The pilgrim (Hajj) unto the Ancient House has been written (enjoined) for you...

The pilgrim (Hajj) unto the Ancient House has been written (enjoined) for you; so accept the invitation of your Lord!” Thus, Allah caused his voice to reach the ears of all men, even those who were in the back of fathers and in the womb of mothers; and they answered: “Yes, we accept. O Allah! Yes, we accept.” And all those who will participate in the rites of Hajj pilgrimage until the Day of Resurrection are totally among those who have accepted the invitation of Abraham (as) on that day.

[^2] Those who come on foot are mentioned in the verse before those who come riding on beast, because their rank before Allah is higher, since they suffer the toleration of this voyage more than the latter.

That is why a tradition narrated from the Prophet (S) indicates that he who goes to Hajj on foot will get seven hundred rewards for each step he takes, while those who are mounted on animals will get seventy rewards.[^3] Or it is for the sake that it defines the importance of the pilgrim of the Sacred House that they should come toward it by any possible means and not to be ever waiting for a mount.

Using the term /damir/ (a lean animal) in this verse, points to this fact that this path is a way which causes animals to become lean since they pass the hot, dry and grassless deserts, and this is a warning unto us for bearing the difficulties of this way. Or that they take some animals which are clever, quick, and tolerating. The animals that have become thin in the field of practice and have strong muscles are more suitable while the fat animals are not.

The application of the Qur’anic phrase “ coming from every remote path ” refers to this fact that they come to this destination not only from near paths but also from far and remote paths. (The usage of the Arabic word /kull/ here does not mean induction and encompassment, but it means ‘multiplicity’.) Abul-Futuh Razi, the well-known commentator, explains the interesting biography of a man named Abul-Qasim Bushr-ibn-Muhammad.

This man says: “When circumambulating the Ka‘bah, I saw a man who was completely old and weak whose face indicated the toil of a traveling that he had suffered. He was walking by the help of a rod when I approached him and asked him: ‘Where do you come from?’ He answered: ‘I come from a very far distance. I have been paving the way for fifty years to come, and now I am here. I have become old and weak because of the toil of traveling’.