perform an ʿUmrah at all—neither before the Hajj, nor along with it, nor after it—then this is an opinion I know no scholar to have held. Moreover, it contradicts the sound report from ʿĀʾishah and others that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ performed four separate ʿUmrahs, all of them in Dhū al-Qaʿdah except the one that accompanied his Hajj. A full clarification of this will come—Allah willing—when we discuss in detail the virtue of qirān. And Allah knows best.
The same applies to the ḥadīth narrated by Imām Aḥmad, who says in his Musnad (1): “Rawḥ related to us; Ṣāliḥ ibn Abī al-Akhdar related to us; Ibn Shihāb related to us that ʿUrwah informed him that ʿĀʾishah, the wife of the Prophet ﷺ, said: ‘The Messenger of Allah declared his talbiyah for both Hajj and ʿUmrah during the Farewell Pilgrimage and brought the sacrificial animals with him. Some people declared their talbiyah for ʿUmrah and likewise brought sacrificial animals, while others declared theirs for ʿUmrah but did not bring any sacrificial animals.’”
ʿĀʾishah continued: “I was among those who declared their talbiyah for ʿUmrah and did not bring a sacrificial animal. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ arrived, he said:
‘Whoever among you has declared his talbiyah for ʿUmrah and has brought a sacrificial animal with him, let him circumambulate the House and walk between Ṣafā and Marwah, and let nothing that was forbidden to him become lawful until he completes his Hajj and slaughters his animal on the Day of Sacrifice. Whoever among you has declared his talbiyah for ʿUmrah but has not brought a sacrificial animal, let him circumambulate the House and walk between Ṣafā and Marwah, then clip his hair and release himself; after that he should declare his talbiyah for Hajj and bring a sacrifice, and whoever cannot find one must fast three days during the Hajj and seven when he returns to his family.’”
ʿĀʾishah then said: “Thus the Messenger of Allah gave precedence to the Hajj that he feared might elude him and deferred the ʿUmrah.”
This report is unique to Imām Aḥmad, and some of its wording is objectionable, though parts of it have corroboration in the Ṣaḥīḥ collections (4). Ṣāliḥ ibn Abī al-Akhdar is not counted among the leading disciples of al-Zuhrī, especially when others differ with him, as they do here in certain portions of this wording.
His statement, “He gave precedence to the Hajj that he feared might be missed and deferred the ʿUmrah,” does not accord with the beginning of the ḥadīth, “He declared his talbiyah for Hajj and ʿUmrah.” If the meaning is that he declared both generally, then performed the rites of Hajj first and, after completing them, declared iḥrām for ʿUmrah—as is maintained by those who hold he performed ifrād—then that falls within the discussion at hand. But if the intent is that he postponed the ʿUmrah altogether after having already entered iḥrām for it, I know of no scholar who has adopted this view. And if the meaning is that the actions of Hajj sufficed for the actions of ʿUmrah so that the ʿUmrah was subsumed within the Hajj, then this is the position of those who hold to qirān. They interpret the reports stating that he ﷺ performed ifrād to mean that he performed only the outward rites of Hajj even though he also intended ʿUmrah. They say that everyone who transmitted the narration of qirān is the same person who transmitted the narration of ifrād, as will be clarified—Allah Most High knows best.