Impurity in Terms of Human Ontology: al-Tawba 9/28
Authors: ÇETİN Rabiye 
Published: June 2021

In this article, the literature set forth in the Muslim tradition of thought on the nature of social relations with polytheists is discussed in general terms. The literature in question has been formed based on the verse “…Do not allow polytheists to approach al-Masjid al-Ḥarām after this year” (Tawba 9/28). In this context, scholars discussed such issues as the nature of the polytheism, the content of the act of not approaching the borders of al-Masjid al-Ḥarām region, and especially whether the warning in the verse is limited to the worship of Hajj. It is seen that two views come to the fore in the literature presented within the framework of this verse. The first one expands the boundaries of the prohibition of not approaching, considering that the meaning of the term al-Masjid al-Ḥarām covers all mosques, while the other view is based, with an interest centered approach, on the claim that the area in question is limited to the Ka‘ba and its surroundings. In this context, it is argued that the polytheists cannot enter the area of Ḥarām at all, while the second view emphasizes that the polytheists cannot enter the area in order to perform pilgrimage and umrah in the way they did in the time of ignorance, but they can come for different purposes such as trade, travel etc. In the article, the subject is examined with reference to riwāyah, dirayāh, aḥkām, and Shiite tafsirs written until the seventh century of Hijra. In this context, the ahkâm tafsirs by Muqātil b. Sulaymān, Imām Shāfiʿī, al-Jaṣṣāṣ, Abū Bakr Ibn al-ʻArabī and al-Qurṭubī; the narration tafsirs by al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Abī Ḥātim, Abū Isḥāq al-Thaʻlabī and Ibn Kathīr; the dirayāh tafsirs by al-Māturīdī, al-Zamakhsharī, Fakhr al-Din al-Rāzī, al-Bayḍāwī and Abū al-Barakāt al-Nasafī, and the Shiite tafsirs by al-Qummī, al-Ayyāshī, Abū Ja‘far al-Tūsī and al-Ṭabarsī have been studied. The purpose of dealing with the subject based on the aforementioned tafsirs is to make a comparison by determining the legal provisions put forward depending on the understanding of the verse and their reasons. Indeed, it is seen that the views of the scholars described as Aṣḥāb al-Ḥadīth and Aṣḥāb al-Ra’y are determinant in understanding the 28th verse of the sūrat al-Tawba. The purpose of examining the Shiite tafsirs in the context of the subject is to determine whether the perspective regarding the handling of the 28th verse of the sūrat al-Tawba is close to that of Aṣḥāb al-Ḥadīth or Aṣḥāb al-Ra’y in the literature in question. In the tafsir works examined, it is stated that the first opinion belongs to Imām Mālik and Imām Shāfiʿī, while the second opinion is attributed to Abū Hanifa. While the view belonging to Imām Malik and Imām Shāfiʿī has been generally accepted, the second view adopted by Abū Ḥanīfa hand al-Māturīdī and accepted by Ḥanafī-Māturīdī scholars has been described as exceptional (shadhdh) in the historical process and not taken into consideration. In the article, the basic logic of these views, their emergence processes and the juridical provisions produced within this framework, specific to the riwāyah, dirayāh, aḥkām and Shiite tafsirs written until the seventh century of Hijra are attempted to be examined from an analytical perspective. As a result, it is seen in the article that Imām al-Mālik and Imām al-Shāfiʿī, the members of Aṣḥāb al-Ḥadīth, discuss the issue in a way that includes not only polytheists but also all non-Muslims, and put forward legal provisions on the nature of the social, economic and political relations to be established with these groups. With these provisions, the marginalization of non-Muslims, especially socio-culturally, in the Muslim intellectual tradition has been legitimized. This point of view not only prevents Muslims from contributing to the culture of living together, but also contradicts with the perspective of the Qurʾān, which is based on respect for human beings. In this context, Abū Ḥanīfah, one of the prominent representatives of Aṣḥāb al-Ray, restricts the prohibition order to the act of pilgrimage during the period of ignorance, allowing for serious differences in the point of view on the subject. This way of understanding of Abū Ḥanīfah does not allow for a negative practice regarding non-Muslims and has been developed by his follower al-Māturīdī and taken into a moral dimension.