As for Ibn Ḥazm’s statement in the treatise he compiled on the Farewell Pilgrimage: “The Prophet ﷺ then proceeded to al-Ṣafā, reciting, ‘Indeed, al-Ṣafā and al-Marwah are among the symbols of Allah’ (al-Baqarah 2:158), always beginning with what Allah began with. He then performed saʿy between al-Ṣafā and al-Marwah seven circuits while riding a camel, trotting for three of them and walking for four,”—this assertion has found no supporter. No one before him ever claimed that the Prophet ﷺ trotted three circuits between al-Ṣafā and al-Marwah and walked the remaining four. Despite this glaring error, he furnished absolutely no evidence. When he arrived at the point where proof was needed, he merely wrote: “We have not found any explicit text specifying the amount of trotting between al-Ṣafā and al-Marwah, but it is agreed upon.”

If by “agreed upon” he means unanimous agreement on trotting in the first three circuits exactly as he described, that is plainly false—no scholar has ever said so. And if he means only that, in general, trotting in the first three circuits is agreed upon, that does nothing to support his claim, for just as the scholars agree on trotting in the first three (in the manner we have already detailed), they likewise agree that it is recommended in the remaining four. Thus Ibn Ḥazm’s restriction of the recommendation to the first three circuits contradicts the consensus of the scholars; Allah knows best.

As for Ibn Ḥazm’s claim that the Prophet ﷺ was mounted between al-Ṣafā and al-Marwah, we have already cited Ibn ʿUmar’s report that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to jog in the valley floor; both al-Bukhārī and Muslim recorded it. Al-Tirmidhī also relates from him: “If I choose to jog, I have seen the Messenger of Allah jog; and if I choose to walk, I have seen the Messenger of Allah walk.”

Jābir said: “When his feet reached the bed of the valley, he jogged; when he began to climb, he walked” (Muslim). Ḥabībah bint Abī Tajrah said: “He would jog so vigorously that his lower garment would whirl around him” (Aḥmad). Muslim likewise records from Jābir that the Prophet ﷺ climbed al-Ṣafā until he could see the House and did the same at al-Marwah.

We also cited earlier the ḥadīth of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, from Abū Jaʿfar al-Bāqir, from Jābir, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ made his camel kneel at the door of the mosque—meaning until he had completed ṭawāf—and no mention was made of his mounting it when he set out for al-Ṣafā. All of this indicates that he ﷺ performed saʿy between al-Ṣafā and al-Marwah on foot.

However, Muslim also said: ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd narrated to us; Muḥammad—meaning Ibn Bakr—narrated to us; Ibn Jurayj told us that Abū al-Zubayr informed him that he heard Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allah say: “During the Farewell Pilgrimage the Prophet ﷺ circumambulated the House on his mount …”