"Hajj shall be observed in the specified months. Whoever shall
‘farada feehinna Al-Hajj’ (execute the Hajj in these specified months)
shall refrain from sexual intercourse, misconduct and arguments"
2:197
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The reader of the Quran will note that God often gives us key words inside various verses that assert the true meaning of these verses. In 2:197 we read the Arabic words 'farada feehinna'. Here we have two Arabic words of great significance:
1- The first word is 'farada'. This verb is from the word ‘fard’ which means a command or duty set by God on the believers. Thus the Salat is a ‘fard’ so is Zakat and Hajj. Thus the verb 'farada' means to actually execute or consummate the command.
2- The second word is 'feehinna'. This word is in fact two Arabic words joined together. They are ‘fee’ which means (in), and ‘hinna’ which means (them) and is used in the feminine gender. Thus the whole word means (in them). The word (them) here refers to the specified months. Now by placing these words inside the verse we get:
"Whoever shall execute the Hajj in them (the specified months) shall refrain from ……."
In these words 'execute the Hajj in them' God endorses the legality of executing Hajj anytime within the specified months.
Those who have corrupted the law of God and reduced the time of Hajj to the first ten days of the 12th month, have justified their claims by corrupting the meaning of some Quranic verses such as:
"They shall commemorate God’s name during the specified days" 22:28
"You shall commemorate God for a number of days" 2:203
They claim that the words 'specified days' and 'a number of days' indicate that Hajj can only be observed in the ten day period and not anytime during the four months.
The reply to that is double folded:
FIRST
Immediately Almighty God has given us a clear distinction in the verses that speak about Hajj. When God addresses Hajj itself, the words 'specified months' are used as in 2:197, or the words 'sacred months' are used as in 9:36. The reason for that being that the duration of Hajj is the full four months. However when God addresses the believers, the words 'a number of days' are used, as in :
'You shall commemorate God for a number of days'. The words 'You shall' which addresses the believers speak of 'a number of days' for the simple fact that any believer who goes to do his Hajj goes for a number of days, he does not stay for the whole four months.
SECOND
Consider the example of the fasting of Ramadan as in the following verses:
"Ramadan is the month during which the Quran was revealed, providing guidance for the people, clear teachings and the statute book. Those of you who witness the month shall fast therein" 2:185
Here we read 'the month' as being the duration of fasting.
Now consider the following verse:
"Specific days (for fasting); if one is ill or travelling an equal number of other days may be substituted" 2:184
Here fasting is spoken of as 'specified days'. However, no one came up and said that we should only fast for the first ten days of Ramadan!
The explanation to all that lies in the fact that a month or months can also be spoken of as days, simply because they are made of days. The fact that they are spoken of as days does not change the fact that they are still months. This is similar to someone describing the years of his childhood by saying ‘they were the best days of my life’.
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