The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 716
CH. 9 AT-TAUBAH PT. 10 اِنَّ عِدَّةَ الشُّهُورِ عِنْدَ اللهِ اثْنَاعَشَرَ The reckoning of months. 36 شَهْرًا فِي كِتَبِ اللهِ يَوْمَ خَلَقَ السَّمَوتِ months by Allah's ordinance b وَالْأَرْضَ مِنْهَا أَرْبَعَةٌ حُرُمُ ذَلِكَ الدِّينُ الْقَيِّمُ فَلَا تَظْلِمُوا فِيهِنَّ with Allah has been twelve since the day when He created the heavens and the earth. Of these, four are sacred. That is the right creed. So wrong not the idolaters all together as they أَنْفُسَكُمْ وَقَاتِلُوا الْمُشْرِكِينَ كَفَةَ yourselves therein. And fight كَمَا يُقَاتِلُوْنَكُمْ كَافَةً وَاعْلَمُوا اَنَّ fight you all together; and know اللهَ مَعَ الْمُتَّقِينَ that Allah is with the righteous. 1196 إِنَّمَا النَّسِيءُ زِيَادَةٌ فِي الْكُفْرِ يُضَلُّ Surely, the postponement. 37 بِهِ الَّذِيْنَ كَفَرُوا يُحِلُّونَهُ عَامًا addition to disbelief. Those who وَيُحَرِّمُوْنَهُ عَامًا لِيُوَاطِئُوا عِدَّةَ مَا of a Sacred Month is an disbelieve are led astray thereby. They allow it one year and forbid it another year, that حَرَّمَ اللهُ فَيُحِلُّوا مَا حَرَّمَ اللهُ زُيِّنَ they may agree in the number of لَهُمْ سُوءُ أَعْمَالِهِمْ وَاللَّهُ لَا يَهْدِى the months which Allah has made sacred, and thus may make 1196. Important Words: number, which holds true both in the solar and the lunar system. كتب ordinance) is derived from) کتاب i. e. (1) he wrote; (2) he prescribed or ordained. ✓ means, a book or a writing; Divine prescript or ordinance or decree (Lane). See also 2:54 & 2:130. | The four sacred months are Dhul- Qa'dah, Dhul-Hijjah, Muḥarram, and Rajab. These months have been held sacred by the Arabs, who are mostly descended from Abraham, from time immemorial and Islam confirmed their sacredness. It is considered unlawful to wage war or, for that matter, to continue a state of war in these four months unless, as the Quran points out, the enemy is the first to violate their sanctity. See also Commentary: The words (by Allah's ordinance) mean that God SO ordained on the day when He created the heavens and the earth that the number of months should be twelve, i. e. the law of nature determines that | note on 2:218. 1156