Clinging to the Multazam (iltizam al-Multazam)
Al-Iltizam bi-al-Multazam
Overview
The Multazam is the stretch of the Ka'bah's wall between the Black Stone and the door. Pressing one's chest, face and arms against it while making du'a is a recommended act, prized as a place where supplication is hoped to be answered.
Du'a
No specific supplication is established for the Multazam. Press your chest, face, forearms and palms against the wall between the Black Stone and the door of the Ka'bah, and call upon Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) with any sincere du'a you wish.
Qur'an
No specific ayah prescribes clinging to the Multazam (field not directly applicable). Only the general station of the House as a place of return and security is referenced — Surah al-Baqarah:'وَإِذْ جَعَلْنَا الْبَيْتَ مَثَابَةً لِلنَّاسِ وَأَمْنًا'('And [mention] when We made the House a place of return for the people and a sanctuary'). This is background context, not a command regarding the Multazam.
'وَإِذْ جَعَلْنَا الْبَيْتَ مَثَابَةً لِلنَّاسِ وَأَمْنًا'Reference · Qur'an 2:125
Hadith
- •PRIMARY (defining the act): 'Amr ibn Shu'ayb (RH), from his father, from his grandfather ('Abdullah ibn 'Amr ibn al-'As (RA)): he performed tawaf with 'Abdullah, and when they reached the back of the Ka'bah he asked, 'Will you not seek refuge (from the Fire)?'; then 'Abdullah touched the Black Stone, stood between the Corner and the door (al-Multazam), and placed his chest, face, forearms and palms against it [spreading his hands], saying, 'This is what I saw the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) do.'References · Sunan Abi Dawud 1899 · Sunan Ibn Majah 2962Grade · Sunan Abi Dawud 1899: Da'if in isolation; graded sahih/hasan by corroboration (al-Albani, al-Silsilah al-Sahihah no. 2138), Sunan Ibn Majah 2962: Da'if in isolation; graded sahih/hasan by corroboration (al-Albani)
- •SUPPORTING: 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Safwan (RA): the Prophet (ﷺ) and Companions came out and 'clung to the House (from the door to the Black Stone), placing their cheeks against it.'References · Sunan Abi Dawud 1898 · Musnad Ahmad 15124Grade · Sunan Abi Dawud 1898: Da'if (weak) in isolation (Yazid ibn Abi Ziyad (RH)); strengthened by corroboration, Musnad Ahmad 15124: Sahih (the 'embracing the Ka'bah' hadith of Usamah ibn Zayd (RA), graded sahih by Ibn Khuzaymah)
- •DEFINITION-ATHAR: Ibn 'Abbas (RA): 'The Multazam is (the area) between the Corner and the door.' Also cited for the broader act of embracing the Ka'bah and supplicating: the hadith of Usamah ibn Zayd (RA) (Musnad Ahmad, Sunan al-Nasa'i) that the Prophet (ﷺ) placed his chest, cheek and hands against the Ka'bah and supplicated (graded sahih by Ibn Khuzaymah)Grade · Sahih for the Usamah ibn Zayd (RA) report, graded sahih by Ibn Khuzaymah; the definition itself is an athar of Ibn 'Abbas (RA), mawquf on him.
Applies to
All three Hajj types (Tamattu', Qiran, Ifrad) and 'Umrah — indeed any visitor to the Ka'bah at any time. It is not tied to a particular Hajj type and there is no count difference between them; it is a recommended du'a-station, not one of the obligatory rites.
If missed
No penalty (it is a recommended act). Omitting the Multazam does not affect the validity of any tawaf or of the Hajj/'Umrah; only the virtue and reward of the recommended du'a-station are missed.
Timing & place
Not time-bound. Commonly done at the Farewell Tawaf / before departure (recommended by al-Shafi'i and Ibn Qudamah), upon entering Makkah (the practice of several Companions), when entering the Ka'bah if one is able, or at any other time. Ibn Taymiyyah: there is no difference between doing it during the Farewell Tawaf or at any other time.
The Multazam — the roughly two-metre (about four cubits) stretch of the Ka'bah wall between the Black Stone corner (al-Rukn al-Aswad) and the door of the Ka'bah (Bab al-Ka'bah), within al-Masjid al-Haram, Makkah. (Some scholars also apply the name/recommendation to the area beneath the Meezab/golden spout on the Hijr side.)
Is that authentic?
Pilgrims are widely told that any du'a made at the Multazam is answered unconditionally. That is not established, and it is worth seeing exactly what the reports do and do not say. The saying itself is from a Companion, not from the Prophet (ﷺ). Ibn 'Abbas (RA) is quoted as saying that the stretch between the Corner and the door is called the Multazam, and that no one clings to it asking Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) for something without being given it. Al-Bayhaqi records it in al-Sunan al-Kubra, Kitab al-Hajj no. 9039, and rules on it in the same breath — he closes the report with the words 'this is mawquf'. Its chain reaches Ibn 'Abbas (RA) through Ibrahim ibn Isma'il ibn Abi Habibah (RH), whom the critics weakened. GRADE: da'if mawquf. And even were the chain sound it stops at a Companion — it is Ibn 'Abbas's (RA) own understanding of the place, not a revealed guarantee. Al-Fakihi carries a gentler wording of the same from Ibn 'Abbas (RA) — Akhbar Makkah, athar 230 (vol. 1): whoever stands between the Stone and the door and asks 'sees in his need some part of what he loves'. That is hope, not a pledge, and it is weaker than the sentence that circulates. GRADE: mawquf on Ibn 'Abbas (RA); no critic's ruling on this particular chain (through Abu al-Zubayr (RH)) was found at source. What is soundly established is the practice, not the promise. Mujahid ibn Jabr (RH) reports that they used to cling to what lies between the Corner and the door and supplicate — Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah, Kitab al-Hajj no. 16597, by way of Waki' from Sufyan from Mansur, every one of them trustworthy. GRADE: sahih maqtu'. Ibn Abi Shaybah records the same practice of 'Amr ibn Maymun (RH) (no. 16596), of 'Ikrimah (RH) together with 'Ikrimah ibn Khalid and Abu Ja'far (no. 16598), and of Salim (RH), 'Ata' (RH) and Tawus (RH) together (no. 16599). GRADE: eyewitness practice-athar from the Successors; no critic's ruling on these particular chains was found at source. The definition of the spot is recorded separately from Ibn 'Abbas (RA) by Musannaf 'Abd al-Razzaq, Kitab al-Manasik no. 8831 (Mujahid (RH) from him), and by Malik in al-Muwatta, Kitab al-Hajj no. 957 — the latter a balaghah, reported without a chain. Those athar tell you the Companions and the Successors went there and asked. They do not tell you the answer was guaranteed. One correction worth making, because the opposite is widely repeated. A circulating version credits the promise itself to Mujahid (RH) and grades it 'sahih maqtu''. That fuses two different reports. What Mujahid (RH) says with a sound chain is the practice (no. 16597 above). He does have a saying that comes near the promise — al-Fakihi, athar 238 (vol. 1) — but its wording is that few ask Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) for something there, or seek refuge from something, without being given it: a statement about what commonly happens, not an unconditional pledge. The unqualified 'whatever he asks for' belongs to Ibn 'Abbas (RA), by the weak chain above. And athar 234, the number that circulates for al-Fakihi, is not this material at all — his 234 is Ibn Jurayj (RH) from 'Ata' (RH) reporting the reverse: that he knew of no seeking of refuge there from the Prophet (ﷺ), and never saw Abu Hurayrah (RA), Jabir (RA), Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (RA) or Ibn 'Umar (RA) cling to the House at all. Numbers here follow sunnah.com's Arabic numbering for al-Bayhaqi and the two Musannafs and the Dahish printing for al-Fakihi; athar numbering in these collections differs between editions, so match on the wording and the chain, not on the number alone. The two Prophetic (marfu') reports on the Multazam — Sunan Abi Dawud 1899 and 1898 — are weak in isolation (see the grades above). They are the evidence for the act of clinging itself; neither says anything about du'a being answered there. So the honest position: the Multazam is a mazinnat al-ijabah — a place at which acceptance is hoped for, as with 'Arafah, the last third of the night and the time of rain — and no more than that. Du'a there stays subject to the ordinary conditions of an accepted du'a: lawful earnings, presence of heart, asking for nothing sinful or that severs kinship, and not growing impatient for the answer. Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) grants, withholds or defers by His wisdom, at the Multazam as anywhere else. Treating the spot as a guarantee — or pushing and harming others to reach it — inverts the humility the act was meant to teach.
Common mistakes
- •Believing it is an obligatory rite or a validity requirement of tawaf (it is only recommended)
- •Thinking a specific prescribed du'a must be recited there (there is none — any du'a may be made)
- •Crowding, shoving and harming others to reach it, or making a very lengthy du'a that blocks others
- •Seeking blessing (tabarruk) from the stones/kiswah themselves rather than intending humble supplication to Allah (سبحانه وتعالى)
- •Assuming du'a there is automatically/unconditionally answered (it is a noble station hoped for acceptance, but answering remains by Allah's (سبحانه وتعالى) will and subject to the conditions of accepted du'a)
- •Confusing the Multazam with the Hijr of Isma'il (al-Hatim) or with the Yemeni Corner
Across the madhabs
No substantive four-madhab divergence on classification: the Hanafi (al-Tahawi, al-Mukhtasar), Shafi'i (al-Shafi'i himself recommends it before the Farewell Tawaf), and Hanbali (Ahmad; Ibn Qudamah in al-Mughni) schools all treat standing at the Multazam and supplicating as recommended, and the Maliki position permits it likewise. Because the four schools agree it is recommended/permitted (differing only in emphasis and in how strong they hold the marfu' evidence to be, not in a rukn/wajib/sunnah split), no divergence matrix is warranted.
Notes
Iltizam literally means to cling to or hold fast. Ibn 'Abbas (RA) defined the Multazam as the area between the Corner (Black Stone) and the door, and this is the well-known scholarly position; a minority located it at the Ka'bah's back or beneath the Meezab, or applied it to the whole House. There is no authentically-reported specific supplication tied to the spot; its strongest basis is the recorded practice of the Companions and Tabi'un, who treated it as a place at which they hoped for the acceptance of du'a. Contemporary scholars differ on whether it rises to a confirmed Sunnah of the Prophet (ﷺ) or is a permitted-and-good practice; either way there is no penalty for leaving it and no harm in doing it so long as others are not annoyed.