Al-Baqarah 2:158

The issue

This verse continues to address what Muhammad initiated in Q 2.144 when he changed the qibla for Muslims from the Sacred House (Jerusalem) to Mecca. Muhammad reached the conviction that there was no future hope with the Jews of Medina, no chance of winning them to his cause. Furthermore, Muhammad grew ambitious about broadening the base of his followers. So he started wooing the pagan Arabs instead. Muhammad began to draw nearer to the pagans of the Arab regions by changing the direction of the qibla and incorporating pagan pilgrimage rituals within Islām. For instance, the procession between the Safā and Marwa was already a pagan pilgrimage ritual, and the circumambulation ritual was a uniquely Quraysh ritual apart from the rest of the Arabians.

The Safā and Marwa used to contain two idols, Isāf (in Safā) and Nā’ila (in Marwa), during the time of Muhammad. Several years after he made the decision to change the direction of qibla, Muhammad performed ‘Umra (the minor pilgrimage), which took place before the conquest of Mecca. While Muhammad was performing the rituals, he proceeded to perform the ritual of the procession between the Safā and Marwa, following the ceremonial practice of the pagan Quraysh. Since this ritual was not practiced by all Arabs, the Muslims who were not of the Quraysh backgrounds said to him, “How do we proceed, knowing that the glorification of idols and all such things that constitute their worship rather than Allah is a shirk (“blasphemy”)?”

This objection was also shared by a group of Muslims who detested “the circumambulation in Islām of the Safā and the Marwa.” Anas Ibn Mālik said, “[W]e hated the procession between them [the hills], because it was one of the rituals of [the] jāhilīya (pre-Islāmic era) period.” This practice remained detestable until the revelation of this verse: “Verily, Zafa [Safā]and Merwah [Marwa] are of the beacons of God.”

We have a narrative that says some Muslims advised Muhammad not to perform the ritual of procession and said, “O messenger of Allah! Do not walk in procession between Safā and Marwa; it is a blasphemous act we used to do in jāhilīya.” Hence, the Qur’ān eventually responds with this verse: “and he who makes the pilgrimage unto the House, or visits it, it is no crime for him to compass them both about.”

The narrative also tells us that the Ansār were the ones who expressed their concern. They used to worship the goddess Manat before Islām. Because of their recent pagan past and the presence of the other gods (idols) Isāf and Nā’ila, “they found it embarrassing to walk in procession between the Safā and Marwa.” Historical sources state that those who criticized the request to walk in the procession said to Muhammad, “Walking in procession between these two stones is a jāhilīya practice.” At the same time, other narratives say that the verse concerns the Muslims who descended from the people of Tehama, a province of Arabia. These people did not practice this ritual of the Quraysh before Islām, and thus were afraid to perform it when Muhammad gave the command to do so.

The sources do not reveal whether or not the embarrassment of these Muslims was because the processional originated from pagan rituals of the Quraysh, which would indicate their rejection was an anti-Quraysh expression. But there is no disagreement that those who rejected the ritual did so because of its pagan origin. It seems that some people of influence remained embarrassed about the ritual of walking between the Safā and Marwa because they believed that the context of the verse does not make compassing (the walking ritual) a necessary requirement. They based their convictions on a reading written in the codex of Ibn Mas‘ūd: “There is no sin in him if he does not compass them.” It is said that Ibn ‘Abbās also embraced this reading. Another source states “that Ibn ‘Abbās, Anas Ibn Mālik, Shahr Ibn Hawshab read ‘that he compasses not.’”

Question: How did Allah make a pagan practice religiously permissible? Not only that, but how did he sanction, in particular, a pagan ritual belonging to the Quraysh?

Verse Contradiction

Verse 158 also contains an internal contradiction. The first part says, “Verily, Zafa and Merwah are of the beacons of God,” which would make the compassing ritual a requirement. On the other hand, the second part of it says that the one who compasses the Safā and Marwa is not considered a sinner, “and he who makes the pilgrimage unto the House, or visits it, it is no crime for him to compass them both about.”