Muslim (1) recorded it.

Imām Aḥmad, however, rejected that view and said (2): “Eleven Companions have transmitted the contrary; what weight can this single report carry beside theirs?”

Ishāq (may Allah have mercy on him) maintained that cancelling the Hajj intention in favour of ʿUmrah is permissible for all Muslims, not only for the Companions. Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with them both) went further, holding it obligatory for anyone who has not driven the sacrificial animal. In his judgment, once a pilgrim has circumambulated the House without having brought the offering, he becomes lawful immediately. To him there were only two valid modes of devotion: qirān for one who has brought the sacrificial animal, and tamattuʿ for one who has not. Allah knows best.

Al-Bukhārī said (4): “Abū al-Nuʿmān narrated to us; Ḥammād ibn Zayd (5) narrated to us from ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Jurayj, from ʿAṭāʾ, from Jābir, and from Ṭāwūs, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who both said:

‘The Prophet ﷺ and his Companions arrived at dawn on the fourth of Dhul-Ḥijjah, declaring their talbiyah for Hajj alone, unmingled with anything else. When we reached Mecca he ordered us to turn it into an ʿUmrah and to become lawful for our wives, and talk about this spread widely (6)(7).’

ʿAṭāʾ added: Jābir said, ‘One of us would go off to Minā with his private part dripping semen,’ and Jābir gestured with his hand.

When that reached the Prophet ﷺ he said: ‘I have been told that some people are saying such-and-such. By Allah, I am more truthful and more God-fearing than they. Had I known beforehand what I know now, I would not have brought the sacrificial animals; and were it not that they are with me, I would have come out of consecration.’ Then Suraqah ibn Juʿshum stood and asked, ‘Messenger of Allah, is this concession for us alone or forever?’ He replied, ‘No, rather it is forever.’

Muslim also narrated (8)(9): Qutaybah related to us; al-Layth—namely Ibn Saʿd—related to us from Abū al-Zubayr, from Jābir:

‘We came with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ declaring the talbiyah for a single Hajj (10), while ʿĀʾishah came for ʿUmrah. When we reached Suf she began menstruating (11). When we entered Mecca we performed Ṭawāf of the Kaʿbah, al-Ṣafā and al-Marwah, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ ordered that anyone who had not brought the sacrificial animal should come out of consecration.

We asked, “Come out of what?”

He said, “Out of everything.” So we had intercourse with our wives, applied perfume, and put on our ordinary clothes (12), and only four nights remained before ʿArafah.’

These two ḥadīths state explicitly that the Prophet ﷺ reached Mecca in the year of the Farewell Pilgrimage on the morning of the fourth of Dhul-Ḥijjah, which was a Sunday, after the sun had risen and the forenoon had begun (13), for the first of Dhul-Ḥijjah that year was a Thursday without dispute, since the Day of ʿArafah of that month fell on