629 – Abū al-Ṭufayl (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “I saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ circumambulating the House; he would touch the Corner with a miḥjan he carried and then kiss the miḥjan.” Narrated by Muslim (1).

Vocabulary of the ḥadīth
– miḥjan: pronounced with a kasrah on the mīm, a silent ḥāʾ, followed by a jīm and ending with a nūn; the mīm is extra. Plural: miḥājīn. It is a staff with a curved head. Ibn Durayd said: “Every stick whose head bends is called a miḥjan.”

Points derived from the ḥadīth

1. Because the people crowded around the Prophet ﷺ during the Farewell Pilgrimage while he was making ṭawāf, he performed the circuit on his camel, touching the Black Stone with his miḥjan and gesturing toward it.
2. The report proves the permissibility of performing ṭawāf while mounted when there is a need.
3. Touching (istilām) the Black Stone is recommended. If touching it directly by hand is difficult, one may touch it with something in one’s hand, provided no harm is caused to other pilgrims.
4. The Prophet ﷺ touched and kissed the Black Stone only while performing ṭawāf or in the interval between ṭawāf and saʿy.
5. The marginal note states: Pointing toward the Black Stone when kissing it or when it is difficult to touch it by hand or with something else is a matter of consensus. As for the Yemeni Corner, nothing authentic shows that the Prophet ﷺ ever pointed to it; had he done so, it would have been transmitted. The Sunnah, therefore, is to omit what he omitted, for the Sunnah, just as it is found in action, can likewise