The basis for its indication is his phrase, “on the morning of al-ʿAqabah,” meaning the morning of stoning the Greater Jamrah of al-ʿAqabah. Its apparent meaning is that the instruction to pick up the pebbles was given at Minā, near the Jamrah. Thus, what people do today—picking up the pebbles at Muzdalifah—is something for which we know of no basis in the sunnah. Rather, it conflicts with these two hadiths, besides entailing needless inconvenience and exertion.

2145 — “When you ask Allah, ask Him for al-Firdaws, for it is the very heart of Paradise.”

Recorded by al-Fasawī in History (2/254–255); likewise by al-Bukhārī in Suwayd’s biographical entry (2/2/146); by al-Bazzār in his Musnad (4/191/3512); and by al-Ṭabarānī in The Great Lexicon (18/254/635) and Musnad of the Syrians (p. 367)—all of them through Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm ibn al-ʿAlāʾ ibn Zubayrīq, who said: ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith ibn al-Ḍaḥḥāk narrated to me; he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sālim narrated to me, from al-Zubaydī; he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿAwf narrated to me that Suwayd ibn Jabalah related to them that al-ʿIrbāḍ ibn Sāriyah related to them, attributing it to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, who said it. They added—except for al-Bazzār: “One of you says to his shepherd: ‘Keep to the heart of the valley, for it is more verdant and grassy.’”

Al-Bazzār said: “We know of no narration from al-ʿIrbāḍ other than this one, through this chain of transmission.” I say: It is weak, for the reason that follows. Al-Haythamī said (10/171): “Al-Ṭabarānī narrated it, and its narrators were declared trustworthy.” Elsewhere (10/398), he said: “Al-Bazzār narrated it, and its narrators are trustworthy.”