Muhammad Asad, The Message of the Qur’ān; Translated and Explained by Muhammad Asad (1980)
wrong does he who, having come to the Temple on pilgrimage or on a pious visit, strides to and fro between these two:127 for, if one does more good than he is bound to do – behold, God is responsive to gratitude, all-knowing.128
(159) Behold, as for those who suppress aught of the evidence of the truth and of the guidance which We have bestowed from on high, after We have made it clear unto mankind through the divine writ – these it is whom God will reject, and whom all who can judge will reject.129 (160) Excepted, however, shall be they that repent, and put themselves to rights, and make known the truth: and it is they whose repentance I shall accept – for I alone am the Acceptor of Repentance, the Dispenser of Grace.
(161) Behold, as for those who are bent on denying the truth and die as deniers of the truth – their due is rejection by God, and by the angels, and by all [righteous] men. (162) In this state shall they abide; [and] neither will their suffering be lightened, nor will they be granted respite.
(163) And your God is the One God: there is no deity save Him, the Most Gracious, the Dispenser of Grace.
(164) Verily, in the creation of the heavens and of the earth, and the succession of night and day: and in the ships that speed through the sea with what is useful to man: and in the waters which God sends down from the sky, giving life thereby to the earth after it had
this explains their mention in the context of the passages which deal with the virtues of patience and trust in God (Razī).
127 It is in commemoration of Hagar’s running in distress between Aṣ-Ṣafā and Al-Marwah that the Mecca pilgrims are expected to walk, at a fast pace, seven times between these two hillocks. Because of the fact that in pre-Islamic times certain idols had been standing there, some of the early Muslims were reluctant to perform a rite which seemed to them to be associated with recent idolatry (Razī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās). The above verse served to reassure them on this score by pointing out that this symbolic act of remembrance was much older than the idolatry practiced by the pagan Quraysh.
128 From the phrase “if one does more good than he is bound to do”, read in conjunction with “no wrong does he who…” (or, more literally, “there shall be no blame upon him who…), some of the great Islamic scholars – e.g., Imām Abū Ḥanīfah – conclude that the walking to and fro between Aṣ-Ṣafā and Al-Marwah is not one of the obligatory rites of pilgrimage but rather a supererogatory act of piety (see Zamakhsharī and Razī). Most scholars, however, hold the view that it is an integral part of the pilgrimage.
129 Lit., “whom all who reject will reject” – i.e., all righteous persons who are able to judge moral issues. God’s rejection (laʿnah) denotes “exclusion from His grace” (Manār II, 50). In classical Arabic usage, the primary meaning of laʿnah is equivalent to ibʿād (“estrangement” or “banishment”); in the terminology of the Qurʾān, it signifies “rejection from all that is good” (Lisān al-ʿArab). According to Ibn ʿAbbās and several outstanding scholars of the next generation, the divine writ mentioned here is the Bible; thus, the above verse refers to the Jews and the Christians.
