on Thursday, and this is supported by Jābir’s version: “when five nights—or four—remained.” According to this calculation there is no way around that conclusion; it is unavoidable. Allah knows best.

Chapter: The manner of the Prophet’s ﷺ departure from Madinah to Mecca for the Pilgrimage

Al-Bukhārī said: Ibrāhīm ibn al-Mundhir narrated to us; Anas ibn ʿIyāḍ narrated to us; from ʿUbayd Allāh—meaning Ibn ʿUmar—from Nāfiʿ, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar:

“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ would leave by the route of al-Shajarah and return by the route of al-Muʿarras. Whenever he set out for Mecca he would pray in the Mosque of al-Shajarah, and when he came back he would pray at Dhu l-Ḥulayfah in the bottom of the valley and stay there until dawn.”

Al-Bukhārī alone transmits this report through this particular chain.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Bakr al-Bazzār said: I found in my notes a narration from ʿAmr ibn Mālik, from Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ, from Hishām, from ʿAzrah ibn Thābit, from Thumāmah, from Anas:

“The Prophet ﷺ performed the Pilgrimage on a shabby saddle with a coarse blanket underneath him. He said, ‘O Allah, a Pilgrimage without ostentation and without seeking fame.’”

Al-Bukhārī has cited this report in suspended form in his Ṣaḥīḥ, saying: “Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr narrated to us; Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ narrated to us; from ʿAzrah ibn Thābit, from Thumāmah, who said: ‘Anas performed Hajj on a worn-out saddle, though he was not miserly, and he related that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ performed Hajj on a saddle that served as his pack-animal.’” This is how al-Bazzār recorded it, while al-Bukhārī gives it in hanging form with the chain cut off at its beginning.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Bayhaqī reported it with an unbroken chain in his Sunan, saying: “Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Muqriʾ informed us; al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq narrated to us; Yūsuf ibn Yaʿqūb al-Qāḍī narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr narrated to us; Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ narrated to us …” and he mentioned the same report.