late at night, shortly before dawn. He did not adopt a brisk, short-stepped gait during this circumambulation. Safiyyah told him that she was menstruating, and he asked, “Will she delay our departure?” They told him (1) that she had already performed the Hajj circumambulation. He said, “Then let her depart” (2). That night, ʿĀ’ishah asked him to let her perform a separate ʿumrah. He told her that her circumambulation of the House and her passage between al-Safā and al-Marwah had sufficed for both her Hajj and her ʿumrah. She nevertheless insisted on performing a separate ʿumrah, so he instructed her brother (3) to take her to al-Tanʿīm to perform it. She completed her ʿumrah at night, then returned to al-Muhassab with her brother. They arrived in the middle of the night, and the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—asked, “Have you both finished?” She replied, “Yes.” He then called upon his Companions to depart, and the people set off. He then circumambulated the House before the dawn prayer. This is al-Bukhārī’s wording (4).

If it is asked: How do you reconcile this with the hadith that al-Aswad narrated from her, also recorded in the Authentic Collection (5)? She said, “We set out with the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—intending (6) nothing but Hajj…” She then related the hadith, which includes:

“When the night of our stay at al-Muhassab came, I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, will the people return having performed both Hajj and ʿumrah, while I return having performed only Hajj?’ He said, ‘Had you not circumambulated the House during the nights when we first arrived in Mecca?’ She said: I replied, ‘No.’ He said, ‘Then go with your brother to al-Tanʿīm and enter the state of consecration for ʿumrah. Afterwards, meet me at such-and-such a place.’ ʿĀ’ishah said: The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—met me while he was travelling up from Mecca and I was travelling down towards it—or I was travelling up while he was travelling down from it.”