His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿And strive in the cause of Allah with the striving that is His right. He has chosen you and has not placed upon you in the religion any difficulty. The religion of your father Abraham. He has named you Muslims before and in this, so that the Messenger may be a witness over you and you may be witnesses over the people. So establish prayer and give zakah and hold fast to Allah; He is your protector. So excellent is the protector and excellent is the helper.﴾

A group said: This verse commands that Allah, exalted is He, be fought for in His cause, which is the fighting of the disbelievers. Another group said: It is broader than that, which includes the striving of the soul, the striving against the disbelievers, the striving against the oppressors, and others. Allah commanded His servants to do that for His sake as it is right to do so.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: The generality is good. He clarified that the common understanding of the term necessitates striving in the cause of Allah. And Hibah Allah (p-276) and others said: His saying, exalted is He: ﴿with the striving that is His right﴾ and His saying in another verse: ﴿with the fighting that is His right﴾ [Al-Imran: 102] is abrogated by the easing to the capability.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: The meaning of capability in these commands is what is intended from the beginning of the matter. The obligation to reach the ultimate goal has not been firmly established in the Sharia, so it is said that it has been abrogated by the easing. Their use of the term abrogation in this is not precise. And "He has chosen you" means: He has selected you.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿And He has not placed upon you in the religion any difficulty﴾ means: any constriction. He intends: in the legislation of the religion, and that is because it is a straightforward and lenient religion, not like the hardships of the Children of Israel and others. Rather, it includes repentance, expiations, and concessions, and so forth, of which there are many counts. And "difficulty" refers to the intertwined and constricted trees. And the removal of difficulty is valid for the majority of this nation and for those who remain steadfast on the path of the Sharia. As for the thieves and the robbers and the people of the prescribed punishments, upon them is the difficulty, and they impose it upon themselves by abandoning the religion. And there is no greater difficulty in the Sharia than the obligation of a man to remain with two in the cause of Allah, exalted is He, and with the certainty of conviction and the strength of determination, it is not a difficulty.

And His saying: "the religion" is in the accusative case due to an implied verb, the meaning of which is: rather, He has made it, or something similar from the verbs of encouragement. And Al-Firuzabadi said: It is in the accusative case on the assumption of the omission of the letter 'kaf' as if he said: "like the religion." And it is said: it is as the source is placed in the accusative case. And His saying: "He has named you," Ibn Zayd said: The pronoun refers to Abraham and the reference is to His saying: ﴿And of my descendants, make a Muslim nation for me﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 128]. And Ibn Abbas, Qatadah, and Mujahid said: The pronoun refers to Allah, exalted is He, and "before" means: in the ancient scriptures. "And in this" means: in the Quran. And this wording weakens the statement of those who said: The pronoun refers to Abraham, and it cannot be directed except on the assumption of an omitted part of the speech (p-277) that is a continuation. And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿So that the Messenger may be a witness over you﴾ means: by conveying the message. And His saying: ﴿And you may be witnesses over the people﴾ means: by conveying their messages to them as your Prophet has informed you.

Al-Tabari reported from Qatadah that he said: This nation has been given what was not given except to a prophet. It was said to the prophet: You are a witness over your nation. And it was said to this nation: ﴿And you will be witnesses over the people﴾. It was said to the prophet: There is no hardship upon you. And it was said to this nation: ﴿And He has not placed upon you in religion any hardship﴾. It was said to the prophet: Ask, and you will be given. And it was said to this nation: ﴿Call upon Me; I will respond to you﴾ [Ghafir: 60]. Then He - glorified and exalted is He - commanded that the obligatory prayer be established and maintained with all its limits, and that the zakat be paid, just as He has bestowed upon you, so do that. Then He commanded to hold fast to Allah - glorified and exalted is He - meaning: to cling to Him and to seek salvation from Him, and to reject reliance on anyone else. And 'the protector' in this verse means: the one whose help and protection is near to you. The remainder of the verse is clear. The interpretation of Surah Al-Hajj has been completed, with the praise of Allah - glorified and exalted is He - and His assistance.