Mas‘ud, may Allah be pleased with him, stoned it in this manner and said: “This is the place of the one upon whom Surat al-Baqarah was sent down” (1)—meaning the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. Thus, the Pillar of al-‘Aqabah is excluded from the requirement of facing the qiblah when stoning the pillars. This was so because, in the time of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, it was not possible to face the qiblah and stone the Pillar of al-‘Aqabah with it directly before one, due to the mountain, for it was adjacent to it. This is clear evidence that what is intended is to face the pillar itself, whether one is facing the qiblah or not. At the first and middle pillars, however, it is possible to combine facing the qiblah with facing the pillar; whereas at al-‘Aqabah, it is not possible to do both. For this reason, facing the pillar is given preference.

His statement, “And he does not stop beside it,” means that he does not stop at the Pillar of al-‘Aqabah; once he has stoned it, he departs. Rather, he stops after the first and middle pillars.

Some scholars said that this is because the place is narrow, so if he were to stop there, he would cause congestion for the people and hardship for himself.

Other scholars said that supplication connected to an act of worship is made within the act itself, not after it. Therefore, he supplicated after the first pillar and after the middle pillar, whereas the act of worship concluded with this one. This is clear according to the principle of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah. Hence, he held that if a person wishes to supplicate during the prayer, he should do so before giving the taslim, not after it—whether in an obligatory or voluntary prayer.