no one would remain engaged in Hajj unless he had initially entered ihrām for Hajj.”

He said: “I think that when ‘Urwah related that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, entered ihrām for Hajj, he understood in this sense what he had heard ‘Ā’ishah say about the Prophet’s actions during his Hajj.”

Here al-Shāfi‘ī clearly states that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, performed tamattu. He explains that those who said that he performed Hajj alone assumed this because they considered that anyone who remained in ihrām must be performing Hajj. Since the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, remained in ihrām, they assumed that he had been performing Hajj.

He also said, concerning the differing reports about the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, when he set out:

“No discrepancy is clearer than this, although error in this matter is objectionable, since it allows a choice. For the Book, then the Sunnah, and then the absence of any disagreement known to me indicate that tamattu through umrah followed by Hajj, performing Hajj alone, and qirān are all permissible.”

He said:

“It is established that he set out awaiting a divine ruling. That ruling came down to him while he was between al-Safā and al-Marwah. He instructed those of his Companions who had entered ihrām without bringing sacrificial animals to make it umrah, and said:

‘Had I known beforehand what I came to know later, I would not have brought the sacrificial animals, and I would have made it umrah.’”

He said:

“If someone asks, ‘On what grounds are the reports of ‘Ā’ishah, Jābir, Ibn ‘Umar, and Tāwūs accepted in preference to the report of those who said that he performed qirān?’