The Path of the Prophet

rites of pilgrimage naked,” he would say when the Hajj season arrived. Some Muslims went on Hajj the year after the conquest of Makkah (A.H. 8), but the Prophet was not among them. The following year in A.H. 9, the Muslim party of pilgrims was led by Abu Bakr. It was after this that the polytheists were banned from making the pilgrimage. The prohibition came in this verse of the Quran: Believers know that idolaters are unclean. Let them not approach the Sacred Mosque after this year is ended.42 The Prophet then sent his cousin ‘Ali to Makkah with orders that he should mingle amongst the gathering of pilgrims and proclaim that after this year, no polytheist would be allowed to come on Hajj and tawaf (circumambulation of the House of God) in a naked state would not be permitted. Then, in the third year, following the gradual elimination of polytheism, the Prophet undertook what was to be his final pilgrimage to the Sacred Mosque. This shows how the Prophet was careful to introduce reforms gradually. Even when he wielded power, he did not attempt to hurry Islamic legislation; he allowed matters to take their natural course, proceeding stage by stage until the desired conclusion was reached; he would hold himself back from introducing the desired measures, but he would not seek to hold the polytheists back from their activities until the time came when they were ready to refrain from them.