Prophet Muhammad and the Hajj
22-2-2001 | IslamWeb
Question:
When were the Muslims first told about the Hajj as well as when and how many times our Prophet Muhammad (salla Llahu aleihi wa sallam) performed Hajj himself? Where according to the Holy Qur'an did the Prophet Muhammad receive revelation during the Farewell Hajj?
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
Hajj was first prescribed on Muslims in the sixth year after the Hijrah (migration), according to what the majority of Muslim scholars have established.
Ibn Hajar 
said in his book Al-Fath: “The majority of the Muslim scholars are agreed that the verse ordering people to perform Hajj was revealed in the sixth year after Hijrah. Allah Says (what means): {And complete the Hajj and 'umrah for Allah. But if you are prevented, then [offer] what can be obtained with ease of sacrificial animals.} [Quran 2:196] What is meant by “complete” is the starting of this rite to be obligatory on Muslims.”
Other scholars like An-Nawawi and Ibn Al-Qayyim 
are of the view that Hajj became mandatory on Muslims in the ninth year after Hijrah. The reason they put this date forward is the fact that the Prophet performed only one Hajj (The Farewell Hajj) and that was in the year ten after Hijrah. Since Hajj becomes obligatory as soon as the person has the material means to perform it and can physically do so, these scholars think that the Prophet would not delay performing Hajj three years. But the first opinion is the most preponderant one. The Prophet delayed his Hajj till the year ten because Makkah was before that date the place of pagans and atheists. It did not become a Muslim city until the year 8 after the Hijrah. The pagans used to perform Hajj in months other than originally intended until Islam re-established the proper times.
This is why the Prophet said in the Farewell Hajj: “Time has come back to its original state which it had on the day Allah created the Heavens and the Earth. The year is twelve months, four of which are sacred, three of them are in succession, namely Thul-Qi'dah, Thul-Hijjah and Muharram, (the fourth being) Rajab Mudhar which is between Jumaadah (ath-thaani) and Sha'baan.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
1. The Prophet sent Abu Bakr and then ‘Ali 
the year that proceeded the farewell Hajj to Makkah to tell people that: “No polytheist should perform Hajj after this year, and none should circumambulate around the Ka’bah in a naked state”. [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
2. It is proved that only one verse was revealed to the Prophet during the Farewell Hajj. This verse is Allah’s Saying (which means): {This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion.} [Quran 5:3]
‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattaab 
said: “I know for a fact, the place where it (this verse) was revealed to him (the Prophet) and the day on which it was revealed to the Prophet (). It was revealed in ‘Arafah on a Friday.” [Muslim]
Allah knows best.