Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday—five days in all. According to his view, the departure would have taken place with seven days remaining; if the day of departure were excluded, six would remain. Either reckoning contradicts the hadith.

If the nights are counted, his departure would have been with six nights remaining, not five. Thus, a Thursday departure cannot possibly be reconciled with five days remaining in the month. By contrast, if the departure was on Saturday, then (1) five days undoubtedly remained, counting the day of departure. This is further supported by the fact that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, addressed them from his pulpit in Medina about ihrām and what a person in ihrām should wear. Apparently, this was on Friday, since there is no report that he assembled them or summoned them to attend the sermon. Ibn ‘Umar witnessed this sermon from his pulpit in Medina. It was the Prophet’s practice, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, to teach them whatever they needed when the time came to put it into practice. The most fitting occasion was therefore the Friday closest to his departure. It also seems unlikely that he would have missed the Friday prayer without necessity when only part of a day remained before it: the people had gathered around him, he was more eager than anyone to teach them their religion, and he was present at that great gathering. Attending both it and Hajj (2) was possible without missing either. Allah knows best.

When Abū Muhammad Ibn Hazm realized that the statement of Ibn ‘Abbās and ‘Ā’ishah, “He departed with five days remaining in Dhū al-Qa‘dah,” could not be reconciled with (3) his own view, he interpreted it by saying: It means that (4) he set out from Dhū al-Hulayfah with five days remaining = He said: There are only four miles between Dhū al-Hulayfah and Medina