and the earth. The year is twelve months, of which four are sacred. Three of them run consecutively—Dhu al-Qaʿdah, Dhu al-Ḥijjah, and Muḥarram—and the fourth is Rajab of Muḍar, the one that falls between Jumādā and Shaʿbān.
He then said, “Tell me, what day is this?”
We replied, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He remained silent until we thought he might call it by another name, and then he asked, “Is it not the Day of Sacrifice?”
“Yes, indeed,” we answered.
He continued, “And what month is this?”
We said, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” Again he paused until we feared he would rename it, whereupon he asked, “Is it not Dhu al-Ḥijjah?”
“Yes, indeed,” we said.
He asked, “And what land is this?”
We replied, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He was silent until we thought he would give it a different name, and then he declared, “Is it not the Sacred Precinct?”
“Yes, indeed,” we affirmed.
He then proclaimed, “Your blood and your wealth—and, I think he also said, your honor—are inviolable among you, as inviolable as the sanctity of this day of yours, in this month of yours, in this land of yours. You will meet your Lord, and He will question you about your deeds. So do not turn back after me as people gone astray, striking one another’s necks.
Have I conveyed the message? Let the one who is present convey it to the one who is absent, for it may be that the person to whom it is conveyed will grasp it more fully than some who actually heard it.”
This wording appears in the Musnad of Imām Aḥmad, transmitted by Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn from Abū Bakrah. Abū Dāwūd records it likewise from Musaddad, and al-Nasā’ī from ʿAmr ibn Zurārah, both through Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUlayyah, from Ayyūb, from Ibn Sīrīn, from Abū Bakrah. Although this particular chain is formally broken, the two authors of the Ṣaḥīḥ collections relate it through other routes—from Ayyūb and others, from Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Bakrah, from his father—with the same wording.
Al-Bukhārī also reports: Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā told us; Yazīd ibn Hārūn related to us; ʿĀṣim ibn Muḥammad ibn Zayd narrated to us, from his father, from Ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him), who said:
The Prophet ﷺ, while at Minā, asked, “Do you know what day this is?” They replied, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “This is a sacred day. Do you know what land this is?” They answered, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “This is a sacred land. Do you know what month this is?” They said, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “This is a sacred month. Verily, Allah has made your blood, your wealth, and your honor unlawful for you to violate, just as the sanctity of this day of yours, in this month of yours, in this land of yours.”
Al-Bukhārī records this ḥadīth in several places of his Ṣaḥīḥ, and the rest of the compilers—Muslim, Abū Dāwūd, al-Nasā’ī, and Ibn Mājah—also transmit it, with the exception of al-Tirmidhī, through various chains from Muḥammad ibn Zayd ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, from his grandfather ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, and so forth.