Al-Tirmidhī, may Allah have mercy on him, relayed this ruling from the scholars and then said: “Yūsuf ibn ʿĪsā narrated to us; Ibn Fuḍayl narrated to us, from ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, from Kathīr ibn Jumhān, who said:
‘I saw Ibn ʿUmar walking in the area of saʿy. I asked him, “Are you walking during the saʿy between al-Ṣafā and al-Marwah?” He replied, “If I choose to hasten, I have seen the Messenger of Allah ﷺ hasten; and if I choose to walk, I have seen the Messenger of Allah ﷺ walk. Besides, I am now an old man.”’
Al-Tirmidhī then remarked, ‘This ḥadīth is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.’
Saʿīd ibn Jubayr transmitted a similar report from Ibn ʿAbbās. The same narration is found in the collections of Abū Dāwūd, al-Nasāʾī, and Ibn Mājah through the chain of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib—from Kathīr ibn Jumhān al-Sulamī al-Kūfī—from Ibn ʿUmar.
Ibn ʿUmar’s assertion that he witnessed both practices of the Prophet ﷺ allows for two explanations:
- He once saw the Prophet perform the whole saʿy walking, without any jogging at all; or
- He saw him jog in part of the course and walk in another part.
The second interpretation carries more weight, for al-Bukhārī and Muslim relate—through ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿUmar al-ʿUmarī, from Nāfiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to quicken his pace in the bottom of the valley whenever he performed saʿy between al-Ṣafā and al-Marwah. Earlier we cited Jābir’s ḥadīth in which he said that when the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, descended from al-Ṣafā and his feet reached the bed of the valley, he jogged until he began to ascend, whereupon he walked until he reached al-Marwah.
On this basis, all scholars agree that it is recommended for the pilgrim performing saʿy between al-Ṣafā and al-Marwah to jog in the valley floor on every circuit, specifically within the stretch that lies between the two green markers: a single marker on the al-Ṣafā side facing the mosque, and two adjacent markers on the al-Marwah side, likewise facing the mosque.
Some scholars have noted that the area now enclosed between these markers is broader than the original valley in which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ jogged—Allah knows best.