The Pilgrimage
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE[22:32]
This is [to be borne in mind]. And anyone who honours the symbols set up by God [shall know that,] verily, these [symbols derive their value] from the God-consciousness in the [believers’] hearts.

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* v.32 : Lit., “God’s symbols (sha‘ā’ir)” – an expression which in this context refers to the rites of pilgrimage (see the second half of note 4 on 5:2). This stress on the symbolic character of all the rites connected with the pilgrimage is meant to draw the believer’s attention to the spiritual meaning of those rites, and thus to warn him against making, unthinkingly, a sort of fetish of them. – The assumption of some of the commentators that the “symbols” referred to here relate specifically to the sacrificial animals, resp. their sacrifice as such, is not warranted by the text. As Tabarī explains in his commentary on this and the next verse, the term sha‘ā’ir comprises all the rites, actions, and places connected with the pilgrimage (all of which have a symbolic meaning), and cannot be restricted to any one of them.