حجج

Core meaning

To head deliberately toward a goal: toward the House, it is the Hajj; against an opponent, it is the argument set against him and the dispute; the cycle that brings the same goal back each year counts the years.

Uses

1. ٱلْحَجّ, حِجّ, حَجَّ, ٱلْحَآجّ → "the Hajj", "to perform the Hajj", "those performing the Hajj" : the willed journey toward the House, in known months.

   • «ٱلْحَجُّ أَشْهُرٌۭ مَّعْلُومَٰتٌۭ» — "The Hajj takes place in known months" (2:197)
   • «وَلِلَّهِ عَلَى ٱلنَّاسِ حِجُّ ٱلْبَيْتِ» — "And the Hajj of the House is a duty toward God for mankind" (3:97)
   • «سِقَايَةَ ٱلْحَآجِّ» — "the giving of drink to those performing the Hajj" (9:19)

2. حَآجَّ, تَحَآجَّ → "to dispute", "to dispute with one another" : to put forward an argument against someone in order to prevail; with فِي, the object of the dispute.

   • «وَحَآجَّهُۥ قَوْمُهُۥ» — "And his people disputed with him" (6:80)
   • «أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى ٱلَّذِى حَآجَّ إِبْرَٰهِـۧمَ فِى رَبِّهِۦٓ» — "Have you not seen him who disputed with Ibrahim about his Guardian" (2:258)
   • «وَإِذْ يَتَحَآجُّونَ فِى ٱلنَّارِ» — "And when they dispute with one another in the Fire" (40:47)

3. حُجَّة → "argument" : what one puts forward against the other in order to prevail.

   • «قُلْ فَلِلَّهِ ٱلْحُجَّةُ ٱلْبَٰلِغَةُ» — "To God belongs the conclusive argument" (6:149)
   • «لِئَلَّا يَكُونَ لِلنَّاسِ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ حُجَّةٌۢ بَعْدَ ٱلرُّسُلِ» — "so that men might have no argument against God after the messengers" (4:165)

4. حِجَج → "years" : the cycle that returns each year.

   • «عَلَىٰٓ أَن تَأْجُرَنِى ثَمَٰنِىَ حِجَجٍۢ» — "on condition that you serve me for eight years" (28:27)

Evidence from the text

The Hajj keeps its name wherever the root says the journey toward the House (2:158, 2:196, 2:197, 3:97, 9:3, 22:27). In 9:19, the generic singular is read "those performing the Hajj": the verse weighs giving them drink and maintaining the inviolable place of prostration against faith and striving.

The dispute always aims at a precise point, and most often at God Himself: "Do you dispute with us about God" (2:139), "Do you dispute with me about God, when He has guided me?" (6:80). Ibrahim is its figure: his people dispute with him (6:80), a king disputes with him about his Guardian (2:258), and God gives him the argument that prevails: "And that is Our argument, which We gave to Ibrahim against his people" (6:83). Those who dispute without knowledge are rebuked: "why do you dispute about that of which you have no knowledge?" (3:66).

The argument is what remains to the opponent when he has no proof left. The messengers are sent "so that men might have no argument against God after the messengers" (4:165); before the signs, the only argument of those who disown is to demand their forefathers (45:25), and the argument of those who dispute about God "is void before their Guardian" (42:16). The last argument belongs to God (6:149).

Distinctions

• جدل — debate: the insistent exchange itself, whereas the dispute aims to prevail by an argument
• بره — demonstration: what establishes and imposes itself, whereas the argument is what one sets against the other
• سنو — the year one counts, whereas حِجَج is the cycle brought back by the Hajj; its only use counting time, it keeps the common word "years"

See also

ابراهيم (Ibrahim)