Accordingly, the majority hold that Bilal’s report abrogates the narrations on dissolving the Hajj: it was confined to the Companions in that particular year so that they would differ from the pre-Islamic practice of forbidding ʿUmrah during the months of Hajj. The earlier report from Abu Dharr reinforces this view.

The other scholars cite in favor of dissolving Hajj a collection of sound, reliable hadiths—nearly reaching the level of mass-transmission—narrated by roughly a dozen Companions. These include the reports of Jabir, Suraqah ibn Malik, Abu Saʿid al-Khudri, ʿAli, Ibn ʿAbbas, Anas, Ibn ʿUmar, al-Rabiʿ ibn Sabrah, al-Baraʾ ibn ʿAzib, Abu Musa, ʿAʾishah, Fatimah, Hafsah, and Asmaʾ bint Abi Bakr—may Allah be pleased with them all. Every one of them transmitted numerous traditions—some found in the two Sahihs—affirming the conversion of Hajj into ʿUmrah.

For this reason, when Salamah ibn Shabib said to Imam Ahmad, “Abu ʿAbd Allah, everything about you is admirable except one matter,” Ahmad asked, “And what is that?” Salamah replied, “You maintain that Hajj is to be dissolved.” Imam Ahmad responded, “I used to think you were intelligent. I possess eighteen sound, first-rate hadiths, all on dissolving the Hajj—am I to abandon them for your opinion?”

The author—may Allah have mercy on him—has cited in this book two of those narrations:

1. The hadith of Jabir, which we are presently discussing.
2. The hadith of Ibn ʿAbbas, which will follow. Together with them we shall quote two further reports from that abundant collection.

The first: Muslim records from Abu Saʿid al-Khudri, who said, “We set out with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ loudly proclaiming the talbiyah for Hajj. When we arrived in Mecca he ordered us to turn it into ʿUmrah, except for anyone who had driven his sacrificial animal. Then, on the Day of Tarwiyah, when we headed to Mina, we entered ihram for Hajj.”

The second: Muslim and Ibn Majah narrate from Asmaʾ bint Abi Bakr: “We departed in a state of ihram. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, ‘Whoever has a sacrificial animal with him should remain in ihram; whoever does not should disengage.’ I had no animal, so I disengaged, whereas al-Zubayr had one and therefore remained in ihram.”

These narrations apply to the Companions and to all who come after them, for all time. The rulings of the Shariʿah are never restricted to one generation or one group over another. Whoever alleges a special exemption must furnish the proof.