is bringing upon you people whom the fever has weakened and who have suffered terribly from it.’ Allah then disclosed to His Prophet what they were saying, so he ordered the Companions to perform raml (a brisk trot) during the first three circuits and to walk normally between the two corners. When the Meccans saw them jogging, they said, ‘Are these the men you claimed the fever had enfeebled? They are stronger than we are!’

Ibn ʿAbbās remarked, ‘He did not tell them to jog all seven circuits, but only the first three, in order to spare them fatigue.’ Both al-Bukhārī and Muslim transmitted this report.

Yazīd ibn Hārūn narrated—from al-Jarīrī—from Abū l-Tufayl—that he said: I asked Ibn ʿAbbās, ‘Your people maintain that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ performed raml and that it is a sunnah.’ He replied, ‘They are both right and wrong. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ entered Mecca while the idolaters were on Quʿayqʿān, and the Meccans were a jealous folk. They began whispering among themselves that Muḥammad’s companions were weak. So the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Show them what they dislike to see from you.” He therefore performed raml to display his own strength and that of his Companions—it was not meant as a fixed sunnah.’ Muslim recorded this ḥadīth.

Nevertheless, raml has remained a sunnah in the ṭawāf of arrival; although its original reason has disappeared, Jābir still related that the Prophet ﷺ performed it during his Farewell Pilgrimage, and they performed it again in the ʿumrah of al-Jiʿirrānah.

Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid narrated—from Ibn Abī Awfā, whom he heard say: ‘We performed ʿumrah with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and while he circumambulated we shielded him from the children of Mecca so they would not bother him.’ Ibn Abī Awfā then showed us a scar he had received alongside the Prophet ﷺ on the day of Khaybar. This narration is found in al-Bukhārī.