Lady Aisha Siddiqa (may Allah be pleased with her) narrates: On the fourth or fifth day of Dhul-Hijjah, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) came to me. This was during the time of his Hajj. He was in a state of anger. Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) narrates: I said, "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)! May Allah admit into Hell whoever has angered you." The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Do you not know? I commanded those people to do something, and they are hesitating about it. If what occurred to me later had occurred to me earlier, I would not have brought the sacrificial animal with me, nor would I have bought it, until I too would have come out of Ihram just as they have come out." (Imam Ibn Hibban, may Allah have mercy on him, says:) The statement of the Prophet (peace be upon him), "If what occurred to me later had occurred to me earlier, I would not have brought the sacrificial animal with me and would have come out of Ihram," is a clear indication that the Prophet (peace be upon him) did not perform Hajj Tamattu' in this Hajj. Because if he had performed Hajj Tamattu', he too would have come out of Ihram just as the other people had, and he would not have expressed regret over what was missed due to bringing the sacrificial animal with him. As for those narrations which we have previously mentioned regarding Tamattu', we have explained in our books that the Arabs sometimes attribute an action to the one who commands it, just as they attribute it to the one who does it. So when the Prophet (peace be upon him) permitted the people to perform Hajj Tamattu', he said: "Whoever has recited the Talbiyah for Umrah and has not brought the sacrificial animal with him, let him come out of Ihram." In this, Hajj Tamattu' was made permissible for the one who wished to do so, so the action was attributed to the Prophet (peace be upon him) in the sense that he commanded it, not that he himself performed Hajj Tamattu'. This is why Umar ibn Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) said to Sabi bin Ma'bad when he informed Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) that he had recited the Talbiyah for both Hajj and Umrah, Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "You have been guided to the Sunnah of your Prophet."