Hajj: “It is permissible.” The questioner said to him: “Your father prohibited it.” He replied: “Tell me: if my father prohibited it, yet the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) performed it, should my father’s command be followed or the command of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)?” The man replied: “Rather, the command of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).” He said: “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did indeed perform it.” (1)

Those holding this view say: Had it not been for the sacrificial animals, he would have left ihram, just as someone performing tamattu‘ who has no sacrificial animals leaves ihram. Hence his statement: “Had I not brought the sacrificial animals with me, I would have left ihram.” He thus explained that bringing the sacrificial animals prevented him from leaving ihram, whereas someone performing qirān (combining Hajj and ‘umrah in a single ihram) is prevented from leaving ihram by qirān itself, not by the sacrificial animals. Those holding this view may call this person performing tamattu‘ a person performing qirān, because he entered ihram for Hajj before leaving ihram for ‘umrah. However, qirān as commonly understood means entering ihram for both together, or entering ihram for ‘umrah and adding Hajj to it before circumambulation.

There are two differences between someone performing qirān and someone performing tamattu‘ who has brought sacrificial animals:

The first concerns ihram: someone performing qirān enters ihram for Hajj before circumambulation, either when initially entering ihram or while already in that state.

The second is that someone performing qirān is required to perform only one sa‘y (walking between Safā and Marwah). If he has not performed it at the outset, he performs it after tawāf al-ifādah (the Hajj circumambulation). Someone performing tamattu‘, however, must perform a second sa‘y according to the majority. Another opinion transmitted from Ahmad holds that one sa‘y suffices for him, as it does for someone performing qirān. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not perform a second sa‘y after tawāf al-ifādah, so how could he have been performing tamattu‘ according to this view?

If it is said: According to the other transmitted opinion, he would have been performing tamattu‘, and the objection would not apply. That opinion has strong support in an authentic hadith, namely the report transmitted by Muslim in his Sahīh (2) from