This, then, is the answer scholars give—not the answer of someone who says, “‘Uthmān and Abū Dharr knew the Messenger of Allah ﷺ better than you do.” Why, then, did Ibn ‘Abbās and ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Umar not say, “Abū Bakr and ‘Umar knew the Messenger of Allah ﷺ better than we do”? None of the Companions or Successors would have accepted such an answer as grounds for rejecting an explicit statement from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Their knowledge of Allah and His Messenger, and their fear of Allah, were too great for them to give precedence to the opinion of someone fallible over the words of the infallible Prophet. Moreover, an explicit statement from the infallible Prophet has established that it remains valid until the Day of Resurrection. Those who affirmed its continued validity include ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib, Sa‘d ibn Abī Waqqās, Ibn ‘Umar, Ibn ‘Abbās, Abū Mūsā, Sa‘īd ibn al-Musayyab, and the majority of the Successors (1).

Evidence that this was merely a personal opinion, not something to be traced back to the Prophet ﷺ, is that when ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb, may Allah be pleased with him, prohibited it, Abū Mūsā al-Ash‘arī asked him, “Commander of the Faithful! What new position have you introduced concerning the pilgrimage rites?” He replied: “If we follow the Book of our Lord, Allah says:

‘(195) And complete Hajj and ‘umrah for Allah.’ [al-Baqarah: 196]

And if we follow the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ did not leave the state of consecration until he had slaughtered his sacrificial animal.”

Thus, Abū Mūsā and ‘Umar agreed (2) that prohibiting the conversion of Hajj into ‘umrah for tamattu‘, or entering the state of consecration for tamattu‘ from the outset, was merely an opinion that ‘Umar had introduced concerning the pilgrimage rites, not something received from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ—whatever evidence he cited in support of it. Abū Mūsā used to issue rulings advising people to convert Hajj into ‘umrah throughout Abū Bakr’s caliphate and during the early part of ‘Umar’s, until he discussed ‘Umar’s prohibition with him. They agreed that it was an opinion ‘Umar had introduced concerning the pilgrimage rites. It was subsequently authentically established that he retracted it.