And when He, glorified and exalted is He, completed the explanation of what He intended regarding what He legislated in the month of fasting, both at night and during the day, and some of what followed that, there were many rulings that revolve around the crescent moon, especially one of the foundations of Islam, which is the pilgrimage that is the brother of fasting. The crescents are like the rulers; they mandate certain things and negate others, such as fasting, debts, and alms, and through them, wealth is consumed, whether justly or unjustly. The mention of the month and the completion of the count has stirred the determination to ask about it. He clarified this by His saying: ﴿They ask you﴾. He made that in the form of a continuation, answering one who might have said: Did they ask about the crescents? It was said: Yes, and that is due to the prior mention that stirs the determination to ask about them explicitly. Thus, it became a reason for the question about the question regarding them. Likewise, what comes from His saying: ﴿They ask you what they should spend﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 215], ﴿They ask you about the sacred month﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 217], ﴿They ask you about wine and gambling﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 219], unlike what is connected to what preceded it by the conjunction 'and', as will come. And it will come, if Allah, glorified and exalted is He, wills, in Surah Al-An'am, what is appropriate regarding the knowledge of the stars and what is not appropriate. ﴿About the crescents﴾ means those which were previously mentioned: Is righteousness in turning one's face towards the east and the west? What is the reason for their increase after being like a thread or a string until they complete and become equal, and their decrease after that until they become thin and vanish?

Al-Harali said: It is the plural of hilal, which raises the voice upon its sighting. It predominates in the sighting of the month, which is the crescent - that is the end.

And when it was as if it was said: What is their answer? It was said: ﴿Say﴾, turning away from it due to the fitnah they have in it, for it is based on observing the movements of the celestial bodies, and that leads to the knowledge of the movement of the stars and the consequences that follow it, which lead to discussion about the rulings attributed to them, thus dragging one into heresy. Many of the past nations and previous centuries have gone astray by this, believing in their influence by themselves. The Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said, prohibiting that: "Whoever acquires knowledge from the stars has acquired a portion of magic; whatever he adds to it is added." This was narrated by Ahmad, Abu Dawood, and Ibn Majah from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them. And Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "Whoever seeks the knowledge of the stars is divining." He, glorified and exalted is He, directed them to what would rectify them: ﴿They are appointed times﴾, the plural of miqat, from waqt, which is the limit that occurs between two matters, one of which is known beforehand and the other is known afterwards.

Al-Asbahani said: The difference between waqt, mudda, and zaman is that mudda is the extension of the movement of the celestial body from its beginning to the time, and zaman is a divided period, while waqt is the time designated for a specific matter.

﴿For the people﴾ in their fasting as previously mentioned and their transactions, so they may know the number of years and the calculation, ﴿and for the pilgrimage﴾ He explicitly stated it because it is one of the greatest entrances.

Al-Harali said: It is the gathering of the servants to the standing place in the months of the end of the year. It is a religious matter indicating the end of time and its passing due to the signs of resurrection in it - it has ended.

And when they had become accustomed to an abominable act in Hajj, and leaving familiar things is the hardest thing on souls, for this reason, the people of the path and the leaders of the people of verification said: The essence of the intention towards Allah, glorified and exalted is He, is to discard habits and to renew acceptance of the matters revealed by the Sustainer of the heavens and the earth. Thus, the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, were the leaders of the people of Islam. Allah, glorified and exalted is He, said, addressing them in relation to "Righteousness is not that" [Al-Baqarah: 177], denouncing that act of theirs, alerting them that they have reversed in their questioning as they reversed in their actions. It may be that it is connected to a state indicated by the context, its estimation being: and the state is that righteousness is not your questioning about it. "And righteousness is not" and He emphasized the negation by the addition of the letter 'ba' in His saying: "by coming to the houses" meaning neither the physical nor the spiritual "from their backs" when coming from Hajj or otherwise, just as it is not righteousness to reverse in your words by leaving the question about what concerns you and asking about what does not concern you, but what concerns you.

And when He negated righteousness from that as He negated it in the first, He followed the first approach and said: "But righteousness".

Al-Harali said: With the raising and the lightening, it is a correction of what is righteousness and a turning away from the first, and with the lowering and the intensification along with the turning back to the first for the purpose of its rejection - it has ended.

"Whoever fears" thus He made the one who fears the essence of righteousness, igniting in him the inclination towards piety since piety carries all that has passed from the previous aspects of faith. He sufficed with it. And when the estimation is: So fear and do not ask about what does not concern you in your religion, He connected to it: "And come to the houses from their doors" in a physical action and a meaning in reception, and the door is the entrance to the thing surrounded by a wall that encloses and protects it - this is what Al-Harali said. And its definition has preceded in another context.

And when the matter of piety had already been mentioned implicitly and hinted at, it was brought forth explicitly, indicating the great benefit of it in remembrance and clarification, as a sign of the emphasis on abandoning that habit due to the necessity of the situation. This is because whoever is accustomed to something rarely leaves it, and if he does leave it, the thought of it will come to him at some time. So He said: ﴿And fear Allah﴾, meaning the greatest King in all that you do and all that you leave. Prepare your souls and bind your hearts to the fact that all His actions, glorified and exalted is He, are wise and correct without any doubt or objection in that, so that one does not ask about it, for in asking there is the implication of departing from certainty. Then He explained it by saying: ﴿So that you may succeed﴾, meaning that your state should be like that of one whose success is hoped for, which is his attainment of all his desires from righteousness and others. The context of the verse indicates the dislike of this question; and al-Harali mentioned that most of what occurs in questioning is something that has been clothed in trial or has been drunk in affliction or has been followed by punishment. Therefore, He, glorified and exalted is He, said: ﴿Do not ask about things﴾ [Al-Ma'idah: 101]. And the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, disliked questions and condemned them, saying: "Leave me as long as I have left you, for indeed, those before you were destroyed by their excessive questioning." This is from the dislike of opinions and the effort to generate questions, for it is a distraction from the knowledge of fundamentals and a risk of falling into it, like the one who asked about a man who was tested in his family and was thus tested by it. It is said that the excessive generation of trivial questions leads one into it.

And he said: And this verse is like a comprehensive introduction to what was mentioned after it regarding the matter of timing for fighting, which they were upon, just as it was from the matter of ignorance, the ruling of refraining from fighting in the sacred months and being lenient in it during the months of permissibility, despite it being a contagion without a true ruling. Thus, it involved actions of corruption and the shedding of blood - this has ended, and in it is a manipulation. So, glorified is He, erased what they had established from that by what He legislated regarding fighting, as it is a struggle in it for a share of the worldly gains.