as well as the water-carriers and the shepherds, for the Prophet ﷺ granted the shepherds a dispensation to forgo spending the night.

To conclude: remaining overnight in Muzdalifah is an obligatory rite of ḥajj for anyone who reaches the site before midnight, because the Prophet ﷺ stayed there and said, “Learn your rites from me.” Permission to leave after midnight is allowed only by virtue of a specific concession reported in the Sunnah.

Afterward the pilgrim proceeds to Mina before sunrise. ʿUmar said, “In the Days of Ignorance the people would not depart from Jamʿ until the sun had risen, and they would say, ‘Let Thabīr shine so that we may move on!’—Thabīr being a mountain that overlooks Muzdalifah, which they were addressing, meaning: let the sun rise over you so that we may depart. The Prophet ﷺ opposed them and left before the sun had risen.”

He travels with calm dignity, but when he reaches Wadi Muḥassir—a valley lying between Muzdalifah and Mina, belonging to neither—he should quicken his pace for roughly the distance it takes to cast a stone.