your circumambulation, then come to me (1) here at al-Muhassab.’” She said: “Allah brought the ʿumrah to completion, and we finished our circumambulation in the middle of the night, then came to him at al-Muhassab. He asked, ‘Have you both finished?’ We replied, ‘Yes.’ He then announced to the people that it was time to depart, went past the House and circumambulated it, then set off towards Medina.”
This is among the most authentic hadiths on earth and among the clearest proofs that the hypothetical scenarios proposed by Ibn Hazm and others are untenable: none of them ever occurred. It also demonstrates that al-Aswad’s report was not accurately preserved. Even if it was accurately preserved, it admits no interpretation other than the one we have given. Success comes only from Allah.
The early generations differed over camping at al-Muhassab: was it a Sunnah practice, or merely a place where he happened to camp? They held two views.
One group said that it is among the Sunnah practices of Hajj. In the two Sahīh collections (2), Abū Hurayrah reports that, when the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—was about to depart from Minā, he said:
“Tomorrow, Allah willing, we shall camp (3) at Khayf Banī Kinānah, where they bound themselves by oath to uphold disbelief.”
He meant al-Muhassab. Quraysh and Banū Kinānah had sworn an oath against Banū Hāshim and Banū al-Muttalib, agreeing neither to intermarry with them nor to have any dealings with them (4) until they handed over the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—to them. The Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—thus intended to display the outward symbol (5) of Islam in the place where