—namely the ʿumrah of al-Qaṣāṣ, also called ʿumrat al-qaḍiyyah—after which came the ʿumrah of al-Jiʿirānah, performed on his return from Ṭāʾif when he divided the spoils of Ḥunayn. We have already presented all of this in its proper places. The fourth was the ʿumrah he undertook together with his ḥajj.

We shall set out the differing views regarding this ʿumrah that accompanied the ḥajj: Was he a mutamattiʿ who performed the ʿumrah before the ḥajj and came out of iḥrām, yet was prevented from doing so by driving his sacrificial animals? Was he a qārin who combined the ʿumrah with the ḥajj, as the forthcoming reports indicate? Or was he a mufrid who performed the ʿumrah separately after completing the rites of ḥajj?

He went on to say: This last opinion—ifrād—is what is held by those who advocate it, and it is the position most commonly ascribed to al-Shāfiʿī. Its details will come when we discuss the Prophet’s ﷺ state of iḥrām and whether he was a mufrid, a mutamattiʿ, or a qārin.

Al-Bukhārī (1) relates: ʿAmr ibn Khālid told us; Zuhayr narrated to us; Abū Isḥāq reported to me, saying: Zayd ibn Arqam informed me that the Prophet ﷺ took part in nineteen military expeditions and, after the Hijrah, performed only one ḥajj. Abū Isḥāq added, “And in Mecca he performed another.”

Muslim (2) recorded it through Zuhayr, and both of them (3) also transmitted it through Shuʿbah—al-Bukhārī (4) adding “and Isrāʾīl”—all three from Abū Isḥāq ʿAmr ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Sabaʿī, from Zayd, with this wording. As for Abū Isḥāq’s assertion that the Prophet ﷺ made another ḥajj in Mecca—i.e., that he performed only one ḥajj there, as his words plainly suggest—this is unlikely. After receiving revelation, the Prophet ﷺ used to attend the pilgrimage seasons and call people to Allah, saying:

“Who will offer me shelter so that I may convey the words of my Lord? Quraysh have prevented me from delivering the words of my Lord.”

This continued until Allah (6) prepared for him a group of the Anṣār who met him on the night of al-ʿAqabah—that is, the eve of the Day of Sacrifice at the Jamrah of al-ʿAqabah—for three consecutive years. In the last of those years they pledged allegiance to him during the second meeting at al-ʿAqabah, their third encounter with him; thereafter came the migration to Madinah, as we have already set out in detail. Allah knows best.

In the ḥadīth of Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn, from his father, from Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh, he said: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ remained in Madinah for nine years without performing ḥajj. Then he announced the pilgrimage to the people, and a great multitude gathered in Madinah. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ set out five—or four—days before the end of Dhū al-Qaʿdah. When he reached Dhū al-Ḥulayfah (7) he prayed, mounted his riding beast, and when the caravan reached al-Bayḍāʾ he began the talbiyah. We too entered iḥrām, intending nothing but ḥajj.”