which (1) is the only position that anyone who requires a pilgrim performing tamattu‘ to perform two sa‘ys can maintain; or else a single sa‘y suffices for a pilgrim performing tamattu‘. However, the hadiths cited earlier explicitly establish that he was performing qirān, so they must not be set aside.
If it is objected: Shu‘bah narrated from Humayd ibn Hilāl, from Mutarrif, from ‘Imrān ibn Husayn, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) performed two circumambulations and two sa‘ys. Al-Dāraqutnī (2) reported it from Ibn Sā‘id (3), who said: Muhammad ibn Yahyā al-Azdī narrated to us; ‘Abd Allāh ibn Dāwūd narrated to us, from Shu‘bah.
The reply is: This report is defective and erroneous.
Al-Dāraqutnī said: “It is said that Muhammad ibn Yahyā narrated this from memory and erred in its wording. The correct wording transmitted through this chain is: ‘The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) combined Hajj and ‘umrah.’ And Allah knows best.” Evidence showing that this hadith is erroneous will follow, Allah willing.
I think that Shaykh Abū Muhammad—may Allah sanctify his soul—concluded that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was performing tamattu‘ only because he saw that Imam Ahmad had explicitly stated that tamattu‘ was preferable to qirān; that Allah, glorified be He, would choose only what was best for His Messenger; that the hadiths stated that he performed tamattu‘; and that they explicitly stated that he did not leave ihram. From these four premises, he concluded that he performed tamattu‘ (4) in a special form, without leaving ihram. Ahmad, however, did not prefer tamattu‘ on the grounds that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) performed Hajj in that manner. How could he, when he himself said: “I have no doubt that