إِنَّ أَوَّلَ بَيْتٍ وُضِعَ لِلنَّاسِ لَلَّذِى بِبَكَّةَ مُبَارَكًا وَهُدًى لِّلْعَٰلَمِينَ
Inna awwala baytin wuḍiʿa li'n-nāsi la'lladhī bi-Bakkata mubārakan wa hudan li'l-ʿālamīn · Fīhi āyātun bayyinātun maqāmu Ibrāhīm, wa man dakhalahū kāna āminā, wa li'llāhi ʿala'n-nāsi ḥijju'l-bayti mani'staṭāʿa ilayhi sabīlā, wa man kafara fa-inna'llāha ghaniyyun ʿani'l-ʿālamīn
"The first House established for people is the one at Bakka: blessed, and a guidance for all beings. · In it are clear signs, and the standing-place of Abraham. Whoever enters it is safe. And the pilgrimage to the House is a duty owed to God by those people who can find a way to it. Whoever denies — God has no need of any of the worlds."
Per the method (Method) I draw a boundary here and shall keep it throughout the section: the detail of the rulings of pilgrimage was treated at 2/196-203 in al-Baqara and at 22/26-33 in al-Ḥajj. I rely on those treatments, do not repeat them, and issue no legal ruling. Only what these two verses add will be recorded here.
| Word | The note |
|---|---|
| Awwal | First — a claim of priority |
| Bayt — indefinite | A house — not a particular structure but a kind |
| Wuḍiʿa — passive | Was established — the one who established it is not named |
| Li'n-nās | For people — not for a community |
And the note li'n-nās is the most important word of this section. I record this as an observation about the word order: the sentence does not say "for us" or "for such and such a community". And this bears directly on the subject of the third block — a dispute about belonging had been running throughout the block.
And the same breadth comes once more at the end of the verse: hudan li'l-ʿālamīn. Two notes, in a single verse: li'n-nās and li'l-ʿālamīn.
I record this as my own reading, and it is not binding: in the middle of a dispute about belonging that runs by way of a place, the verse cuts the dispute short by saying for whom the place was set down. The claim of priority is accepted (awwal), but no claim of ownership is set up.
The lexicographers differ over the word's relation to Makka, and the disagreement is not to be concealed:
| Reading | What Bakka is |
|---|---|
| 1 | Another name for Mecca — the interchange of mīm and bāʾ (a known sound-change in Arabic) |
| 2 | A particular place within Mecca — the area where the House stands |
| 3 | From the root ب-ك-ك: bakka — to press together, a throng; the place where a crowd is packed |
The third reading is worth recording as an analysis of the root: ب-ك-ك — to crush a thing, to press it, a throng. This is the concrete sense of the word; I make no claim that the verse means that sense.
And there is a nicety in the word order, and the lexicographers dwell on it: āyātun is plural, and the maqāmu Ibrāhīm that follows it is singular.
| Reading | The relation |
|---|---|
| 1 | Maqāmu Ibrāhīm is one instance of the plural (a partitive substitute) |
| 2 | It is an explanation of the whole of the plural (explicative apposition) |
| 3 | The plural covers all the signs of the place; one of them has been named separately |
مَقَام — root ق-و-م: the place where one stands. Its link with the other occurrences in the sūra must be recorded: qāʾiman bi'l-qisṭ (18), qāʾimā (75), ummatun qāʾima (113). The same root in four separate places, at four separate pieces of work.
And there is a divergence over whether this sentence is a statement or a performative, and it is not to be concealed:
| Reading | What the sentence does |
|---|---|
| 1 | A statement — it reports a fact: that place has been made safe |
| 2 | A performative / in the sense of a command — "let him be safe", that is, whoever enters is not to be touched |
And at 2/125-126 in al-Baqara the note of amn was treated for the same place (wa idh jaʿalna'l-bayta mathābatan li'n-nāsi wa amnā; rabbi'jʿal hādhā baladan āminā). I rely on that treatment.
| Element | Wording | Its work |
|---|---|---|
| Whose right | Li'llāh — brought forward | The one to whom the obligation is owed |
| Upon whom | ʿAla'n-nās | People — again the wide set |
| What | Ḥijju'l-bayt | The obligation itself |
| The caveat | Mani'staṭāʿa ilayhi sabīlā | The condition of ability |
And the coming of li'llāh and ʿala'n-nās before the noun conveys in Arabic a restriction. That is, the sentence sets up a relation of debt: the creditor and the debtor are named.
اِسْتَطَاعَ — root ط-و-ع (Form X): to be able. And the same root occurred at verse 83 as ṭawʿan. The same root, one conveying willing submission, the other being able.
Per the method (Method) I record this: the extent of istiṭāʿa (safety of the road, financial condition, bodily health, travel with a close relative) has been discussed in detail in classical law, and there are differences among the schools. That discussion is not entered in this commentary and no view is preferred. The only thing recorded is that the verse ties the obligation to a condition.
وَمَن كَفَرَ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ غَنِىٌّ عَنِ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ — and the verse closes by saying that the one who lays down the obligation expects no benefit from it. The same idea was set up for the offering at 22/37 in al-Ḥajj (lan yanāla'llāha luḥūmuhā wa lā dimāʾuhā). The two sūras enter the same note for two different acts of worship.