The Holy Qur’an reckons the respect of Divine rites to be a...
The Holy Qur’an reckons the respect of Divine rites to be a sign of piety and purity of heart. It says: ذَٰلِكَ وَمَنْ يُعَظِّمْ شَعَائِرَ اللَّهِ فَإِنَّهَا مِنْ تَقْوَى الْقُلُوبِ “And whoever respects the signs of Allah, this surely is (the outcome) of the piety of hearts. (Hajj 22:32).” What is meant by respect of Divine rites? شعائر is the plural of شعيرة and gives the meaning of sign and symbol.
This verse does not show the sign of existence of God since the whole Universe is the sign of His existence. And nobody has said that respecting whatever things that exist in this Universe is the sign of piety.
Instead, it shows the signs of His religion and thus the exegetes interpret this verse as “the Signs of religion of Allah”.[^3] If in the Qur’an, Safa and Marwa[^4] and the camel which is to be sacrificed in Mina[^5] are reckoned to be the rites of God it is for the reason that these are the signs of straight religion ( Din-e-Hanif ) and beliefs of Ibrahim. If Muzdalifa is considered to be al-mash’ar , it is because it is the sign of religion of God and…
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