There was also notable disagreement among the Sunni schools of law on the rules governing the exclusive ‘Peninsula’ zone. The caliph Umar had allowed Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians three days every year to buy and sell from the markets of Medina. The Shafi‘i school of law thus held that no unbeliever could settle in the region between Mecca, Medina and Yamama, but they could enter with permission for up to three days on diplomatic duties or if bearing vital goods. They were only prohibited from entering the sacred Haram Mosque of Mecca, where the Kaaba stands. Most Hanafis, by contrast, had
...more

