حج

Aisha's narration of the Farewell حج is the most comprehensive single account we have of نبی کریم's حج. She described how she began menstruating upon arrival in Sarif, near مکہ مکرمہ, and wept in distress at not being able to perform عمرہ. نبی کریم (صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم) comforted her with extraordinary tenderness, saying, 'This is something that Allah has ordained for the daughters of Adam.' He instructed her to perform all حج rites except طواف until she was pure, and later sent her with her brother Abdul Rahman to perform عمرہ from Tan'im after she had completed her حج. Her detailed narrations of what نبی کریم said and did at each stage — at عرفات, مزدلفہ, منیٰ, during طواف, and at the stoning — became the foundation upon which scholars built the entire body of حج jurisprudence.

Asma bint Umays (may Allah be pleased with her), wife of Abu Bakr at the time of the Farewell حج, gave birth to her son Muhammad at Dhul Hulayfah, the miqat for the people of مدینہ منورہ. This was the very starting point of the حج journey. She sent word to نبی کریم asking what she should do. He instructed her to perform غسل (full ablution), bind herself (to manage the postpartum bleeding), and enter احرام with the rest of the حجاج. She was to perform all the حج rites except طواف until she became pure from nifas. This remarkable narration established the definitive ruling for women experiencing postpartum bleeding during حج — a situation that many women throughout history have faced and found guidance through Asma's precedent.

Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her) narrated that she complained to نبی کریم of feeling ill during حج. He told her to perform طواف from behind the people while riding her mount. She rode around the کعبۃ اللہ on her camel while نبی کریم prayed near the wall of the کعبۃ اللہ. This narration established the permissibility of performing طواف while riding or being carried — a ruling that benefits elderly and disabled حجاج to this day. Safiyyah bint Huyayy began menstruating after performing طواف al-ifadah, and نبی کریم confirmed that she could depart مکہ مکرمہ without performing طواف al-wada (farewell طواف), establishing the ruling that menstruating women are exempted from the farewell طواف. Each of these narrations from the female companions addressed a real situation faced by real women, and نبی کریم's compassionate, practical responses continue to guide millions of women performing حج fourteen centuries later.

The female companions at the Farewell حج were not merely present — they were active participants whose questions, experiences, and narrations shaped Islamic practice. They asked questions when they were uncertain, reported their challenges honestly (including intimate health matters), and transmitted the knowledge they gained with precision and dedication. Their courage in raising gender-specific questions with نبی کریم — questions that other women might have been too shy to ask — provided answers that have benefited countless women across fourteen centuries and every corner of the globe. When you perform حج or عمرہ as a woman, you walk in the footsteps of Aisha, Asma, Umm Salamah, Safiyyah, and dozens of other remarkable women whose faith, courage, and service to knowledge made your حج possible.