Truly Safā and Marwa two mountains near Mecca are among the waymarks sha‘ā’ir plural of sha‘īra of God the ritual ceremonies of His religion so whoever makes the Pilgrimage to the House or the Visitation that is whoever prepares to perform the Pilgrimage hajj or the Visitation ‘umra the original sense of both terms hajja and i‘tamara is ‘to aim for’ and ‘to visit’ respectively; he would not be at fault it would not be a sin if he circumambulates them the original tā’ of yatatawwafa ‘circumambulate’ has been assimilated with the tā’ by pacing quickly sa‘y between them seven times this was revealed when the Muslims were averse to this circumambulation because the pagan Arabs used to circumambulate them and there was an idol atop each mountain which they used to stroke. It is reported from Ibn ‘Abbās that this pacing between the two is not obligatory based on the fact that when no sin can be incurred the context implies free choice. Al-Shāfi‘ī and others however considered it to be a pillar of the Pilgrimage rituals. The Prophet made clear its obligatory aspect when he said that ‘God has prescribed for you the pacing sa‘y’ as reported by al-Bayhaqī and others; and he the Prophet also said ‘Begin with what God has begun’ meaning al-Safā as reported by Muslim; and whoever volunteers tatawwa‘a a variant reading is yattawa‘ the ta’ here being assimilated good that is any good deed such as circumambulation or other that is not obligatory on him; God is Grateful for such a deed and rewards that person for it Knowing it.
