Umm al-Mu'mineen Sayyida Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her) narrates that I complained to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) about my illness during the Farewell Pilgrimage (I said that I am unable to perform Tawaf on foot). So he said: Stay behind the people and perform Tawaf while riding. Thus, I performed Tawaf, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was at that time near the House of Allah, reciting the verse "By the Mount, and by a Book inscribed" in prayer.

Urwah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: I asked the purified wife of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), while I was still young, about the statement of Allah the Exalted: "Indeed, Safa and Marwah are among the symbols of Allah. So whoever performs Hajj or Umrah to the House, there is no sin upon him to walk between them." So I thought that if someone did not perform Sa'i between them, there would be no sin upon him. Upon hearing this, Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said: Never! If the meaning was as you are saying, then indeed there would be no harm in not performing Sa'i between them. But this verse was revealed concerning the Ansar, who used to assume Ihram in the name of the idol Manat, which was placed at Qudayd. They did not consider Sa'i between Safa and Marwah to be good. When Islam came, they asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) about this, and upon that Allah the Exalted revealed this verse: "Indeed, Safa and Marwah are among the symbols of Allah. So whoever performs Hajj or Umrah to the House, there is no sin upon him to walk between them."

Hazrat Urwah (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated that I asked Sayyidah Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) about the statement of Allah the Exalted: "Indeed, Safa and Marwah are among the symbols of Allah. So whoever makes Hajj to the House or performs Umrah, there is no sin upon him to walk between them." (Surah Al-Baqarah 158). By Allah, then there should be no harm if someone does not wish to perform Sa'i between Safa and Marwah? Sayyidah Aisha replied: Nephew, you have said a bad thing. If Allah had meant this, then the Qur'an would have been revealed as: "There is no sin in not performing their Tawaf." The matter is that this verse was revealed for the Ansar, who, before Islam, used to worship the idol Manat, which was placed at Mushallal, and they used to worship it. When they would enter into Ihram (for Hajj or Umrah), they did not consider it good to perform Sa'i between Safa and Marwah. Now, when they accepted Islam, they asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) about this and said: O Messenger of Allah, we did not consider Sa'i between Safa and Marwah to be good. Upon this, Allah the Exalted revealed this verse: "Indeed, Safa and Marwah are among the symbols of Allah." Sayyidah Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) established the Sunnah of Sa'i between these two mountains, so it is not appropriate for anyone to abandon it. (The narrator of the hadith, Zuhri) said: Then I mentioned this to Abu Bakr bin Abdur Rahman, and he said: I had not heard this scholarly point until now. Rather, I have heard from many scholars that they used to say: The Arabs (except those whom Sayyidah Aisha mentioned, who used to enter Ihram for Manat) all used to perform Tawaf of Safa and Marwah. When Allah the Exalted mentioned the Tawaf of the House (Ka'bah) in the Noble Qur'an and did not mention Safa and Marwah, those people said: O Messenger of Allah, we used to perform Tawaf of Safa and Marwah in the days of ignorance, and now Allah has mentioned the Tawaf of the House but has not mentioned Safa and Marwah. So is there any sin upon us if we perform Sa'i between Safa and Marwah? Then Allah revealed this verse: "Indeed, Safa and Marwah are among the symbols of Allah." Abu Bakr said: I hear that this verse was revealed regarding both groups: that group who, in the days of ignorance, considered Tawaf of Safa and Marwah to be bad, and regarding those who, in the days of ignorance, used to perform Tawaf of Safa and Marwah, but after becoming Muslim, considered it bad to do so because Allah the Exalted mentioned the Tawaf of the House and did not mention Safa and Marwah, until Allah mentioned them after the Tawaf of the House.

Hazrat Asim (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated that I asked Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), "Did you people consider the Sa'i (ritual walking) between Safa and Marwah to be objectionable?" He replied, "Yes, because it was a symbol of the era of ignorance, until Allah the Exalted revealed this verse: 'Indeed, Safa and Marwah are among the symbols of Allah. So whoever performs Hajj or Umrah of the House, there is no blame upon him for walking between them.' (Al-Baqarah 158)"

Kuraib, the freed slave of Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas, narrates that Sayyiduna Usama bin Zaid stated: I was riding behind the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) on his mount from Arafat. When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) reached the valley on the left near Muzdalifah, he made the camel kneel down, then relieved himself, and when he returned, I poured water for him to perform ablution. He performed a light ablution. I said, "O Messenger of Allah, and the prayer?" He replied, "The prayer is ahead of you (i.e., it will be performed in Muzdalifah)." Then he mounted again. When he reached Muzdalifah, he combined and performed the Maghrib and Isha prayers. On the morning of Muzdalifah (i.e., the tenth), Fadl bin Abbas rode behind the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) on his mount. Kuraib said: Abdullah bin Abbas informed me through Fadl that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) continued to recite the Talbiyah until he reached Jamrat al-Aqabah (and there he threw the pebbles).

Muhammad bin Abi Bakr Thaqafi narrated that I asked Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, about the Talbiyah—how did you people recite it during the time of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him? At that time, we were going from Mina towards Arafat. He replied that those who recited the Talbiyah would recite it and no one objected to it, and those who recited the Takbir would recite it and no one objected to that either.

I heard from Sayyiduna Usama bin Zaid (may Allah be pleased with him), he said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) returned from the plain of Arafat. When he reached the valley, he dismounted. The Prophet (peace be upon him) relieved himself, then performed ablution, but did not do it thoroughly. Then I said, "O Messenger of Allah! The time for prayer (has come)." The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "The prayer is ahead of you (i.e., we will pray after reaching Muzdalifah)." When he reached Muzdalifah, he performed ablution thoroughly, then the congregation was established, and the Prophet (peace be upon him) led the Maghrib prayer. Then everyone made their camels sit at their places, then the congregation for Isha was established and the Prophet (peace be upon him) led the prayer, and between these two prayers, he did not perform any other prayer.

Urwah (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates that someone asked Sayyiduna Usamah bin Zaid (may Allah be pleased with him), and I was also present there, about the manner in which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) returned from Arafat during the Farewell Pilgrimage. He replied: "He would walk with his feet lifted, somewhat briskly, but when he found space (when there was no crowd), he would walk even faster."

Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) said that on the occasion of the Farewell Pilgrimage, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came to Muzdalifah and combined the Maghrib and Isha prayers, performing them together.

Narrated by Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both): If the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) intended to travel quickly, he would combine Maghrib and Isha prayers and offer them together.