Additional Customs Introduced by the Hums

Ibn Ishaq said: They then invented further practices that had not previously been part of it. They said that the Hums should not make aqit, a dried curd food; should not cook clarified butter while in ihram; should not enter a tent made of hair; and, if they sought shade while in ihram, should sit only in leather tents. They went further and said that people from outside the Sanctuary who came as pilgrims or visitors should not eat food they had brought from outside it, nor perform their first circumambulation in any clothes except Hums garments. If they could not find such garments, they had to circumambulate naked. If a man or woman of noble character could not find Hums clothing and circumambulated in the clothes brought from outside the Sanctuary, they had to discard them after completing the circumambulation; neither they nor anyone else could ever use them again.

[1] Aqit, with several possible vocalizations, is a food made from sheep’s fermented milk. [2] Sala’t al-samn means cooking and processing clarified butter; the verbal noun is sila’. [3] Leather tents are shelters made from hides. [4] Laqa means something thrown away or abandoned; its plural is alqa’. [5] Mufarraj describes a garment slit at the front or back. [6] The woman is said to have been Dub‘ah bint ‘Amir ibn Sa‘sa‘ah, of Banu Salamah ibn Qushayr. Ibn Hisham notes a report that the Messenger had proposed marriage to her, but left the matter; the editor suggests that Allah’s protection and knowledge of the Messenger’s protective jealousy may have played a role.