The Steps of Hajj and Umrah
Home » Articles » Pilgrimage » The Steps of Hajj and UmrahWhen attending to the rites of hajj or umrah and taking a bath and wearing perfumes as explained previously, one must bid farewell to his family and brothers saying “I put your religion and the last of your deeds in Allah’s trust”. In answering they say “May Allah increase you piety and guide you to the right wherever it may be”. He should ask them also for forgiveness.
When he reaches the miqat, he should make Ihrameither Ifrad, Tamattu or Qiran. He should also say “O Allah! My place is where you stop me”, so as to avoid expiation if he does not complete the rites and terminate ihram for any reason. Then he should say the talbiah “O Allah! Here I am in response to your call, you have no partner, O Allah! Here I am in response to your call, all the praise, all the grace belong to you and the kingdom, verily you have no partner”. He should say it loudly here and there along with Doa’a, remembrance of Allah and asking Allah for the blessing on the prophet (S.A.S.). When he reaches Makkah, it is recommended to take a bath if it is possible, as the prophet (S.A.S.) did it.
It is sunah to enter the holy house through Assalam door with the right leg before the left and say, “In the name of Allah, peace and blessings be upon our prophet. I seek refuge in Allah the greatest, His noble face and His Eternal Sovereignty against the cursed devil. O Allah! Bestow upon me your mercy”. Then one is supposed to go to the black stone while wearing the ihram garb and try to touch it with his right hand and kiss it and say “In the name of Allah, Allah is the greatest”, in case he can’t do this, he should touch it with any thing and kiss that thing, but if he can’t, he should point to it.
After that, he starts tawaf leaving the black stone on the left and say “O Allah! I believe in you and your book, fulfilling the covenant and following the example of your prophet peace be upon him”. The tawaf is composed of seven rounds around Ka’bah, jogging lightly through the first three rounds, remembering Allah as much as possible, for this purpose one may choose any supplication without any restrictions as no certain supplications are narrated except when touching the Yemeni corner “O, our lord! Grant us good in this world and in the hereafter and save us from the punishment of the hellfire”. Touching the Yemeni corner is sunah unless it is crowded. One is not supposed to touch any other place.
When finishing tawaf, one covers his right shoulder and goes to Al-Multazam and cries and makes a lot of supplications. It is sunah to pray two rak’ahs after completing the tawaf at the station of Ibrahim, peace be upon him. Allah says “and make of the station of Ibrahim a place of prayer”. One reads suraht Al-Kafirun in the first rak’ah and Al-Ikhlas in the second rak’ah. One can, because of crowdedness, pray the two rak’ahs in any place of the sacred mosque. After praying, pilgrim touches and kisses the black stone and drinks from zamzam.
CONDITIONS OF TAWAF
1) Cleanliness from major or minor physical or any other impurities: Ibn Abbas reported that the prophet, peace be upon him, said “tawaf is similar to prayer, but Allah, the Almighty has made talking for one engaged in tawaf permissible. So, whose talks should say only good things”. As for those who suffer from an illness that causes continuous impurity, they can make tawaf without incurring any penalty.
2) Covering one’s Awrah (private parts): Abu Hurairah narrated that the prophet (S.A.S.) said “No idolater nor any naked person shall be allowed to perform tawaf of the Ka’bah after this year”.
3) One must begin and end tawaf at the black stone: Jaber said “when the prophet (S.A.S.) came to Makkah, he went to the black stone and touched it, then walked on the right side of which jogging three rounds and walking four”.
4) Tawaf must be performed outside and around the Ka’bah: thus if someone were to walk within hijr Ismail, his tawaf will not be valid, because hijr Ismail is part of Ka’bah. Allah has commanded us to circumambulate around the Ka’bah and not inside it. Allah says “and circumambulate the ancient house.
Then one goes out through As-safa door to make Sa’i while reciting “Verily, assafa and al-marwa are of the symbols of Allah, so it is a not a sin on him who performs hajj or umrah of the house to perform the going (tawaf) between them (as-safa and al-marwa), and whoever does good voluntarily, then verily Allah is all recognizer, all knower”. It is recommended to remember Allah and praise him saying “there is no god but Allah. Allah is the greatest. There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah. He has no partner. To him belongs the kingdom and all praise. He alone grants life and causes death. He has power over all things. There is no god but He. He has fulfilled His promise, giving victory to His servants, and He alone defeated the confederates”.
After that the pilgrim says any doa’a, and it is better to be repeated three times. Then he goes down to al-marwa. Once reaching al-marwa, he has fulfilled one round, and he is supposed to do the same things he did on assafa.
The sa’i is composed of seven rounds, starting at assafa and ending at al-marwa. Visual purity is not a must in sa’i. It is recommended to make dhikr and supplications and recite qur’an as much as possible during sa’i. On completing the seventh round, one who is making umrah or hajj tamattu may terminate his state of ihram by clipping some of his hair short or else shave it all. However, a pilgrim should keep his state of ihram if he is performing hajj qiran or ifrad. Such a pilgrim may terminate his state of ihram on the day of sacrifice (yawmun-nahr) after the sacrifice.
THE EIGHTH OF DHUL-HIJJAH YUMU-L-TARWIAH
On this day, the pilgrim who makes tamattu must make ihram from where he
is in makkah, so do the people of makkah. Then they all go to mina. It
is recommended that one should make supplications and say talbiah as
much as possible, and should offer dhuhr, asr, maghrib, and isha prayers
at mina and spend the night there and not depart from it until the
sunrise of the ninth day of Dhul-Hijjah. Each prayer should be prayed at
time but shortened.
THE NINTH OF DHUL-HIJJAH
DAY OF ARAFAH
After the sunrise of the ninth of Dhul-Hijjah, pilgrims leave for arafah while uttering talbiah. It is sunah to stop at Namerah, and stay till midday and pray both asr
and dhuhr gathered and shortened in dhuhr time with one azan and two
iqamas.
Then the pilgrims stop at any part of arafah facing the ka’ba. It is
recommended to make efforts in supplications and remembrance of Allah
raising the hands in complete submission to Allah. It is sunah to say,
as much as possible, “There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah.
He has no partners. To Him belong the kingdom and all the praise. He
alone grants life and causes death, He has power over all things”.
It is also sunah to say any supplications. The pilgrims remain as
they are until sunset. When the sun sets, they leave quietly and
peacefully for muzdalifah. Upon arriving to muzdalefah, pilgrims offer
maghrib and isha shortened and gathered with one call and separate iqama
for each, three raka’hs for maghrib and two for isha. Then they stay
overnight thereby. Only weak pilgrims, e.g. the sick and old are allowed
to leave for mina in the last part of the night.
As for those who do not have excuse, they should stay till they pray
fajr prayer and stand facing the ka’ba and make supplications till the
break of Dawn.
One may stop anywhere in muzdalefah. The prophet (S.A.S.) said “I stopped here and the entire area of muzdalefah is a place to stop”. Allah says “There is no sin on you if you seek the bounty of your lord (during pilgrimage and trading), then when you leave arafat remember Allah at the Mash’ar il-haram and remember him as he has guided you and verily, you were before of those who were astray. Then depart from the place where all the people depart and ask Allah for his forgiveness. Truly, Allah is forgiving, most merciful”.
Then the pilgrims, following the example of the prophet, collect seven pebbles from muzdalefah or from the way to throw at jamrat al-aqabah.
THE TENTH DAY OF DUL-HIJJAH
THE DAY OF SACRIFICE – THE FEAST DAY
Before the sunrise, the pilgrims leave muzdalefah for mina while uttering talbiah. When they reach muhser, they should hurry
if they can. When they reach mina, they stop the talbiah and throw the
seven pebbles at jamrat al-aqabah raising the hand and saying takbier,
(Allahu Akbar). Pilgrims who for valid reason can not themselves throw
the pebbles, may ask someone else to throw pebbles on their behalf.
Delay in throwing pebbles before the sunset is permissible.
On slaughtering hadi, which is one of the deeds that should be done on that day, it is recommended to say “in the name of Allah. Allah is the greatest. O, Allah! This is from you and to you”. It is also recommended to give to the poor and friends and to eat there from. Allah says “And eat thereof and feed therewith the poor who have a very hard time”. Delaying the slaughter till the third day of tashriq (13th Dhul-Hijjah) is permissible. Clipping the hair short or shaving it all is of the deeds of the 10th of Dhul-Hijjah, but shaving is better as the prophet (S.A.S.) said “O, Allah! Be merciful to those who shave” three times and in the fourth time he said “and to those who clip it short”. This is for men. As for women, they clip from each side of the head parts as small as a fingertip. After throwing the pebbles, clipping short or shaving, everything that was unlawful because of ihram, becomes lawful except touching women, and this is called tahallul asghar.
The pilgrim has tahallul akbar after performing tawaf al-ifadah. In case the pilgrim has made hajj ifrad or qiran,
he is not supposed to make sa’i, as the first sa’i is enough, and after
tawaf everything including women becomes lawful for him. As for the
pilgrims who make hajj tamattu, they must make sa’i after tawaf ifadah.
After that sa’i, everything including women becomes lawful. Then the
pilgrims go back to mina to stay overnight therein and complete the hajj
rites.
THE ELEVENTH DAY OF DHUL-HIJJAH
THE FIRST DAY OF TASHREEQ
This is the day on which the pilgrims throw seven pebbles at each of the
three jamrah. The time of throwing starts after midday and ends before
sunset. First, the pilgrims should throw pebbles at the small jamrah
uttering takbier when throwing each pebble. Then they move to the right
side and make supplication in complete submission to Allah facing the
ka’bah. They throw pebbles of the middle jamrah and leave for their
place.
THE TWELFTH DAY OF DHUL-HIJJAH
THE SECOND DAY OF TASHREEQ
On this day, the pilgrims throw pebbles in the same way they did the day
before it. If anyone wants to leave, he should leave before the
sunset. In case the sun sets, he should stay overnight and throw the
pebbles on the third day. Allah says “and remember Allah during the
appointed days, but whoever hastens to leave in two days, there is no
sin in
him and whoever stays on, there is no sin on him, if his aim is to do
good and obey Allah, and know that you will surely be gathered to him
Throwing the pebbles of two days in one day is permissible. Also throwing on behalf of others for good
reasons is permissible. As for throwing before midday, Abuhanifah
allowed it in one of his opinions; this opinion is also narrated about
Atta, Tawus and Abdul-Rahman ibn al-jawzi. Imam Shafi’i allows it from
fajr. This is made easy to avoid crowdedness and dangers that results
therefrom.
THE THIRTEENTH DAY OF DHUL-HIJJAH
THE THIRD DAY OF TASHREEQ
Who do not hasten and stay till the third day should throw the pebbles in the same way explained above.
Farewell tawaf
On completing all the rites of pilgrimage with the intention of leaving
maccah, one makes farewell tawaf. The prophet (S.A.S.) said, “Let no
one of you leave until he makes, as a last step, tawaf”. The pilgrim
may take some water of zamzam. The prophet (S.A.S.) used to take and
pour it onto the head of the sick and give it to them to drink.
Confined or menstruating women leave without making the farewell tawaf.
On leaving the holy mosque, pilgrims say “O, Allah! Send your
blessings, peace and mercy on our prophet Mohammed. O, Allah bestow
upon me of your bounty”.
Parent page: Pilgrimage
