for he said:

“Had I known beforehand what I now know, I would not have brought sacrificial animals, and I would have made it ʿumrah.”

His discussion therefore concerned only which is preferable: to bring sacrificial animals and perform qirān, or to perform tamattuʿ without bringing sacrificial animals. For someone who brings sacrificial animals may not leave ihrām. This is a matter on which scholarly judgment may differ. When the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said:

“Had I known beforehand what I now know, I would not have brought sacrificial animals, and I would have made it ʿumrah,”

was this because leaving ihrām after ʿumrah is preferable to qirān? Or was it not for that reason, but rather to join his Companions, who had found it difficult when he instructed them to leave ihrām? This is a matter open to scholarly judgment. Ahmad’s statements, however, consistently maintain that tamattuʿ is preferable for someone who has not brought sacrificial animals and arrives during the months of Hajj.

Furthermore, if someone brings sacrificial animals and arrives during the first ten days of Dhū al-Hijjah, then according to Ahmad, Abū Hanīfah and others, he may not leave ihrām until he slaughters the sacrificial animals on the Day of Sacrifice, whether he is performing tamattuʿ in its specific sense or qirān.

In that case, according to Ahmad, there are only two differences between someone performing tamattuʿ and someone performing qirān.

The first is that someone performing qirān will have entered ihrām for Hajj before circumambulating the Kaaba, whether he entered ihrām for Hajj and ʿumrah together, or entered ihrām for ʿumrah and then added Hajj to it. In either case, he is performing qirān, by agreement of the imams.

As for someone performing tamattuʿ in its specific sense, he delays entering ihrām for Hajj until after