Explanation of the Book of Hajj-07b

The reciter: Ibrahim ibn al-Mundhir narrated to us: Anas ibn Iyad narrated to us from Ubaydullah from Nafi' from Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both):

The Shaykh : means the valley which now has the mark of the green pillars, containing the mark for the beginning of the sa'y. The sa'y is to be done with intensity if it is easy, to the extent that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), due to the intensity of his sa'y, his waist cloth would turn around him. The reason for this is that the origin of the sa'y is due to the sa'y of the mother of Isma'il. Ibrahim al-Khalil (peace be upon him) settled her and her son in a place near the Ka'bah, then he left and placed a water skin and a sack of dates with them. The dates and water ran out, and the mother became thirsty, which necessitated a decrease in her milk, so the child became hungry and began to writhe from hunger. The mother had no one with her, so she saw the nearest mountain to her, which was al-Safa. She went to it and climbed it, looking around and listening, but she saw no one and heard no one. She descended heading toward the opposite mountain, which is al-Marwah. When she descended into the bed of the valley, she was hidden from her son, so she began to walk briskly, the sa'y of a compassionate mother who is afraid that a wolf or something else might take her child, until she completed seven circuits. Then Allah commanded Jibril, so he descended and struck the ground with his wing or his foot, and the water of Zamzam gushed forth without shovels or machines or anything else; by the permission of Allah, it gushed forth and the water began to flow to the right and left. So she began to build a wall around it out of her compassion for him,
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: And we say: May Allah have mercy on the mother of Isma'il, and may He have mercy on us too. If it had been a river, what would the mosque be? A river running through the middle of the mosque is difficult. But from the grace of Allah is that this woman was made to serve by Allah (Mighty and Majestic), so she built a wall around it until it remained in its place. And the wonder is that this well can never run dry; it has not run dry in the past nor in the present. And when the last building of the mosque was adjusted, they say they saw a great river pouring into the well, coming from the direction of al-Safa, a strange thing due to its intensity. And Allah is capable of all things.
The Mu'adhdhin: Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar

The Shaykh : ... and his statement (may Allah be pleased with him): This sa'y is a recommended practice (sunnah) for men, and there is no doubt in this due to the action of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). Is it recommended for women? The answer is: It is not recommended. Some have reported it as a consensus that it is not recommended, because a woman is required to maintain modesty, not to walk briskly until her waist cloth turns around her. So it is not recommended for her to walk briskly. If someone asks, "Is the sa'y not for the sake of the mother of Isma'il?" The answer is: Yes, but the mother of Isma'il was walking and had no one with her, and now it is not possible for a woman to walk briskly except with someone with her. If it were assumed that the sa'y area was completely empty of men, with no one in it, one might say that the woman runs, meaning, but now it is not possible. Likewise, her climbing al-Safa and al-Marwah is not recommended; some scholars have reported it as a consensus as well, because the climbing reveals more of her than if she were on the ground. So it is not recommended for her to climb, and in that case, two recommended practices (sunnahs) are dropped from her: the sunnah of sa'y and the sunnah of climbing, just as the sunnah of rambling walk (ramal) in the tawaf is dropped from her, for she does not perform the rambling walk in the tawaf. Yes, Waleed.

The questioner : May Allah reward you. His statement: "When they touched the Corner, they exited the state of ihram." What does this mean?

The Shaykh : Touching the Corner means they completed the tawaf. Yes.