5 – When ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her) reached the valley of Sarif with the Prophet ﷺ she began menstruating. The Prophet ﷺ therefore told her to merge her ʿUmrah into her Hajj so that she would be performing qirān, and he said, “Do what every pilgrim does, except that you must not circumambulate the House.” From this the three Imams inferred that ritual purity is a prerequisite for ṭawāf. Abū Ḥanīfah (d. 150 AH), however, held that she was barred from ṭawāf only to keep her from staying in the mosque while menstruating; accordingly, in his view purity is not required for ṭawāf. Should a woman perform ṭawāf in that state, the ṭawāf is valid but she must pay the prescribed penalty appropriate to the type of circumambulation, as detailed in his school.

The rest of the scholars replied that a woman who is menstruating or experiencing postpartum bleeding may carry out all the rites of Hajj except ṭawāf, for which her state is invalid.

Disagreement among the scholars
This ḥadith is one of the proofs used to determine the ruling of saʿy. Three opinions exist:

1. that it is obligatory (wājib),
2. that it is recommended (sunnah), and
3. that it is a pillar (rukn) of the pilgrimage.
   All three positions are reported from Imām Aḥmad.

Many scholars—among them Imams Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, and Aḥmad in one of his two views, the view most famous in the Ḥanbalī school—consider it a pillar. Companions who held this opinion include Ibn ʿUmar, Jābir, and ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with them). According to this view, the Hajj is not complete without it.

Their evidence is the report recorded by Muslim in which ʿĀʾishah said, “The Prophet ﷺ and the Muslims performed ṭawāf between Ṣafā and Marwah. By my life, Allah has not completed the Hajj of anyone who does not perform ṭawāf between Ṣafā and Marwah.”

Some Companions and Successors held that it is merely recommended and that omitting it entails no penalty. Among them are Ibn ʿAbbās, Anas, Ibn al-Zubayr, and Ibn Sīrīn; it is also one narration from Imām Aḥmad. They cite the apparent meaning of the verse, “There is no blame upon him for walking between them” (al-Baqarah 2:158).