Sūrat al-Baqarah
Section 22 of 59 · Surah Studies · Mufti Abdul Rahman Mangera
Ṣafā and Marwah
The first:
۞ إِنَّ ٱلصَّفَا وَٱلْمَرْوَةَ مِن شَعَآئِرِ ٱللَّهِ ۖ فَمَنْ حَجَّ ٱلْبَيْتَ أَوِ ٱعْتَمَرَ فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْهِ أَن يَطَّوَّفَ بِهِمَا ۚ وَمَن تَطَوَّعَ خَيْرًا فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ شَاكِرٌ عَلِيمٌ
“Indeed Safā and Marwah are among the marks of Allah.So whoever comes to the House for Hajj or performs ‘Umrah, there is no sin for him if he makes rounds between them; whoever comes up with good on his own, then Allah is Appreciating, All-Knowing.” (2:158)
That is verse 158. The pilgrimage was a rite from before Islam — some form of it has existed since the time of Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him), though it had probably been altered from what it was meant to be, and a good deal of corruption had entered it.
The mushrikīn practised it thus. Ṣafā and Marwah were at that time two hills, with the valley between them where the two green lights now stand, and upon each of them stood an idol. They had made the place, in effect, into a house of idols. For this reason some of the Ṣaḥābah at first avoided Ṣafā and Marwah, taking them to belong to jāhiliyyah, to the age of ignorance. Hence Allah (swt) says: fa-lā junāḥa ʿalayhi an yaṭṭawwafa bihimā — there is no blame in going between them; it is in truth part of the rite, the idols having now been removed.