Al-Bayhaqī (1) relates from Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ, that he said, “The pilgrim in the state of iḥrām may enter from whichever gate he wishes. The Prophet ﷺ entered through the Gate of Banū Shaybah and went out through the Gate of Banū Makhzūm toward al-Ṣafā.” Al-Bayhaqī then commented, “This is a sound mursal report.”

Al-Bayhaqī likewise inferred the recommendation of entering the Mosque through the Gate of Banū Shaybah from another narration he transmitted (2) through the isnād of Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī: Ḥammād ibn Salamah, Qays, and Sallām (3) all narrated from Simāk ibn Ḥarb, from Khālid ibn ʿArʿarah, from ʿAlī (d. 40 AH), who said:

“When the House was demolished after the era of Jurhum, Quraysh rebuilt it. When they were about to set the Black Stone, they quarreled over which clan should place it. They agreed that the first person to enter through this gate would be the one to set it. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ entered through the Gate of Banū Shaybah. He ﷺ called for a cloth, placed the Stone in its center, and ordered every clan to take hold of a corner of the cloth. They lifted it together, whereupon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ took the Stone and set it in place.”

We have already presented this incident in detail under the chapter on the building of the Kaʿbah before the Prophetic mission, and citing it as proof for the desirability of entering by the Gate of Banū Shaybah is open to discussion. Allah knows best.

The Manner of His Ṭawāf, blessings and peace be upon him

Al-Bukhārī (5) said: “ʿAṣbagh ibn al-Faraj narrated to us, from Ibn Wahb, who informed me from ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith (6), from Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, who said: I mentioned this to ʿUrwah, and he said: ʿĀʾishah informed me that the first thing the Prophet ﷺ did upon his arrival was to perform ablution and then circumambulate, and there was no ʿumrah. Abū Bakr and ʿUmar performed ḥajj in the same manner. Later I performed ḥajj with Abū al-Zubayr, and the first thing he began with was ṭawāf; then I saw the Emigrants and the Helpers doing likewise. My mother told me that she, her sister, al-Zubayr, and so-and-so and so-and-so entered into iḥrām for ʿumrah, and when they had touched the Corner they came out of iḥrām.” This is his wording.

Al-Bukhārī relates the same report elsewhere through Aḥmad ibn ʿĪsā (7), and Muslim (8) transmits it through Hārūn ibn Saʿīd—both chains returning to Ibn Wahb.

Her statement, “and there was no ʿumrah,” indicates that he ﷺ did not disengage from iḥrām between the two rites, and that the first