The Ruling on Staying Overnight at Muzdalifah

This is a message from Jeddah from Thani and Hasan al-Thani. He says: Your Eminence, Shaykh Abdul Aziz ibn Abdullah ibn Baz (may Allah preserve him) — Ameen — Peace be upon you, and Allah’s mercy and blessings. Your Eminence! What is the ruling on staying overnight at Muzdalifah, and is it permissible for the pilgrim to go from Muzdalifah to Mina before the dawn breaks?
Answer: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, and blessings and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow his guidance.
As for what follows:
The Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) indicates that staying overnight at Muzdalifah is an obligatory matter; because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) stayed there and said: — May Allah send prayers and blessings upon him. Therefore, it is obligatory for the pilgrim to stay there when he departs from Arafah after sunset, intending Muzdalifah, where he prays Maghrib and Isha shortened and combined. Isha is two rak’ahs and Maghrib is three, with one adhan and two iqamahs. He stays there until he prays Fajr there. When he has prayed Fajr, he also sits there, remembering Allah and supplicating to Him, facing the qiblah. If he is near al-Mash’ar, that is good, but every part of Muzdalifah is a place of standing, praise be to Allah. In any place there, he remembers Allah and supplicates to Him facing the qiblah until it becomes light. When it becomes light, he departs to Mina, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did.
This staying overnight is obligatory according to the scholars, in the correct opinion. Some said that passing through it is sufficient, but that is a weak opinion. It is permissible for the weak among women, children, and the elderly, and those accompanying them, to depart from Muzdalifah in the last part of the night, after half the night has passed, and it is better after the moon has set, as came in the hadith of Asma bint Abi Bakr: when the moon disappears, they depart to Mina, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) permitted Suwaydah and others, and Umm Salama. This is what is prescribed. And if any of the weak remain with the people, there is no harm. When they depart from Muzdalifah in the last part of the night, they head to Mina and throw the pebbles if they wish, or they sit in Mina until they throw them during the day; they have a choice. And if they throw them at night, as Umm Salama did in the last part of the night, there is no harm. The weak may throw them at night in the last part of the night, then depart to Makkah for the tawaf if they wish, especially the women, for they fear that menstruation may come upon them and prevent them from performing the tawaf. If they head to Makkah quickly in the last part of the night for the tawaf, there is no harm. All of this is without blame, praise be to Allah.
As for the strong, the Sunnah for them is to stay overnight at Muzdalifah until they pray Fajr there, and to stand there after Fajr until it becomes light. This is the Sunnah. And if any of the strong depart with the weak in the last part of the night, that suffices him and his Hajj is valid according to the most correct of the scholars’ opinions, but he has left what is better. Yes.