yet that does not allow a person to oppose the Messenger’s statement in so blatant a fashion. Had he instead said, for example, “Perhaps the Prophet ﷺ permitted them in an age when intentions were pure and deeds were sound, but circumstances have since changed,” and phrased his view that way, it would have been easier to tolerate.

For this reason ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her), who was a jurist in her own right, said: “If the Prophet ﷺ had seen what the women did after him, he would have kept them—meaning, from the mosques—just as the Children of Israel kept their women away.” In any case, the conduct of ʿAbdullāh ibn Mughafal and ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with them both—shows their deep reverence for the sunnah and that a believer, when faced with a ruling of Allah and His Messenger, must answer: “We hear and we obey.” Allah is the One who grants success.

167 – ʿAbbās ibn Rabīʿah reported: “I saw ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, may Allah be pleased with him, kiss the Stone—meaning the Black Stone—and say, ‘I know you are only a stone; you can neither benefit nor harm. Had I not seen the Messenger of Allah ﷺ kiss you, I would not have kissed you.’” Agreed upon.

Explanation
The author, may Allah have mercy on him, cites this hadith of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb in the chapter on following the sunnah and observing its etiquette. He relates that ʿUmar, while circumambulating the Kaʿbah, kissed the Black Stone, which, as we all know, is merely a rock from the earth.