“Undo your hair, comb it, abandon the ʿumrah, enter into iḥrām for Hajj, and do what the pilgrims do, except that you are not to circumambulate or pray until you have become pure.” In another narration: “Continue with your Hajj, for perhaps Allah will grant it to you.” She did so and observed the prescribed stations of Hajj. Then, once she had become pure, she circumambulated the Kaʿbah and performed the rites of al-Safa and al-Marwah. As stated in Jabir’s hadith, he, peace and blessings be upon him, said to her: “You have now exited iḥrām from both your Hajj and your ʿumrah.”

She said: “O Messenger of Allah, I feel distressed that I did not circumambulate the House before performing Hajj.” This was on the day of departure. She refused, saying: “Will the people return with two rewards while I return with only one?” In another narration from her: “Will the people depart having performed two rites, while I depart having performed only one?” In yet another: “Will the people return”—in Ahmad (6/219): “my companions”; and in another narration of his (6/165 and 266): “your wives”—“with an ʿumrah and a Hajj, while I return with only a Hajj?”

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, was an accommodating man: whenever she wished for something, he granted her wish. So he sent her with her brother ʿAbd al-Rahman, and she entered into iḥrām for an ʿumrah from al-Tanʿim (1).

It is thus clear from the narrations we have cited—all of them authentic—that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, instructed her to perform this ʿumrah after Hajj only as compensation for the ʿumrah of tamattuʿ which she had missed because of her menstruation. For this reason, the scholars explained his earlier statement, “This is in place of your ʿumrah,” as meaning: the separate ʿumrah from which the others had exited iḥrām in Mecca, after which they had commenced Hajj separately (2).

Once you understand this, it becomes plainly evident that this ʿumrah is specific to a menstruating woman who was unable to complete the ʿumrah connected with Hajj; it is not prescribed for other women who are pure, much less for men. This also explains why the early generations refrained from it and why some of them explicitly regarded it as disliked. Indeed, there is no sound report that ʿAʾishah herself ever acted upon it, for whenever she performed Hajj, she would remain until—