, it is no sin for him, should not be taken to mean that performing the circuit between Şafā and Marwah is only permissible and not obligatory. The expression is used simply to remove the aversion to such performance found among certain Persons on the basis of the fact that heathen Arabs had placed two idols on these two hills (Muslim). God removed this erroneous notion by saying that it was no sin to perform the circuit between Şafa and Marwah, which on account of the great sacrifice of Abraham, Hagar and Ishmael on the one hand and the resulting blessings of God on the other, had become i. e. great Signs of God. That the performance of these circuits is obligatory in both and (the Greater and the Lesser Pilgrimage) is clear from the practice of the Holy Prophet and his injunctions to his followers (Bukhārī, ch. Al-Hajj). The words, whoso does good beyond what is obligatory, do not refer to (Greater Pilgrimage), which under certain conditions is