what I command you to do, and do it.” They argued back (1), so he became angry and went to ʿĀ’ishah, still angry. She saw the anger in his face and said: “May Allah be angry with whoever has angered you!” He said: “Why should I not be angry when I give a command and am not obeyed?”
We call Allah to witness that, if we entered ihram for Hajj, we would consider ourselves obliged to change it to Umrah, to avoid the anger of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and to obey his command. By Allah, this was never abrogated, either during his lifetime or afterwards; not a single authentic statement contradicts it, nor was it restricted to his Companions to the exclusion of those who came after them. Rather, Allah, glorified be He, prompted Surāqah to ask him whether this was exclusive to them, and he answered that it would apply for ever and ever. We therefore do not know what we could give precedence to over these hadiths and this emphatic command, whose violation angered the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him.
How admirable (2) was Imam Ahmad when he replied to Salamah ibn Shabīb, who had said to him (3): “Abū ʿAbd Allāh, I find everything about you commendable except one thing.” He asked: “What is it?” Salamah said: “You advocate changing Hajj to Umrah.” He replied: “Salamah! I thought you had some sense! I have eleven authentic hadiths from the Messenger of Allah on this matter. Am I to abandon them for your opinion?!” (4)
In al-Sunan (5), al-Barā’ ibn ʿĀzib reported that when ʿAlī came to the Messenger of Allah