• Umrah: Entering the state of Consecration [i.e. Ihraam]
If I travel in Jeddah for some personal business and then perform Umrah after its completion, where do I enter into the state of consecration?
If your journey is for some business which may take you a day or two, and then you want to do the Umrah after you have finished, you do not have to enter into the state of consecration, i.e. Ihraam, at the point of Meeqat. Indeed, your point of Meeqat is Jeddah, because that is the place where you are at the end of your business.
I should point out that much of this question depends on intention. Let me give you the other possibility. If a person in your home town decides to do the Umrah, and then it occurs to him that he has some business to do in Jeddah, then his case is totally different. Although he wishes to go to Jeddah first in order to complete his business, he should enter into the state of consecration at the point of Meeqat, i.e. Rabigh. The difference between the two situations is the intention. In the first case, the trip to Jeddah is for business. In the second, the whole trip is for Umrah. Therefore, in the second case, every condition of the Umrah should be observed right from the beginning. A pilgrim or a Muslim doing the Umrah must enter into the state of consecration at the point of Meeqat. In the first case, the trip to Jeddah is the original trip, and the intention is to do the business there. The Umrah is incidental to the journey and, therefore, it begins with entering into the state of consecration at the point of Meeqat relevant to him. Since he is in Jeddah, then Jeddah is his Meeqat.
• Umrah: Offered in the month of Shawwal
1. I went to Jeddah in connection with my work. When I was preparing to go to Makkah for Umrah after finishing my work, my friends advised me that since it was the month of Shawwal, no one may offer the Umrah unless he is preparing to do the pilgrimage later on. They told me to visit Makkah without Ihraam. I took their advice, but some people told me that I did wrong. Please clear this confusion and tell me what I should do.
2. A person does more than one Umrah during the month of Shawwal, or Thul-Qaadah or early in the month of Thul-Hajjah, without having intention of performing the pilgrimage. Later on, he decides to go to pilgrimage. What sort of pilgrimage applies to him?
I have answered both queries on several occasions. There remains, however, an element of confusion which arises out of incomplete information on both points of entering Makkah without Ihraam garments and doing the Umrah after the end of Ramadhan and before the start of pilgrimage. Neither point is difficult to understand.
The Prophet has named the points of Meeqat and made it clear that anyone who wants to go to Makkah for doing either the Umrah or the pilgrimage must enter into the state of consecration i.e. Ihraam at these points. The Hadith states clearly that this applies to the people of the named areas and anyone else who passes through them "intending to do the Umrah or the pilgrimage." Therefore, a person who does not intend to do either duty is not included in this restriction. Such a person can go to Makkah in the normal way as he goes to any other town or city. He need not enter into the state of consecration. What this means in effect is that the Ihraam, or consecration, is a condition of performing a religious duty in Makkah. It is not meant for entering the city at any time or for any purpose. It is the reason for entry which counts.
The other point is that of offering the Umrah in Shawwal. There is no restriction on any person to offer the Umrah in the month of Shawwal or Thul-Qaadah or Thul-Hajjah, which are the three months of pilgrimage. Many people tend to think that if you offer the Umrah in this period, you must follow it with pilgrimage. This is terribly wrong. There is simply no time when Umrah cannot be offered.
The confusion arises in some people's minds because they reverse the conditions. The correct thing to say is that if you offer Umrah in these months, even when not intending to do the pilgrimage, but you then follow it with doing the pilgrimage, you are deemed to have done the two duties in the Tamattu method. This requires you to sacrifice a sheep in gratitude to Allah for enabling you to do both duties. If one does more than one Umrah in Shawwal or Thul-Qaadah, he is perfectly entitled to do so. If he does not intend to do the pilgrimage, either because he had done it, or because he does not meet the conditions of ability, or for any reason, he is welcome to do the Umrah.
If a change in his circumstances takes place and he decides or becomes able to do the pilgrimage later, he is deemed to do it in the Tamattu method which is the method preferred by the Prophet.
Having said that, I must add that if after he has done the Umrah in this period, and before he comes back for pilgrimage, he leaves to any place beyond the point of Meeqat and then comes back for his pilgrimage, the Umrah he had done does not affect his pilgrimage in anyway. He can choose any method. In other words, my reader from Riyadh could have done the Umrah in Shawwal and left for Riyadh. If he then decides to come back for pilgrimage, he can do the pilgrimage in the ifraad method, because he traveled beyond the point of Meeqat.
• Umrah: Offered on the 9th, 10th or 11th of Thul-Hajjah
The author of a book in Urdu says that Umrah cannot be offered on the 9th, 10th or 11th of Thul-Hajjah, even if one has performed the pilgrimage. Please comment.
If the author means that a person who is offering the pilgrimage cannot do the Umrah on these days, he is correct. Many pilgrims take the opportunity of being in Makkah in order to do Umrah after pilgrimage. This particularly applies to those who opt for the ifraad method of pilgrimage. These pilgrims should wait until the 14th of Thul-Hajjah when they should go out to Al-Taneem or any point at the boundaries of the Haram area where they enter into the state of consecration (or Ihraam), making their intention to do the Umrah and come back to Makkah to fulfill its duties.
However, a person who is not doing the pilgrimage may offer the Umrah at any time, even on the day of Arafat, or on the day of sacrifice. Take, for example, the case of a person traveling from Europe or Africa to Pakistan, India or any Eastern destination. He makes a stopover at Jeddah for one day or a few hours, during which he wishes to do the Umrah. There is nothing to prevent him from doing so, if he has the necessary permission (i.e. the appropriate visa). If such a person arrives in Jeddah on the day of Arafat, he may go ahead and do the Umrah. There is nothing to prevent him from doing so.