The boundaries of Al-Safa and Al-Marwa
Question
We are confused about the boundaries of al-Safa and al-Marwa between which a person makes sa'y. Some of us assumed that the end of the wall erected for the track for wheelchair patients and which runs the length of al-Safa and al-Marwa signifies the end of the boundary for sa'y. Therefore, when one of us would reach that point, he would turn around and start the next round thinking that he had completed the obligatory length of the round. Please take into account that the wall ends at the point of ascension of the hill before one reaches the slope. Is the ascending part that is paved with marble before the hill considered its beginning, such that if one reaches the end of the above mentioned wall in all the rounds, he would have spanned the
distance between al-Safa and al-Marwa that is necessary for sa'y?
Answer
The obligation of sa'y is met by spanning the entire distance between al-Safa and al-Marwa signified by the end of the wall at the beginning of the ascension point of the hill; this is the beginning for both al-Safa and al-Marwa. Imam Al-Sindi, the Hanafi scholar, determined that spanning the entire distance is obligatory in the Hanafi School of jurisprudence. Neglecting to span the entire distance does not nullify sa'y but obligates slaughtering in compensation.
Allah the Almighty knows best.