597 – Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: “Al-Faḍl ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with him) was riding pillion behind the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). A woman from Khathʿam approached, and al-Faḍl began looking at her and she at him. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) kept turning al-Faḍl’s face to the other side. She said, ‘Messenger of Allah, the pilgrimage Allah has made obligatory upon His servants has reached my father while he is an elderly man who cannot keep himself steady on the mount. May I perform Hajj on his behalf?’ He replied, ‘Yes.’ This occurred during the Farewell Pilgrimage.” Agreed upon; the wording is that of al-Bukhārī. (1)

Vocabulary of the ḥadīth:
• rādif: pattern faʿīl; one who rides behind the main rider; plurals: ardāf, rudafāʾ, ridāf.
• Khathʿam: a Qaḥṭānī tribe tracing its lineage to Kahlān. Its lands lie on the road from Ṭāʾif to Abhā, bordered on the north and west by the tribe of Shahrān and on the south and east by the territory of Bilqarn.
• fa-jaʿala al-Faḍl: here, jaʿala functions as a verb of initiation, indicating that the action has just begun; “al-Faḍl” is its subject, and the clause “yanẓuru ilayhā” (“he began to look at her”) is its predicate in the accusative.
• al-shiq: with a kasrah on the shīn and a doubled qāf; here meaning “side.”
• adrakat: i.e. “reached” or “overtook,” for idrāk means catching up.
• shaykhan kabīran: accusative of state; kabīran is its adjective. A shaykh is one in whom old age has become evident,