يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ إِنَّمَا ٱلْمُشْرِكُونَ نَجَسٌ فَلَا يَقْرَبُوا۟ ٱلْمَسْجِدَ ٱلْحَرَامَ بَعْدَ عَامِهِمْ هَٰذَا
Yā ayyuha'lladhīna āmanū innama'l-mushrikūna najasun fa-lā yaqrabu'l-masjida'l-ḥarāma baʿda ʿāmihim hādhā; wa in khiftum ʿaylatan fa-sawfa yughnīkumu'llāhu min faḍlihī in shāʾ; inna'llāha ʿalīmun ḥakīm
"O you who believe! The mushrikūn are but a najas; so let them not approach al-Masjid al-Ḥarām after this year of theirs. And if you fear poverty, God will enrich you out of His bounty if He wills. God is knowing, wise."
The lexical sense of the root: uncleanness, filth, not being pure. The lexicographers record that the word is used both of material dirt and of immaterial dirt; najāsa states material filth, while najas states a more general state of uncleanness.
And the pattern of the word must be dwelt on: najas is a verbal noun. In Arabic, making a verbal noun the predicate states intensification: rather than "they are unclean", a construction like "they are uncleanness itself" is built. This is a point the lexicographers record for this verse.
What the expression means has been debated in the classical commentaries. I convey the disagreement in a table. I impose no preference and issue no legal ruling:
| View | What najas means | Cited as ground |
|---|---|---|
| A | Uncleanness of belief — a state not of the body but of belief | The immaterial use of the word; the fact that the verse's context is a regulation of entry to a place |
| B | Legal uncleanness — a ruling laid down in respect of entering a particular place | That the verse continues with fa-lā yaqrabū |
| C | Material uncleanness | The primary lexical sense of the word |
| D | Intensification — an attribute named in its extreme expression | That the word najas is a verbal noun |
I adopt no preference among these views. What is to be recorded is this: the majority of the views have not read the expression as a bodily quality; but this is a note, not a tally, and it carries no claim of certainty.
What is to be recorded per the method (Method)
One. The verse issues no wholesale ruling about a group; it makes a regulation about entry to a particular place. The ground for this in the wording is the verse itself: the sentence that carries the ruling is fa-lā yaqrabu'l-masjida'l-ḥarām — the subject, that is, is a place, not the general status of persons. And there is a note of time as well: baʿda ʿāmihim hādhā — "after this year of theirs."
Two. The "Prohibitions" clause of Method bears directly here: "No wholesale ruling is issued about an ethnic or religious group; what the verse describes are attributes." In this commentary the verse is read as a regulation speaking about an attribute; no judgement is issued about any community.
Three. The legal rulings drawn from this verse have been debated between the schools — which places it covers, whom it covers, whether it is permanent or temporary. This commentary does not enter that debate, issues no ruling, and counts no view as binding.
The root ع-ي-ل: poverty, straitened livelihood, the burden of providing for a large family. ʿAyla — poverty. From the same root ʿiyāl (the household one is bound to provide for).
I record this as an observation: the verse foresees the economic consequence of the regulation and names by its name the fear of the one addressed. As the ruling is laid down, that is, the anxiety it will produce is not passed over in silence.
The same structure was treated in al-Anfāl at 8/62: after the command to incline to peace, the anxiety was met by a separate sentence. I rely on that treatment and add this as my own reading: the Qurʾān meets an anxiety arising after a command not by cancelling the command but by a separate sentence. al-Tawba 9/28 is an instance of this.