who performed Hajj with him and had not brought sacrificial animals were all commanded by him to perform Hajj in this manner:

He commanded them, once they had circumambulated the House and passed between al-Safā and al-Marwa, to leave ihrām and make their pilgrimage tamattuʿ. When the Day of Tarwiya came, he commanded them to enter ihrām for Hajj. Mass-transmitted reports establish that he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, commanded them to do this and that they performed Hajj with him in this manner.

It is well known that they are the best of the Muslim community after him. No Hajj could be better than that performed by the best of this community, alongside the best of creation and at his command. How, then, could the Hajj of someone who performs Hajj separately and follows it with umrah, or combines Hajj and umrah without bringing sacrificial animals, be better than the Hajj these Companions performed with him at his command? How could he direct them away from what is better towards what is inferior? His command carries greater weight than his own practice.

Furthermore, someone who enters ihrām for umrah has already intended Hajj, since he intends to perform tamattuʿ, proceeding from umrah to Hajj. This is like someone performing a full ritual bath who begins with ablution, intending that ablution to form part of the bath. Thus, the pilgrim enters ihrām twice and leaves it twice, just as someone performing the two rites separately leaves ihrām twice and enters it twice. He also offers a sacrificial animal, just as someone combining Hajj and umrah in a single ihrām does.

This sacrifice is a ritual offering, not a compensatory sacrifice. The act necessitating a compensatory sacrifice—omitting an obligation or committing something prohibited—is permissible only with a valid excuse. A pilgrim may not omit any obligation of Hajj without an excuse, or commit any of its prohibited acts without an excuse, and then offer a sacrifice. Yet he may perform tamattuʿ without an excuse and offer the sacrificial animal. This establishes that it is a ritual sacrifice. The Sunnah also establishes that he may eat from it, just as did