those who bow and prostrate—they are the ones who pray; and ritual purity (1) is a condition for prayer by the unanimous agreement of the Muslims, and a menstruating woman neither offers the prayer nor makes it up, whether at its time or later.
That leaves the one performing tawaf: is he to be grouped with the retreat-dweller, with the worshipper, or does he constitute a third category between the two? This (2) is a matter open to juristic reasoning (3).
As for the statement, “Circumambulation of the House is prayer,” it is not reliably established from the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—but it is soundly reported from Ibn ʿAbbās (4). It has, however, been transmitted in versions traced back to the Prophet (5). Some jurists (6) have further quoted Ibn ʿAbbās as saying: “If someone performs tawaf of the House while in a state of major ritual impurity, a compensatory sacrifice becomes due on him” (7).
(1) In manuscript A the wording reads: “wa-l-taharat” (“and the purifications”).
(2) The word “hadha” (“this”) is absent in manuscript C.
(3) Manuscripts A and B read: “niza‘” (“dispute”).
(4) The phrase “on the authority of Ibn Abbas” is missing from manuscript B.
(5) As for the marfu‘ report (attributed to the Prophet): it is related by Ahmad (15 423) and al-Nasa’i (2 922) from a man who met the Prophet, and by al-Tirmidhi (960) with a similar wording from Ibn Abbas. The mawquf version (stopped at Ibn Abbas) is transmitted by al-Bayhaqi (9 305). A number of hadith critics—al-Nasa’i, al-Daraqutni, al-Bayhaqi, al-Nawawi, and Ibn Taymiyya—consider the mawquf version the stronger.
(6) Manuscript D adds the preposition “‘an” (“from / on the authority of”).
(7) Some Hanafi scholars, such as al-Kasani (Bada’i‘ al-Sanai‘, 2/129) and al-Marghinani (al-Hidaya, 1/161), cite the report from Ibn Abbas. Al-Hanafi, in Tanbih ‘ala Mushkilat al-Hidaya (3/1113), remarks: “I know of no mention of this in the hadith collections,” and Ibn Hajar states in al-Diraya (2/41): “I have not found it.”