﴿ ثُمَّ لْيَقْضُوا۟ تَفَثَهُمْ وَلْيُوفُوا۟ نُذُورَهُمْ وَلْيَطَّوَّفُوا۟ بِٱلْبَيْتِ ٱلْعَتِيقِ ﴾

“Thereafter let them bring to an end their state of self-denial, and let them fulfill the vows which they [may] have made, and let them walk [once again] around the Most Ancient Temple.”

�And perform the circumambulation of the Ancient House.He said:People have differed concerning this. Ḥasan said, �He called it Ancient (ʿatīq) to honour it, just as the Arabs speak of an �ancient� body, and an �ancient� horse if it is noble.� My maternal uncle, Muḥammad b. Sawwār, related on the authority of al-Thawrī that he said, �It is called this because it is the oldest (aqdam) and most ancient (aʿtaq) place of worship belonging to God, just as He said: The first House (of worship) to be established for people was that at Bakka, a blessed place [3:96].�Some have said, �He [God] called it ʿatīq because no tyrant ever headed for it with an evil design without God�s destroying him and freeing (aʿtaqa) His House from him. Some have said, �It is because it was saved (uʿtiqa) from being submerged during the great flood and raised to the sky.� Just as God has freed His House, so He has also freed the heart of the believer from other [than Him]. It [the Kaʿba] is older than anything else that God, Exalted is He, erected on His earth as a sign (ʿalam), and He placed it within the Sacred Mosque (al-Masjid al-Ḥarām). Likewise the heart has [within it] another heart, which is the position from which the servant stands before his Master without being agitated or busied by anything, but in a state of tranquil repose in Him (sākin ilayhi).His words, Exalted is He: