He slaughtered with his own hand three-and-sixty sacrificial camels, and ʿAlī slew the rest, completing one hundred. [1] He then took a piece from every camel, had them placed in a large cauldron, and they were boiled until fully cooked; he ate some of the meat and drank some of the broth. [2] During that same interval he ﷺ shaved his head and perfumed himself. When he had finished all of this, he mounted and rode to the Sacred House. On that day he ﷺ delivered a momentous sermon, though I do not know whether it was before he went to the House or after he had returned from it to Minā—Allah knows best.

What matters is that he rode to the Kaʿbah and circumambulated it seven times while mounted, and he did not perform the walk between Ṣafā and Marwah, as is established in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim on the authority of Jābir and ʿĀʾishah. He then drank from Zamzam and from a date-infused drink prepared with Zamzam water. [3]

All of this strengthens the position of those who say that he ﷺ performed the ẓuhr prayer in Mecca, as Jābir narrated. It is nonetheless possible that he returned to Minā at the very end of the ẓuhr period and also led the ẓuhr prayer there with his Companions. This is what perplexed Ibn Ḥazm; he did not know what to make of it, and he is excused, given the clash of sound reports. Allah knows best.

Abū Dāwūd said: ʿAlī ibn Baḥr and ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿīd—using identical wording—narrated to us; they said: Abū Khālid al-Aḥmar narrated to us, from Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Qāsim, from his father, from ʿĀʾishah, who said:

“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ set out at the end of his day once he had performed the ẓuhr prayer, then he returned to Minā and remained there during the nights of the Days of Tashrīq, stoning the Jamrah after the sun had passed its zenith—each Jamrah with seven pebbles, pronouncing takbīr with every pebble.”

Ibn Ḥazm commented, “Thus Jābir and ʿĀʾishah agree that he ﷺ prayed ẓuhr on the Day of Sacrifice in Mecca, and—Allah knows best—they are more accurate in this than Ibn ʿUmar.” Such a claim is unfounded, for this narration of ʿĀʾishah does not explicitly state that he ﷺ prayed ẓuhr in Mecca; it merely allows for that possibility if the preserved wording is “until he had prayed ẓuhr.” Should the wording be “when he had prayed ẓuhr,” which is the more likely version, it would indicate that he ﷺ prayed ẓuhr in Minā before going to the House. That remains possible—Allah, the Exalted, knows best. On that basis the report would still conflict with Jābir’s ḥadīth, for Jābir implies that he rode to the House before praying ẓuhr and performed it in Mecca, whereas this report implies that he prayed ẓuhr in Minā before setting out for the House.

Al-Bukhārī said: Abū al-Zubayr related—from ʿĀʾishah and Ibn ʿAbbās—that the Prophet ﷺ deferred the circumambulation, meaning… [4]