Calls of Faith: ‹Do Not Violate the Rites of Allah› in Sūrat al-Māʾida

Occasion: Transcription of an ʿIshāʾ khatira delivered on 13 September 2026 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

Tonight we pause at one of the calls of Allah to His believing servants in Sūrat al-Māʾida: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تُحِلُّوا شَعَائِرَ اللَّهِ وَلَا الشَّهْرَ الْحَرَامَ وَلَا الْهَدْيَ وَلَا الْقَلَائِدَ﴾ ("O you who have believed, do not violate the rites of Allah or the sacred month or the sacrificial animals or the garlands").^[1] Our Lord, Glorified is He, calls His believing servants not to violate the rites of Allah.

The Rites and Turning Religiosity into Whim

"Shaʿāʾir" is the plural of "shaʿīra," which is what Allah, Blessed and Exalted, made the site of a rite among the rites of this religion. Before Islam, people used to transgress the rites that Allah had set for them; they changed the form of circumambulating the Kaaba, and put forward whichever of Allah's rites they desired and found pleasing.

And here comes the matter of turning religiosity into whim, or desire, or mood: everyone who had an idea wanted to apply it wherever his whim led, and everyone who wanted to create a distinction for himself added something to the divine teachings that would make them attributed to him; so this one is the man of circumambulating from left to right, that one is the man of circumambulating from front to back, and a third is the man of circumambulating the Kaaba naked — for example — and so on.

The Contract of Servanthood

Then the Lord of the worlds speaks to us at the beginning of the blessed surah: ﴿أَوْفُوا بِالْعُقُودِ﴾ ("Fulfill the contracts"). Which contracts are those? The first of contracts are those between you and the Lord of Might, Glorified is He, and the contract between us and Allah is the contract of servanthood, and the basic principle in servanthood is compliance. And everyone who goes beyond this compliance is transgressing the principle of servanthood, has no standing in it, but is rather wronging the Lord of the worlds, Glorified is He.

And going beyond servanthood takes several forms: among them is changing the form of worship, and that is why that fierce onslaught comes against every innovator in this religion; for he either adds to it what is not part of it, or removes from the essence of worship what should not be removed, or alters concepts and changes them. So the Lord of the worlds says: ﴿أُحِلَّتْ لَكُمْ بَهِيمَةُ الْأَنْعَامِ إِلَّا مَا يُتْلَىٰ عَلَيْكُمْ غَيْرَ مُحِلِّي الصَّيْدِ وَأَنْتُمْ حُرُمٌ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَحْكُمُ مَا يُرِيدُ﴾ ("Lawful for you are the animals of grazing livestock except for what is recited to you – hunting not being permitted while you are in the state of ihram. Indeed, Allah ordains what He intends"), so do not substitute others for them. And we spoke last time about the matter of will and its relevance to the ruling here.

The Sacred Month and the Postponement

﴿وَلَا الشَّهْرَ الْحَرَامَ﴾ ("or the sacred month"): and we have in Sūrat al-Tawba ﴿إِنَّمَا النَّسِيءُ زِيَادَةٌ فِي الْكُفْرِ يُضَلُّ بِهِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا﴾ ("Indeed, the postponing is an increase in disbelief by which those who have disbelieved are led astray"),^[2] and before it the verse: ﴿إِنَّ عِدَّةَ الشُّهُورِ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ اثْنَا عَشَرَ شَهْرًا فِي كِتَابِ اللَّهِ يَوْمَ خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ مِنْهَا أَرْبَعَةٌ حُرُمٌ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ الدِّينُ الْقَيِّمُ﴾ ("Indeed, the number of months with Allah is twelve months in the register of Allah from the day He created the heavens and the earth; of these, four are sacred. That is the correct religion"). Reflect: what is the necessity of this sentence in the middle of the verse? We understood that the number of months is twelve since the creation of the heavens and the earth, and that Allah singled out four of them as sacred, then He said: ﴿ذَٰلِكَ الدِّينُ الْقَيِّمُ﴾ ("That is the correct religion"). So the classification of days and nights is part of worship of Allah, Blessed and Exalted.

As for the postponement (nasīʾ), it is substitution: it does not please us that Rajab be a sacred month this year because we have a raid against so-and-so, so we postpone it by two months and put such-and-such in its place. So they would alter the landmarks of time, the landmarks of things, and the landmarks of places. And so the divine command comes to us in summary: ﴿لَا تُحِلُّوا شَعَائِرَ اللَّهِ وَلَا الشَّهْرَ الْحَرَامَ وَلَا الْهَدْيَ وَلَا الْقَلَائِدَ﴾ ("do not violate the rites of Allah or the sacred month or the sacrificial animals or the garlands").

The Commands and Prohibitions in the Verse

Then our Lord says: ﴿وَلَا آمِّينَ الْبَيْتَ الْحَرَامَ يَبْتَغُونَ فَضْلًا مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ وَرِضْوَانًا ۚ وَإِذَا حَلَلْتُمْ فَاصْطَادُوا ۚ وَلَا يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شَنَآنُ قَوْمٍ أَنْ صَدُّوكُمْ عَنِ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ أَنْ تَعْتَدُوا ۘ وَتَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الْبِرِّ وَالتَّقْوَىٰ ۖ وَلَا تَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الْإِثْمِ وَالْعُدْوَانِ ۚ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ ۖ إِنَّ اللَّهَ شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ﴾ ("nor those heading to the Sacred House seeking bounty from their Lord and approval. But when you come out of ihram, then hunt. And do not let hatred of a people for having obstructed you from al-Masjid al-Ḥarām lead you to transgress. And cooperate in righteousness and piety, but do not cooperate in sin and aggression. And fear Allah; indeed, Allah is severe in penalty").

And if we try to break down the verse, we would see in it a number of commands and prohibitions: do not violate the rites of Allah, nor the sacred month, nor the sacrificial animal by assaulting it or exceeding the limits of Allah regarding it, nor the garlands, nor the blood of those heading to the Sacred House of Allah, who are headed to the House of the Lord of the worlds. Then ﴿وَإِذَا حَلَلْتُمْ فَاصْطَادُوا﴾ ("But when you come out of ihram, then hunt"): that is, when is hunting permitted? When we come out of our state of ihram.

From the Rites to Dealing with People: ﴿وَلَا يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شَنَآنُ قَوْمٍ﴾ ("And do not let hatred of a people…")

Our Lord says: ﴿وَلَا يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شَنَآنُ قَوْمٍ﴾. After we had been dealing with the rites, following the steps of the Lord of the worlds in them step by step, we were moved a very great move to dealing with people. Between me and so-and-so there is a dispute; this does not deny him his right with me.

And among the very well-known incidents^[3] is that someone was being addressed by ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allah be pleased with him), and he said to him: I do not like to see you — and he was the killer of his brother. He said: Does that prevent me from my right with you? ʿUmar said: Only women weep over love. It is as though he is saying: love is your own affair, between you and yourself. As for between us, it is the relationship of ruler and ruled, or a relationship of work, partnership, colleagueship, friendship or trade: you sell and I buy, you have money with me and I have goods with you, and the matter is over. It is not a condition that we exchange gifts; the matter is entirely different.

Then the Lord of the worlds moves us another move: ﴿وَلَا يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شَنَآنُ قَوْمٍ﴾; that is, do not let mutual hatred between you and some people prevent you from depriving them of their rights. And in our homes today we have a problem of this kind: the man, when he is angry with his wife, neglects her right and transgresses what ought to be hers, and oversteps the limit of Allah, Glorified is He, in dealing with this poor woman; and she, in turn, when he angers her, withholds his rights, and this may lead some people to commit what is forbidden — we seek refuge in Allah, and we ask Allah for safety. Then it moves on to the man being angry with his brother or sister or maternal uncle or paternal uncle, that is, the kin, and disasters occur among them. And reflect: a man and a woman come to you with more than thirty, or thirty-five, or forty years of companionship between them, and they come to divorce! Then you see litigation and lawsuits in the courts, then each of them insisting on taking revenge on the other. Where is this long companionship that existed between people? And so our Lord, Glorified is He, teaches us this etiquette: ﴿وَلَا يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شَنَآنُ قَوْمٍ﴾.

﴿أَنْ صَدُّوكُمْ عَنِ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ﴾ ("for having obstructed you from al-Masjid al-Ḥarām")

Then the calamity of these people is great: ﴿أَنْ صَدُّوكُمْ عَنِ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ﴾; if we look at what the people of Mecca did to the people of Islam, to the Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ and his noble Companions, and their preventing people merely from entering the Sacred House or worshipping Allah at it, these were crimes. Even so, this previous transgression does not prevent them from obtaining their right: ﴿أَنْ تَعْتَدُوا﴾ ("[lead you] to transgress"). So it is not permissible to transgress against anyone even if he had a grievance in the past. Unless it is a war of alternating fortunes, a charge here and a charge there, and the enmity has reached the point of war, and war has its rules and organization, and this arrangement may allow a raid from here and a raid from there. And so our Lord organizes the matter in people's souls, then moves on to organizing it in the minds of the people of faith, teaching them, training them and bringing them up on how to deal with other parties, whether loved ones or enemies.

Cooperating in Righteousness and Piety

Then He said: ﴿وَتَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الْبِرِّ وَالتَّقْوَىٰ ۖ وَلَا تَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الْإِثْمِ وَالْعُدْوَانِ﴾ ("And cooperate in righteousness and piety, but do not cooperate in sin and aggression"). Cooperation here is between whom and whom? Pay attention; the context: ﴿وَلَا يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شَنَآنُ قَوْمٍ أَن صَدُّوكُمْ عَنِ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ أَن تَعْتَدُوا ۘ وَتَعَاوَنُوا﴾, so the cooperation here is with those who had obstructed you previously! It is as though we are before a Qur'an that raises us to show the good in us even to our former enemies, on condition that the enmity does not continue and the aggression does not continue; so if the world calms and settles, matters return to what is proper of the known, mutual right. So no one transgresses for a past offense; the matter of delayed revenge with premeditation and lying in wait is not part of Islam's methodology in raising the community of believers.

﴿وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ﴾ ("And fear Allah; indeed, Allah is severe in penalty")

And our Lord says: ﴿وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ ۖ إِنَّ اللَّهَ شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ﴾. And if you want to link this conclusion with the conclusion of the first verse, Allah said there: ﴿إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَحْكُمُ مَا يُرِيدُ﴾ ("Indeed, Allah ordains what He intends"); so whoever contravenes the ruling of Allah is matched by the severity of the punishment of the Lord of the worlds. So when the teachings come and there is someone who contravenes them, the servant must receive from the Lord of the worlds severity of punishment. And it is as though the verse is a preface to what will come afterward of the prohibitions that the Lord of the worlds will prohibit to the people of faith: ﴿حُرِّمَتْ عَلَيْكُمُ الْمَيْتَةُ وَالدَّمُ وَلَحْمُ الْخِنزِيرِ وَمَا أُهِلَّ لِغَيْرِ اللَّهِ بِهِ وَالْمُنْخَنِقَةُ وَالْمَوْقُوذَةُ وَالْمُتَرَدِّيَةُ وَالنَّطِيحَةُ وَمَا أَكَلَ السَّبُعُ إِلَّا مَا ذَكَّيْتُمْ وَمَا ذُبِحَ عَلَى النُّصُبِ وَأَن تَسْتَقْسِمُوا بِالْأَزْلَامِ﴾ ("Prohibited to you are dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allah, and [those animals] killed by strangling or by a violent blow or by a head-long fall or by the goring of horns, and those from which a wild animal has eaten, except what you [are able to] slaughter [before its death], and what is sacrificed on stone altars, and [prohibited is] that you seek decision through divining arrows"). All of these the Lord of the worlds forbids in order to keep the community sound, secure and at ease, by His permission, Glorified is He.

Sūrat al-Māʾida Is a Constitution of Conduct

And as we speak about Sūrat al-Māʾida, we should recall that for us it represents a constitution of conduct for the Muslim community. And the firmest and loudest address in it is when Allah, Exalted is He, speaks to His Messenger ﷺ: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الرَّسُولُ لَا يَحْزُنكَ﴾ ("O Messenger, let them not grieve you"), ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الرَّسُولُ بَلِّغْ﴾ ("O Messenger, announce"); and this repeated call to the Prophet ﷺ is a reminder to the community of its role first, and a reminder of the ethics of the caller to Allah — who is you, who is me and us — and a reminder of the responsibility that we must safeguard.

And among the first symbols that appeared in Sūrat al-Māʾida is the symbol of the believers' preservation of blood; for Allah gave us in the surah the story of the two sons of Adam: ﴿وَاتْلُ عَلَيْهِمْ نَبَأَ ابْنَيْ آدَمَ بِالْحَقِّ إِذْ قَرَّبَا قُرْبَانًا﴾ ("And recite to them the story of Adam's two sons, in truth, when they both offered a sacrifice"),^[4] until the matter reached killing between two brothers of one father and mother. It is as though the Lord of the worlds is raising us once more in Sūrat al-Māʾida.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: The opening of Sūrat al-Māʾida (5:1–2). I have given the verses the speaker recited; and the verse ﴿حُرِّمَتْ عَلَيْكُمُ…﴾ (5:3) came according to what he mentioned of it. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Tawba (9:36–37). ^[3]: Editor's documentation: The speaker related the report of ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) by meaning without attribution, and did not name the man, and the transcription is confused in specifying whose brother was killed; its wording has not been verified here. ^[4]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Māʾida (5:27); and the two calls "O Messenger" are in the same surah (5:41, 67).