they performed only one circumambulation of the House.”

I say:

By “another circumambulation,” she meant circumambulation of the House together with sa'y between al-Safā and al-Marwah, as she mentioned at the beginning of the hadith. Moreover, those who combined Hajj and 'umrah must perform tawāf al-ifādah (the obligatory circumambulation). Thus, we know that she was denying an additional circumambulation accompanied by sa'y between al-Safā and al-Marwah, not a circumambulation of the House on its own. What she denied for the pilgrim performing qirān, she affirmed for the pilgrim performing tamattu' who entered ihrām for 'umrah without incorporating Hajj into it.

According to some reports of his position, Ahmad understood this to mean that they performed an arrival circumambulation of the House without sa'y. He therefore recommended that a pilgrim performing tamattu', upon returning from Minā, should first perform an arrival circumambulation and then the obligatory circumambulation. Anyone who rejects Ahmad’s argument on the grounds that the circumambulation meant here is the obligatory one is mistaken. The obligatory circumambulation is common to those performing tamattu', Hajj alone, and qirān, whereas 'Ā'ishah affirmed for those performing tamattu' something she denied for those performing qirān.

Rather, this hadith refers to circumambulation of the House together with sa'y between al-Safā and al-Marwah—unless she meant circumambulation of the House, since she herself circumambulated the House only once because of her menstruation. This, however, is opposed by Jābir’s authentic hadith:

“The Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and his Companions whom he instructed to leave ihrām and make their pilgrimage an 'umrah performed sa'y between al-Safā and al-Marwah only on the first occasion.”

And this