This ʿumra (lesser pilgrimage) was performed in the month of Dhū al-Qaʿda.
Imam Ahmad b. Hanbal, through the chains of Behz and ʿAbd al-Ṣamad, narrated from Qatāda who said: "I asked Anas b. Mālik:
- How many times did the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) perform the ḥajj?
- He performed ḥajj once and performed ʿumra four times. Once, he performed ʿumra during the time of Ḥudaybiyya. Once, he performed ʿumra in Madina in the month of Dhū al-Qaʿda. Once, he performed ʿumra at Jiʿrāna in the month of Dhū al-Qaʿda, at the time when he was distributing the spoils of Ḥunayn. And once, he performed ʿumra together with the ḥajj."
Imam Ahmad b. Hanbal, through the chain of Abū Naḍr, narrated from Ibn ʿAbbās who said:
"The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) performed four ʿumras. The first was the ʿumra of Ḥudaybiyya, the second was ʿUmrat al-Qaḍāʾ, the third was the ʿumra of Jiʿrāna, and the fourth was the ʿumra he performed together with the ḥajj."
Imam Ahmad b. Hanbal narrated from ʿAbdullāh b. ʿAmr b. al-ʿĀṣ who said:
"The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) performed three ʿumras, all of which coincided with the month of Dhū al-Qaʿda. He continued to recite the talbiya until he performed the istilām (touching) of the Black Stone."
This ḥadīth is, in this respect, gharīb (unusual).
The three ʿumras he performed, apart from the one performed with the ḥajj, coincided with the month of Dhū al-Qaʿda. The ʿumra performed with the ḥajj coincided with the month of Dhū al-Ḥijja. If by saying "he performed ʿumra in the month of Dhū al-Qaʿda" the intention is the beginning of entering into iḥrām, perhaps he did not mean the ʿumra of Ḥudaybiyya by this statement, because at the time of Ḥudaybiyya he was prevented from performing ʿumra and was unable to complete it. God knows best.
I say: Ibn ʿUmar and his freedman Nāfiʿ absolutely do not accept that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) performed ʿumra at Jiʿrāna. This is also evident in the following narration that Bukhārī transmits from Ibn ʿUmar:
ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb said:
- O Messenger of God, I have a vow of iʿtikāf (spiritual retreat) remaining from the days of ignorance. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded ʿUmar to fulfill his vow of iʿtikāf.
Ibn ʿUmar said: Two female captives from the people of Ḥunayn fell to ʿUmar's share. ʿUmar placed them in a house in Mecca. When the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) showed kindness to the captives of Ḥunayn and set them free, they began to run in the streets. My father ʿUmar said to me:
- O ʿAbdullāh, go and see why these women are running. So I said:
- The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) has shown kindness to the captive women of Ḥunayn and set them free. Upon this, my father ʿUmar said:
- Then go and release those two slave women. Nāfiʿ said:
- The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) did not perform ʿumra at Jiʿrāna. If he had performed ʿumra, this ʿumra would not have been hidden from ʿUmar's son, ʿAbdullāh.
Muslim narrated that Nāfiʿ said: When the ʿumra of Jiʿrāna of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) was asked to Ibn ʿUmar, he replied: "The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) did not perform ʿumra at Jiʿrāna."
The denial of the ʿumra of Jiʿrāna by Ibn ʿUmar and his freedman Nāfiʿ is indeed unusual. However, all other transmitters agree that the ʿumra of Jiʿrāna was performed. All the authors of the Ṣiḥāḥ, Sunan, Musnad, and Maghāzī collections are unanimous on this matter.
This is also found in the authentic collections of Bukhārī and Muslim. Accordingly, ʿĀʾisha denied Ibn ʿUmar's statement: "The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) performed ʿumra in the month of Rajab," and said:
"May Allah forgive Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān (Ibn ʿUmar), for whenever the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) performed ʿumra, he was with him. But the Messenger of God never performed ʿumra in the month of Rajab."
Imam Ahmad b. Hanbal, through the chain of Ibn Numayr, narrated from Mujāhid who said:
.."ʿUrwa b. al-Zubayr asked Ibn ʿUmar: In which month did the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) perform ʿumra? - He performed it in the month of Rajab.
ʿĀʾisha heard this and asked ʿUrwa b. al-Zubayr. He informed her of Ibn ʿUmar's answer. Upon this, ʿĀʾisha said:
"May Allah have mercy on Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān (Ibn ʿUmar). Whenever the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) performed ʿumra, Ibn ʿUmar was always with him. The Messenger of God never performed ʿumra except in the month of Dhū al-Qaʿda." Abū Dāwūd and al-Nasāʾī narrated from Mujāhid who said:
- How many times did the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) perform ʿumra?
- He performed it twice. ʿĀʾisha said:
- Ibn ʿUmar also knows that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) performed three ʿumras apart from the one he performed with the Farewell Pilgrimage.
Imam Ahmad b. Hanbal, through the chain of Yaḥyā b. Ādam, narrated from Mujāhid who said:
"We entered the mosque together with ʿUrwa b. al-Zubayr. We saw that Ibn ʿUmar was leaning his back against the cell of ʿĀʾisha. People were performing the forenoon prayer. ʿUrwa said:
- O Abā ʿAbd al-Raḥmān (this was the kunya of Ibn ʿUmar), what is this prayer?
- It is an innovation (bidʿa).
- O Abā ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, how many times did the Messenger of God perform ʿumra?
- He performed ʿumra four times. One of them coincided with the month of Rajab.
At that moment, we heard ʿĀʾisha using the miswāk in her cell. ʿUrwa said to her:
- O ʿĀʾisha, Ibn ʿUmar claims that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) performed four ʿumras, one of which was in the month of Rajab. What do you say about this?
- May Allah have mercy on Ibn ʿUmar. Whenever the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) performed ʿumra, Ibn ʿUmar was always with him, and the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) never performed ʿumra in the month of Rajab."
Imam Ahmad b. Hanbal, through the chain of Rawḥ, narrated from Muḥarriš al-Kaʿbī who said:
"The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) left Jiʿrāna in the evening with the intention of ʿumra and came to Mecca to complete his ʿumra. Then, that same night, he returned from Mecca and spent the night at Jiʿrāna until morning. When the sun reached its zenith, he set out from Jiʿrāna towards Baṭn al-Sharīf. On the road to Madina, he reached the region of Sharīf."
Muḥarriš said: "For this reason, this ʿumra performed by the Messenger of God remained hidden from most people."
We would like to state that the ʿumra of Jiʿrāna performed by the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) is an ʿumra that cannot be denied. Moreover, it is established by authentic transmissions. Those who deny this ʿumra have no evidence against those who affirm it. God knows best. Furthermore, those who narrate the performance of this ʿumra are almost unanimous that it was performed in the month of Dhū al-Qaʿda, after the expedition of Ṭāʾif and the distribution of the spoils of Ḥunayn.
Ḥāfiẓ Abū al-Qāsim al-Ṭabarānī, in his work "al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr," narrated through the chain of Ḥasan b. Isḥāq al-Tustarī from Ibn ʿAbbās who said:
"When the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) came from Ṭāʾif, he stopped and encamped at Jiʿrāna. There, he distributed the spoils. Then he set out from there and performed ʿumra. He performed this ʿumra two nights before the end of the month of Shawwāl."
This is indeed a strange narration. Its chain can be discussed. God knows best.
Bukhārī, through the chain of Yaʿqūb b. Ibrāhīm, narrated from Yaʿlā b. Umayya who said: I wished I could see the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) while revelation was descending upon him. Once, while the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) was at Jiʿrāna, a cloth was spread over him to provide shade, and some of the Companions (ṣaḥāba) were under it with him. At that moment, a Bedouin, wearing a cloak heavily perfumed as if it had been dipped in fragrance, came to him. ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb gestured to me with his hand to come. I went and put my head under the cloth. I saw that the face of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) was red and he was snoring. This state continued for about an hour. Then he recovered and said:
- Where is the man who just asked me about ʿumra? The man was sought and brought to him, and he said:
- As for the fragrance on you, wash it three times. Remove the cloak. Then, do in ʿumra what you do during ḥajj."
Imam Ahmad b. Hanbal, through the chain of Abū Usāma, narrated from ʿĀʾisha who said:
"In the year of the Conquest, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) entered the city from the upper part of Mecca, from the area of Kadā. During ʿumra, he entered the city from the direction of Kuday."
Abū Dāwūd, through the chain of Mūsā Abū Salama, narrated from Ibn ʿAbbās who said:
"The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions (ṣaḥāba) performed ʿumra at Jiʿrāna. Then they went and circumambulated the House (the Kaʿba) three times running (ramal) and four times walking. They placed their cloaks under their armpits and then threw them over their left shoulders."
Imam Ahmad b. Hanbal narrated from Muʿāwiya who said:
"I cut the hair of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) (during ʿumra) with scissors."
Or Muʿāwiya said: "I saw him having his hair cut with scissors near the hill of Marwa."
ʿAbdullāh, the son of Imam Ahmad b. Hanbal, through the chain of ʿAmr b. Muḥammad al-Naqīd, narrated from Muʿāwiya who said:
"I cut the hair of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) near the hill of Marwa."
What we mean is that the hair-cutting event mentioned above occurred during the ʿumra of Jiʿrāna. For during the ʿumra of Ḥudaybiyya, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) did not enter Mecca; rather, as explained on previous pages, he was prevented from entering. As for ʿUmrat al-Qaḍāʾ, Abū Sufyān had not yet become Muslim at that time, and none of the Meccans remained in the city when the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) entered; rather, they left the city. During the three days that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) stayed there, they kept away from the city. As for the ʿumra he performed with the ḥajj, he did not exit the state of iḥrām in that ʿumra, so he did not cut his hair. There is consensus on this. Thus, the ʿumra in which his hair was cut by Muʿāwiya, the son of Abū Sufyān, was the ʿumra of Jiʿrāna. We have mentioned this before. God knows best.
Muḥammad b. Isḥāq said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) later set out from Jiʿrāna to perform ʿumra and ordered that the remaining spoils be kept in a part of Marr al-Ẓahrān under guard.
I say: According to the stronger opinion, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) left a portion of the spoils outside the distribution so that he might win the hearts of the Bedouins he would meet between Mecca and Madina towards Islam.
Ibn Isḥāq said: When the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) completed his ʿumra, he departed from Mecca to return to Madina. He left ʿAttāb b. Usayd as governor in Mecca. Along with him, he left Muʿādh b. Jabal as his deputy to teach the people their religion and the Qur'an.
According to the accounts of ʿUrwa and Mūsā b. ʿUqba, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) left Muʿādh as deputy with ʿAttāb in Mecca before going to Hawāzin, and again appointed them as deputies when returning to Madina.
Ibn Hishām said: According to the report that reached me from Zayd b. Aslam, he said:
When the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) left ʿAttāb b. Usayd as governor in Mecca, he assigned him a daily stipend of one dirham. ʿAttāb stood up and addressed the people, saying:
- O people! May Allah afflict the heart of anyone who covets more than a dirham. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) has provided for me with one dirham for each day. Therefore, I am in need of no one.
Ibn Isḥāq said: The ʿumra of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) was in the month of Dhū al-Qaʿda. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) arrived in Madina during the remainder of Dhū al-Qaʿda or in Dhū al-Ḥijja. According to the claim of Abū ʿAmr al-Madanī, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) arrived in Madina six nights before the end of Dhū al-Qaʿda.
That year, the people performed ḥajj as the Arabs had done since ancient times. That year, ʿAttāb b. Usayd led the Muslims in ḥajj. All of this took place in the eighth year of the Hijra. The people of Ṭāʾif, however, did not incline towards Islam and remained in Ṭāʾif upon shirk (associating partners with God). They continued in this state from the month of Dhū al-Qaʿda in the eighth year of the Hijra until the month of Ramaḍān in the ninth year of the Hijra.