Contemplations of My Favorite Verses from Surah Al-Hajj

Sunday, April 20, 2025 — 2:15 PM

This afternoon I’m at RAF Speciality Coffee Bar near Arabella Plaza, New Cairo. I really like this place, I feel myself while sitting here, this is my fourth or fifth visit since I discovered the place about two months ago.

There is more than one reason I really like the place. First of all, it’s very calm here; almost no noise at all from the visitors, neither from the street. Yes, there is music playing in the café’s speakers and I don’t listen to music, however, it’s not loud and the genres are soft, also I’m listening to Qur’an in my beloved Qur’an-companion BOSE earbuds.

Second reason I like the place is that it has a lot of plants and the floor furnished in light gravel, with a special plants nursery, مشتل زراعي, just next to it, so it’m feels very natural and nature friendly.

A third reason I like the place is that it has an outdoor area with umbrellas.. As an introvert trying to become an ambivert, umbrellas are very helpful getting along in open outdoor areas.

And, to get to the topic, as I’m writing this diaries post I’m listening on-repeat to my favorite verses from Surah Al-Hajj, a recitation by Sheikh Afif Mohammed Taj (عفيف محمد تاج), an Ethiopian Qur’an reciter I discovered a couple of years ago. This track is very special in terms of the recitation melody, it’s very African and different, I will leave the SoundCloud link in the comments, inshAllah.

Now, the verses I’m pointing to as my favorite verses from Surah Al-Hajj, and in one of my favorite verses in all of The Qur’an generally, are verses 26 to 37. These verses discuss the rituals and the blessings behind the ordinance of Hajj in a most eloquent and emotional way.

To start mentioning my contemplations, I need to give a brief of what I learnt of history of The Ka’aba in a couple lines.

It was said that The Ka’aba, The Sacred Mosque, was the first masjid and home of Allah put on earth for people, and generations after generationsAllah had sent prophets and messengers to people to show them the truth and call them to worship Him there. However, it happened that at a certain point along the lives of the peoples disbelief got so widespread, and infidels demolished and defiled The Ka’aba, and threw dirts on its location, put idols around it; and so, The Ka’aba location was lost and forgotten..

Now I’m ready to mention my contemplations on the verses.

The verses goes:

وَإِذْ بَوَّأْنَا لِإِبْرَاهِيمَ مَكَانَ الْبَيْتِ أَن لّا تُشْرِكْ بِي شَيْئًا وَطَهِّرْ بَيْتِيَ لِلطَّائِفِينَ وَالْقَائِمِينَ وَالرُّكَّعِ السُّجُودِ — سورة الحج/٢٦

The Arabic word “تبَوَّأْ” is usually used to express someone achieving an extremely high standing and position, like a royal ruling or a special high position in a government, so what I felt contemplating the usage of this word in the verse was that maybe God wants us to feel how much the revealing of the correct location of the Ka’aba, long after it was demolished, lost, and forgotten by people amongst the earth, was an extremely high standing and a huge blessing from Allah to the creation, and specially Prophet Abraham/Ibrahim, peace be upon him.

وَأَذِّن فِي النَّاسِ بِالْحَجِّ يَأْتُوكَ رِجَالا وَعَلَى كُلِّ ضَامِرٍ يَأْتِينَ مِن كُلِّ فَجٍّ عَمِيقٍ — سورة الحج/٢٧

The expression “وَعَلَى كُلِّ ضَامِرٍ” can mean the extremely healthy animal rides or the extremely weak animal rides; subhan’Allah, Allah is telling Prophet Ibrahim, peace be upon him, in a very eloquent way, that both the bestest strongest people and the weakest most miserable people will seek visiting the house of Allah, The Ka’aba, out of His glorification. Imagine the motivation of Abraham, peace be upon him, to clean The Ka’aba from the filths that the infidles threw on it along the dark years when he heard this from God; indeed Allah blesses the efforts of His servants who work hard to re-establish the truth and who try to please Him.

لِيَشْهَدُوا مَنَافِعَ لَهُمْ وَيَذْكُرُوا اسْمَ اللَّهِ فِي أَيَّامٍ مَّعْلُومَاتٍ عَلَى مَا رَزَقَهُم مِّن بَهِيمَةِ الأَنْعَامِ فَكُلُوا مِنْهَا وَأَطْعِمُوا الْبَائِسَ الْفَقِيرَ — سورة الحج/٢٨

The expression “أَيَّامٍ مَّعْلُومَاتٍ” takes one’s memory to Surah Al-Baqarah’s Ramadan verses, specifically verse 184, where the rhyming expression “أَيَّامًا مَّعْدُودَاتٍ” was used. I really believe the usage of these two expressions in Quran is not accidental, at all, let me explain it.

Ramadan’s Night of Power, ليلة القدر, is hidden along the month of Ramadan and no one can be sure which night is the night of power, so in the Ramadan verses of Surah Al-Baqarah God motivates us to do our best on all Ramadan’s nights by saying “أَيَّامًا مَّعْدُودَاتٍ”, which means “nights that can be counted”, meaning that even though questing The Night of Power is a hard challenge, it can be completed with diligence and dedicatio. That’s the first expression, now let me explain the other one.

On the contrary of Ramadan’s Night of Power, the most blessed first ten days of Zul-Hijja, especially The Day of Arafat, يوم عرفة, and The Day of Sacrifice, يوم النحر, are actually “أَيَّامٍ مَّعْلُومَاتٍ”, which translates to “Days that are known”, known in terms of date. And since they are known and at the same time they are ten days only, not a whole month like Ramadan, then its blessings can be achieved almost three times easier. This is the point, The first ten days of Zul-Hijjah are known in terms of date, so a real big opportunity to seize.

It’s amazing how Allah speaks to us in with logic and mindfulness, and it’s amazing how the spelling and pronunciation of “أَيَّامًا مَّعْدُودَاتٍ” and the spelling and pronunciation of “أَيَّامٍ مَّعْلُومَاتٍ” are very similar and rhyming. Very eloquent, enriching, and beautiful. Everything is connected. Everything makes sense.

The verse ends with one of the most touching expressions to my heart in all of The Qur’an: “فَكُلُوا مِنْهَا وَأَطْعِمُوا الْبَائِسَ الْفَقِيرَ”. As we enjoy Allah’s blessings to us, we ought not forget the poor miserables.

ثُمَّ لْيَقْضُوا تَفَثَهُمْ وَلْيُوفُوا نُذُورَهُمْ وَلْيَطَّوَّفُوا بِالْبَيْتِ الْعَتِيقِ — سورة الحج/٢٩

Notice the expression “البيت العتيق”.It made me feel that God wants to tell us that oldest peoples died, the strongest civilizations ended, but his first and most ancient hime and masjid on earth is still standing, and He, subhanahu w ta’ala; is still being worshipped after all these centuries. Realize that this verse was revealed at the time of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, and its said that back then on the The Farewell Pilgrimage Muslims were around one hundred thousand, while now we are almost two billion, so now Muslims are around twenty thousand times more in count, all seeking visiting and circling The Ka’aba. It amazes me how powerful the verse when well contemplated.

ذَلِكَ وَمَن يُعَظِّمْ حُرُمَاتِ اللَّهِ فَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَّهُ عِندَ رَبِّهِ وَأُحِلَّتْ لَكُمُ الأَنْعَامُ إِلاَّ مَا يُتْلَى عَلَيْكُمْ فَاجْتَنِبُوا الرِّجْسَ مِنَ الأَوْثَانِ وَاجْتَنِبُوا قَوْلَ الزُّورِ — سورة الحج/٣٠

The contemplation I would like to mention about this verse is about the ending of it: “فَاجْتَنِبُوا الرِّجْسَ مِنَ الأَوْثَانِ وَاجْتَنِبُوا قَوْلَ الزُّورِ”; I think Allah related worshiping idols to lying in testimony and falsehood for He wants us to understand that worshiping idols is, in its core, actual real lying in testimony and falshood, because Allah is The One who ought to be worshipped alone, so worshiping someone else is a lie in its core.

حُنَفَاء لِلَّهِ غَيْرَ مُشْرِكِينَ بِهِ وَمَن يُشْرِكْ بِاللَّهِ فَكَأَنَّمَا خَرَّ مِنَ السَّمَاء فَتَخْطَفُهُ الطَّيْرُ أَوْ تَهْوِي بِهِ الرِّيحُ فِي مَكَانٍ سَحِيقٍ — سورة الحج/٣١

The expression “حُنَفَاء لِلَّهِ” can be translated to “straying from misguidance towards Allah”. This verse completes the verse before it, because for one to become on Allah’s straight path, صراط الله, they need to get astray from all the other paths that lead to misguidance, السُبُل, for there is only one single straight path, but multiple and different error paths.

ذَلِكَ وَمَن يُعَظِّمْ شَعَائِرَ اللَّهِ فَإِنَّهَا مِن تَقْوَى الْقُلُوبِ — سورة الحج/٣٢

This verse participated much in my glorification and love for Hajj. The simply verse says that the ones who glorify Allah’s rituals have piousness in their hearts; however, I really think it can work the other way around, so if you want to become pious, just go for it and glorify Allah’s rituals, It will work inversely for you and make you pious.

لَكُمْ فِيهَا مَنَافِعُ إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى ثُمَّ مَحِلُّهَا إِلَى الْبَيْتِ الْعَتِيقِ — سورة الحج/٣٣

The verse is seemingly speaking about the cattle and how we can benefit from it for a while in the worldly life but in the end we take it to Makkah in Hajj to sacrifice it. However, I had a thought that maybe Allah also meant by the same words of the verse that the hearts, الْقُلُوبِ, mentioned in verse 32, are also beneficial to us in worldly life, but it’s a matter of time that it longs to The Ka’aba and perform The Pilgrimage journey, Hajj, to Allah. A really deep meaning.

وَلِكُلِّ أُمَّةٍ جَعَلْنَا مَنسَكًا لِيَذْكُرُوا اسْمَ اللَّهِ عَلَى مَا رَزَقَهُم مِّن بَهِيمَةِ الأَنْعَامِ فَإِلَهُكُمْ إِلَهٌ وَاحِدٌ فَلَهُ أَسْلِمُوا وَبَشِّرِ الْمُخْبِتِينَ — سورة الحج/٣٤

الَّذِينَ إِذَا ذُكِرَ اللَّهُ وَجِلَتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَالصَّابِرِينَ عَلَى مَا أَصَابَهُمْ وَالْمُقِيمِي الصَّلاةِ وَمِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ يُنفِقُونَ — سورة الحج/٣٥

Amazing eloquence. Let me explain it. According to second verse, verse 35, the word الْمُخْبِتِينَ means الوجلين بقلوبهم, “the ones whose hearts get extremely afraid when Allah is mentioned”. But the word “بَشِّرِ” means “give glad tidings”. And so, the extreme eloquence comes from the usage of two antonyms/opposites to prove Allahs mercy and blessing, as if Allah is telling us: “If you fear Me, I won’t punish you, no, I would give glad tidings to you, and you will be rewarded”.

وَالْبُدْنَ جَعَلْنَاهَا لَكُم مِّن شَعَائِرِ اللَّهِ لَكُمْ فِيهَا خَيْرٌ فَاذْكُرُوا اسْمَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْهَا صَوَافَّ فَإِذَا وَجَبَتْ جُنُوبُهَا فَكُلُوا مِنْهَا وَأَطْعِمُوا الْقَانِعَ وَالْمُعْتَرَّ كَذَلِكَ سَخَّرْنَاهَا لَكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ — سورة الحج/٣٦

See the expression: “فَاذْكُرُوا اسْمَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْهَا صَوَافَّ”. The word “صَوَافَّ” means “in line”; it’s really beautiful to see people doing the correct thing one after another.

لَن يَنَالَ اللَّهَ لُحُومُهَا وَلا دِمَاؤُهَا وَلَكِن يَنَالُهُ التَّقْوَى مِنكُمْ كَذَلِكَ سَخَّرَهَا لَكُمْ لِتُكَبِّرُوا اللَّهَ عَلَى مَا هَدَاكُمْ وَبَشِّرِ الْمُحْسِنِينَ — سورة الحج/٣٧

One contemplation I have about this verse is about Allah’s expression: “وَلَكِن يَنَالُهُ التَّقْوَى مِنكُمْ”; I really don’t fully understand what this means, but I think it’s huge. Real huge. May Allah make us of the pious, المتقين.

Another contemplation about the verse is on the words “وَبَشِّرِ الْمُحْسِنِينَ”. It takes my memory to the prior verse 34 words: “وَبَشِّرِ الْمُخْبِتِينَ”. I think Allah wants to tell us: “If you fear Allah, it will be a motive for you to act the bestest”.

That was the last verse. How meaningful and beautiful are these verses.. AlhamduleAllah.

May Allah benefit you with what you’ve read and accept from us. Please pass the knowledge to others, I would be grateful.

About my RAF order, all the past times I ordered iced blended Honey Buzz Latte, which is a latte with honey crumble, a probably healthier choice than frappés, and it tastes amazing. However, today the cashier suggested to me Salted Caramel Peanut Butter drink, so I ordered it.

That’s all for now. Please follow me on Facebook and/or Instagram, username: @byamralee, to get my diaries posts which usually have direct or indirect dawah content. You can also read my dawah novels which are available on my website, I will leave the link in the comments.

Thanks for reading my longer than usual post, I really and honestly appreciate it.

AsSalam ‘Alaykum.