and remain in the mosque. This is the view of Ahmad ibn Hanbal and others.

What is established from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is that he forbade menstruating women to circumambulate the House. He also sent Abū Bakr to lead the Hajj, ordering that the following proclamation be made:

“No polytheist shall perform Hajj after this year, and no one shall circumambulate the House naked.”

The polytheists used to perform Hajj and circumambulate the House naked, saying, “These are garments in which we have disobeyed Allah, so we will not circumambulate in them.” The exceptions were al-Hums and those who followed their religion. Concerning this, Allah revealed:

“O children of Adam, wear your adornment at every place of worship.”

And His words:

“When they commit an indecency”—such as circumambulating the House naked—“they say, ‘We found our fathers doing this, and Allah has commanded us to do it.’ Say, ‘Allah does not command indecency. Do you say about Allah what you do not know?’”

It is well known that covering one’s nakedness is obligatory in general, especially in the Sacred Mosque where people can see one. This obligation does not arise specifically from circumambulation. Nevertheless, covering oneself during circumambulation is more strongly emphasized because of the many people who see one at that time.

One should therefore carefully consider the precise bounds of what Allah has revealed to His Messenger: namely, what is meant by the prayer that Allah does not accept without purification, and for which ablution has been commanded when one rises to perform it. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, explained this in the hadith recorded in the Sunan collections, narrated from ‘Alī, in which the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“The key to prayer is purification; its opening proclamation of Allah’s greatness renders other actions forbidden, and its closing salutation renders them lawful again.”

This hadith thus indicates two things: