Jābir, who said: “Neither the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) nor his Companions performed more than one sa‘y between Safā and Marwah—that initial sa‘y of his,” although most of them were performing tamattu‘. Sufyān al-Thawrī (1) also reported from Salamah ibn Kuhayl that Tāwūs swore: “None of the Prophet’s Companions (peace and blessings be upon him) performed more than one sa‘y for his Hajj and ‘umrah.”

The reply is: Those who maintained (2) that he was performing a special form of tamattu‘ do not hold this view; rather, they require such a pilgrim to perform two sa‘ys. Yet it is known from his practice (peace and blessings be upon him) that he performed only one sa‘y. As established in the Sahīh (3), Ibn ‘Umar performed qirān and arrived in Mecca, where he circumambulated the House and performed sa‘y between Safā and Marwah, doing no more than that. He neither shaved nor shortened his hair, nor lifted any of the restrictions of ihram until the Day of Sacrifice. He then slaughtered his sacrificial animal and shaved his head, considering that he (4) had fulfilled the requirement of Hajj and ‘umrah through his initial tawāf. He said: “This is what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did.” By the initial tawāf through which he fulfilled the requirement of Hajj and ‘umrah, he undoubtedly meant the sa‘y between Safā and Marwah.

Al-Dāraqutnī (5) reported from ‘Atā’ and Nāfi‘, from Ibn ‘Umar and Jābir, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) performed only one circumambulation and one sa‘y for his Hajj and ‘umrah. He then came to Mecca and did not perform sa‘y between the two upon his return. This necessarily indicates one of two possibilities: either he was performing qirān,