al-Qaṣwāʾ, and when the she-camel had leveled out with him on the plain of al-Bayḍāʾ he proclaimed the declaration of divine oneness. In another wording collected by Muslim (1218) it says: “He proclaimed the talbiyah from beside the tree when his camel stood up with him,” while Abu Dāwūd records in the narration of Anas: “When he ascended the hill of al-Bayḍāʾ he proclaimed the talbiyah.”

Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with him) provided a decisive reconciliation of these variants, saying: “I am the most knowledgeable of people about this. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ set out for Hajj; when he had prayed two rakʿahs in his mosque at Dhū’l-Ḥulayfah he obliged himself while seated, and he proclaimed the Hajj after finishing his two rakʿahs. Some people heard that from him and preserved it. Then he mounted, and when his camel stood upright with him he proclaimed, and others caught that from him, for people were arriving in groups. He proceeded, and when he climbed the rise of al-Bayḍāʾ he proclaimed, and still others heard it. By Allah, he indeed entered ihram in his place of prayer, proclaimed when his mount stood up with him, and proclaimed when he reached the crest of al-Bayḍāʾ.” Reported by Aḥmad (2240).

5 – The scholars are unanimously agreed that assuming ihram before the miqāt is permissible, and it is authentically reported that some Companions did so.

Nevertheless, the prescribed way and the guidance of the Prophet ﷺ is not to enter ihram except at the miqāt for anyone who passes it or comes parallel to it, as was the consistent practice of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, the majority of the Companions and Followers, and the leading scholars of the Muslims. The practice of a few Companions merely demonstrates permissibility, and even that may have been due to particular circumstances.