al-Tirmidhi said: This is a hasan sahih (good and authentic) hadith. [He continues] until he completes seven laps, counting the going as one lap and the returning as one lap. It was narrated from Ibn Jarir and some of the followers of al-Shafi'i that they said: His going and his returning constitute one lap. This is incorrect, because Jabir (3) said in the description of the Hajj of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): Then he descended to al-Marwah, and when his feet flowed [down into the valley], he trotted in the bottom of the valley, and when we ascended, he walked until he arrived at al-Marwah. He did at al-Marwah what he did at al-Safa. When it was his final lap at al-Marwah, he said: "If I had known at the beginning of my affair what I know at its end, I would not have brought the sacrificial animals, and I would have made it an Umrah." This implies that it was his final lap, and if it were as they mentioned, his final lap would have been at al-Safa, at the location where he began. Furthermore, because he is, in every instance, circumambulating both of them (4), it is appropriate to count that as one lap, just as he counts his circumambulation of the entirety of the House as one lap.

622 - Issue: He said: "And he begins at al-Safa and concludes at al-Marwah."

The entirety of this is that the sequence is a condition for the Sa'i, which is that he must begin at al-Safa. If he begins at al-Marwah, he does not count that lap. Once he arrives at (1) al-Safa, he counts what he performs after that, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) began at al-Safa and said: "We begin with what Allah began with" (2). This is the opinion of al-Hasan, Malik, al-Shafi'i, al-Awza'i, and the scholars of opinion (Ashab al-Ra'y). It is narrated from Ibn Abbas that he (3) said: Allah Almighty said: {Indeed, al-Safa and al-Marwah are among the symbols of Allah} (4). He began with al-Safa and said: Follow the Quran; so start with what Allah started with.