A few years ago in another publication' it was shown that a formulation of the talbiya, the hajj-festive cry, had existed that had been subjected to Christian influence, and had been rejected by Muhammad. At that time the present writer was not aware that tradition linked Koran XXII.30/31 with this very talbiya and that it may well be the qawla-z-zu r named there.
Traces of the correct state of affairs remain in most of the commentators (Tabari, Zamakhshari, Nasafi, Nisaburi). But to my knowledge al Khazin gives what is most complete. Hence I give what he says verbatim:
[On the Koranic text:] Keep away from false words (gawla-z-zur), observes Ibn Abbas: "It is a question of the shahadat az-zur (the false shahadat or witness)." According to Aiman b. Khuraim,2 there is a tradition that the Prophet rose for the khutba and said: "0 ye people, the false shahada (witness), and likewise giving God a companion, is mistaken!" Thereupon he recited the verse: "Keep away from the dirt of the idols and keep away from false words." Tirmidhi quotes these words and comments on them: "There are differences of opinion about what Aiman says, and we do not know whether in fact he heard the Prophet." Abu Da'ud quotes the same passage, but from Khuraim b. Fatik. It sup posedly means that the mushrikun said in their talbiya: "Labbayka, thou halt no companion other than a companion who is yours, over whom, and over the area he rules, thou rulest." [cf. 1 Cor. 15:27: " For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith, all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. 28: And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. "]
A. Khuraim b.Fatik is attested in Ibn Said (6, 24, 22) as a contemporary of Muhammad. There can hardly be any doubt that by qawla-z-zu r the shahadat az-zu r is meant, and with it that talbiya. For if, as is usually done, one takes qawla-z-zu r as meaning "lie and slander" (kadhib wabuhtan), it is strange that this prohibition should come in the middle of a coherent passage about the hajj and interrupt it. That the expression, as it is to be understood in the Koran, means a perverse cult action, that is, the false talbiya, and shahada is also clear from the words that immediately follow: "faithful (hunafa'a = mukhlisina) to God, without giving him a companion." On this, the commentator notes: "These words draw attention to the fact that someone who takes upon himself a task of honoring God intends with the devotion he performs thereby to serve God honestly and no other."
NOTES
1. Biblica 35 (1954): 405 f.
2. Cf. Ibn Sa'd, 6, 25, 2.