they gather it to place over the bricks that are set upon the niche inside graves and to insert between the clay and the timbers that roof houses, thereby sealing the gaps in the dwellings of both the living and the dead.

11 – The hadith is proof that Mecca was conquered by force and not through a peace treaty. This is one of the two scholarly views and is the position of Abū Ḥanīfah and Aḥmad. The second view, held by al-Shāfiʿī, is that it was taken by treaty—but the first opinion is the sounder.

12 – The Prophet’s compliance with al-ʿAbbās’s request and his acceptance of his intercession to exempt idhkhir resulted either from his personal ijtihād or from revelation.

Supplement
Allah has ordained a Sacred Precinct for the Ancient House to venerate it. Within that precinct He granted security so comprehensive that its trees and plants may not be taken and its game may not be startled. He made the reward of deeds performed there greater than elsewhere, multiplying the recompense of each prayer up to one hundred thousand. The Sanctuary encircles Makka, and some of its boundaries lie closer to the city than others. Marker stones have been erected along those limits on the main roads leading to Makka, as follows:

1 – West: ash-Shumaysī (al-Ḥudaybiyah). Part of this area is inside the Sanctuary and part outside. It is the farthest boundary, 22 km away, and the Jeddah road passes through it.

2 – South: Iḍāʾ Labin on the Yemeni route that comes along Tihāmah, 12 km distant.

2 – East: the western bank of Wādī ʿUrnah on the road to Ṭāʾif and al-Ḥijāz (as-Sarāt), Najd, and Yemen, 15 km away.

4 – North-east: the al-Jiʿirānah road at Mount al-Maqṭaʿ near the village of Sharāʾiʿ al-Mujāhidīn, about 16 km away.

5 – North: at-Tanʿīm on the road to Madina that runs through Wādī Fāṭimah (al-Jamūm), 7 km distant. It is the nearest limit of the Sanctuary, whereas ash-Shumaysī is the farthest. In 1387 AH a committee was formed to demarcate the Makkan Sanctuary from all—