Al-Tirmidhi said: “This is the ruling acted upon by the scholars.”
Shaykh Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm Āl al-Shaykh stated: A pilgrim may leave Muzdalifah after midnight. Some scholars, however, do not permit this, maintaining that the concession was granted only to the weak and therefore does not justify others leaving in the same manner. Adopting this more cautious stance is preferable, and it is the position chosen by the Shaykh himself as well as by Ibn al-Qayyim.
The legally defined night extends from sunset until dawn.
- The site of standing may be anywhere within Muzdalifah as previously demarcated, though the best place is by al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām—the small hill that contains the mosque—for those who can reach it with ease. If reaching it is difficult, showing consideration for oneself and one’s companions takes precedence.
Scholarly disagreement:
The scholars differed regarding the ruling on spending the night in Muzdalifah; by “spending the night” they mean remaining there during that night.
• Imām Aḥmad held that it is obligatory to stay until after midnight for everyone except the water-bearers and shepherds. If a pilgrim only reaches Muzdalifah after midnight, that suffices, because the ruling is tied to the latter half of the night.
• According to al-Shāfiʿī, the sound view in his school is that what is obligatory is to spend some part of the second half of the night there.
• Mālik said that the obligation is simply to arrive at Muzdalifah during the night before dawn and remain there long enough to unload one’s mount while travelling from ʿArafah to Minā.
• For the Ḥanafīs, spending the night in Muzdalifah is Sunnah, while the obligation is to remain there for a period after the dawn prayer until sunrise.
• A small number of scholars—including al-Shaʿbī, ʿAlqamah, al-Nakhaʿī, and Abū Bakr ibn Khuzaymah—held that whoever misses the standing in Muzdalifah has invalidated his pilgrimage.
The opinion closest to what is correct and most in line with the Prophet’s ﷺ practice in his Farewell Pilgrimage is the first one; upon reflection, no evidence contradicts it. Allah knows best.