Others said that continuity is not a condition, and that one may interrupt it and break the continuity between its circuits without any harm. What should be understood, however, is that continuity between the parts of a single act of worship is obligatory, so that it remains one act of worship—except where evidence indicates that separating its parts is permissible. The preponderant view in a case such as this is that, when the obligatory prayer is commenced, he should interrupt the circumambulation with the intention of returning to it after the prayer.
If he interrupts it—and let us suppose that he does so when he is aligned with the Black Stone—then, once the prayer has been completed, should he resume the circumambulation from the point at which he interrupted it, or should he begin the circumambulation anew?
The scholars differed over this. The well-known view of the madhhab is that he must begin that circuit anew. The preponderant view, however, is that this is not required; rather, he resumes from where he stopped, because what he completed before stopping was validly performed, and whatever has been validly performed must not be repeated. Were we to require its repetition, we would be requiring a person to perform the same act of worship twice, and there is no parallel for this.
Issue: Should one interrupt circumambulation in order to perform the funeral prayer?
Apparently, yes, because the funeral prayer is brief, so the interruption would not be lengthy and is therefore excused.
His statement: “Then, if he is performing tamattuʿ and has no sacrificial animal with him, he should shorten his hair,” means: if the person performing saʿi is undertaking tamattuʿ and has no sacrificial animal with him, he should shorten his hair. Here, shortening the hair is preferable to shaving it, based on the hadith of Ibn ʿUmar that the Prophet ﷺ said: “Whoever has a sacrificial animal with him must not exit the state of consecration from anything that was prohibited to him until he completes his Hajj. Whoever does not have a sacrificial animal with him should circumambulate the House and perform saʿi between Safa