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It has already been noted that the Prophet ﷺ prayed the ẓuhr prayer in Madinah in full—four rakʿahs—then rode out to Dhūl-Ḥulayfah, the valley of al-ʿAqīq. There he performed the ʿaṣr prayer as two rakʿahs, which shows that he reached Dhūl-Ḥulayfah during daylight at the time of ʿaṣr and therefore shortened the prayer. The site lies three miles from Madinah. He then offered Maghrib and ʿIshāʾ there, spent the night until dawn, led his Companions in the morning prayer, and told them that revelation had come to him during the night instructing him how to assume iḥrām.

Imām Aḥmad relates: Yaḥyā ibn Ādam told us; Zuhayr told us; from Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah; from Sālim ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar; from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, who reported from the Prophet ﷺ that while he was encamped at Dhūl-Ḥulayfah he was told, “You are in a blessed plain.”

Al-Bukhārī and Muslim both include this report—through Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah—in their Ṣaḥīḥ collections.

Al-Bukhārī also narrates: al-Humaydī told us; al-Walīd and Bishr ibn Bakr told us; al-Awzāʿī told us; Yaḥyā told us; ʿIkrimah told me that he heard Ibn ʿAbbās say that he heard ʿUmar say, “I heard the Messenger of Allah, in the valley of al-ʿAqīq, declare: ‘Tonight a messenger from my Lord came to me and said, “Pray in this blessed valley and say: ʿUmrah within a ḥajj.” ’ ” Al-Bukhārī alone transmits this report; Muslim does not.

The evident meaning is that the Prophet’s ﷺ instruction to pray in al-ʿAqīq was in fact a directive to remain there until the ẓuhr prayer. The command reached him during the night, he informed the people after the dawn prayer, and only ẓuhr remained; he was therefore ordered to perform it there and to enter iḥrām immediately afterward. Hence his words: “Tonight a messenger from my Lord came to me and said, ‘Pray in this blessed valley and say: ʿUmrah within a ḥajj.’ ”

This ḥadīth has been cited as a proof for performing qirān (combining ʿumrah with ḥajj), and it is among the strongest evidences for that, as will be explained shortly.

In sum, the Prophet ﷺ was commanded to remain in the valley of al-ʿAqīq until the ẓuhr prayer, and—may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him—he complied. He stayed there, visited his wives that morning—nine in number, all of whom had accompanied him—and did not depart until he had prayed ẓuhr. As will be related in the report of Abū Ḥassān al-Aʿraj from Ibn ʿAbbās, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ performed ẓuhr at Dhūl-Ḥulayfah, then marked his two sacrificial camels, mounted, and pronounced the talbiyah.