the Messenger of Allah ﷺ with an arrowhead during the first ten days of Dhū al-Hijjah. In another wording: “That was during his Hajj.” This is one of the reports for which people criticized Mu‘āwiyah and judged him mistaken. He made the same kind of mistake as Ibn ‘Umar when he said that the Prophet had performed ‘umrah in Rajab. All the other authentic hadiths, widely transmitted through multiple chains, indicate that he ﷺ did not leave ihrām until the Day of Sacrifice. He himself stated this when he said, “Were it not for the sacrificial animals I have with me, I would have left ihrām,” and, “I have brought the sacrificial animals and combined Hajj and ‘umrah, so I will not leave ihrām until I slaughter them.”

This is his own account of himself, so it admits neither misapprehension nor error, unlike someone else’s account of him—especially one that contradicts what he himself stated and what was reported about him (1) by a great multitude: that he did not remove any of his hair, whether by shortening or shaving it, and that he remained in ihrām until he shaved his head on the Day of Sacrifice. Perhaps Mu‘āwiyah shortened his hair during the ‘umrah of al-Ji‘rānah, since he had embraced Islam by then, but later forgot and thought that this had happened during the ten days. Similarly, Ibn ‘Umar forgot that the Prophet’s ‘umrah had been in Dhū al-Qa‘dah and said that it had been in Rajab, even though he had accompanied him on it. Anyone other than the Messenger may err; when evidence establishes such an error, it must be acknowledged.

It has also been suggested that Mu‘āwiyah may have shortened some hair that the barber had left unshaved on the Day of Sacrifice, removing it at al-Marwah. Abū Muhammad ibn Hazm mentioned this (2). This, too, is an error on his part, for a barber would not mistakenly leave hair to be shortened and then leave some of it remaining after it had been shortened. The Prophet distributed the hair of his head among the Companions: Abū Talhah received the hair from one side, while the remaining Companions shared the hair from the other (3), taking one hair, two hairs, or several hairs (4). Moreover, he