‘Ā’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her—“I applied perfume to Allah’s Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, for his ihram before he entered it, and for his release from ihram before he left it” (1)—is evidence that shaving the head is a rite of worship, not merely release from a prohibition.
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He then rode to Mecca before noon, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and performed tawāf al-ifāda, also called the circumambulation of visitation and the circumambulation of departure. He performed no other circumambulation and did not perform sa‘y with it. This is the correct account, though three groups have disagreed. One group claimed that he performed two circumambulations: an arrival circumambulation distinct from tawāf al-ifāda, followed by tawāf al-ifāda. Another claimed that he performed sa‘y with this circumambulation because he was combining Hajj and ‘umrah in a single ihram. A third claimed that he did not perform circumambulation that day, but postponed the circumambulation of visitation until night. We shall explain the correct account and clarify the source of the error. Success comes from Allah.
Al-Athram (2) said: I asked Abū ‘Abd Allāh, “When he returns—I mean the pilgrim performing tamattu‘, an ‘umrah followed by Hajj with release from ihram between them—how many circumambulations and performances of sa‘y does he undertake?” He replied, “He performs circumambulation and sa‘y for his Hajj, and another circumambulation for visitation.” We asked him about this (3) more than once, and he held firmly to his answer.
The shaykh (4) said in al-Mughnī (5): The same ruling applies to the pilgrim combining Hajj and ‘umrah in a single ihram and the pilgrim performing Hajj alone, if they have not come to Mecca before the Day of Sacrifice and have not performed the arrival circumambulation. They begin with the arrival circumambulation before the circumambulation of visitation. Ahmad explicitly stated this, citing as evidence the report of ‘Ā’ishah, who said: “Then circumambulation was performed