He stood at ʿArafāt among the people, mounted on his red she-camel Qaswāʾ, a coarse Bawlānī blanket beneath him, and kept supplicating:

“O Allah, make this a pilgrimage free of showing-off, useless display, or the desire for fame.”

The people were saying in awe, “This is the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.”

Imām Aḥmad said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Idrīs narrated to us; Ibn Isḥāq narrated to us; from Yaḥyā ibn ʿAbbād ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr; from his father, who reported that Asmāʾ bint Abī Bakr said:

“We set out with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ as pilgrims. When we reached al-ʿArj, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ dismounted. ʿĀʾishah sat beside him, and I sat beside my father. The baggage of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and the baggage of Abū Bakr were on a single camel in the care of Abū Bakr’s servant. Abū Bakr sat waiting for the servant to appear, and when he finally did, the camel was not with him.

“Abū Bakr asked, ‘Where is your camel?’

“He replied, ‘I lost it last night.’

“Abū Bakr exclaimed, ‘You lose one camel!’ and began to strike him, while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ smiled and said, ‘Look at this muḥrim and what he is doing!’ ”

Abū Dāwūd has related the same report through Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Abī Rizmah, and Ibn Mājah through Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah—all of them from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Idrīs with this chain.

As for the ḥadith that Abū Bakr al-Bazzār cites in his Musnad—“Ismāʿīl ibn Ḥafṣ told us; Yaḥyā ibn al-Yamān told us; Ḥamzah al-Zayyāt told us; from Ḥumrān ibn Aʿyan; from Abū al-Ṭufayl; from Abū Saʿīd, who said: ‘The Prophet ﷺ and his Companions performed Hajj on foot from Madinah to Mecca, their waists girded, walking in a manner half between brisk walking and jogging’ ”—this report is objectionable and its chain weak. Ḥamzah ibn Ḥabīb al-Zayyāt himself is weak, and his shaykh is discarded in ḥadith.

Al-Bazzār added: “It is transmitted only through this route, and although we consider its isnād passable, its meaning—if authentic—would be that they were on ʿumrah, for the Prophet ﷺ performed only one Hajj and he was mounted while some of his Companions were on foot.”

I say: The Prophet ﷺ never performed any of his ʿumrahs on foot—neither at Ḥudaybiyah, nor the ʿumrah of compensation, nor that of al-Jaʿrānah, nor during the Farewell Pilgrimage. His circumstances ﷺ are too well known to be hidden from anyone. This ḥadith is in fact anomalous and objectionable; a report of this kind is not reliable. Allah knows best.