“A sound, singular hadith.”

Al-Dāraqutnī (1) reported from ‘Ā’ishah that she said: “Whenever the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, intended to enter the consecrated state, he washed his head with khitmī and ushnān (cleansing plants).” ‘Ā’ishah then used her own hand to perfume his body and head with aromatic powder (2) and a perfume containing musk, until the gleam (3) of the musk could be seen along the partings of his hair and in his beard, peace and blessings be upon him (4). He left the perfume on without washing it off, then put on his waist wrapper and upper wrap. He then prayed two units of the noon prayer and, while still at his place of prayer, entered the consecrated state for Hajj and ‘umrah together. There is no report that he prayed two units specifically for entering the consecrated state apart from the obligatory noon prayer.

Before entering the consecrated state, he hung two sandals around the neck of his sacrificial camel and marked the right side of its hump by making an incision and wiping away the blood (5).

We state that he entered the consecrated state for Hajj and ‘umrah together because twenty-two (6) authentic hadiths explicitly establish this:

The first is what al-Bukhārī and Muslim both related (7) in their Sahīh collections (8) from Ibn ‘Umar, who said: “‘Umrah and Hajj were combined by