Umrah Masail

Doing Umrah is neither Fardh or Wajib. It is a Sunnah of the Prophet PBUH.

Umrah can be done year round and take a few hours to complete once in Ihram and in Haram.

There are two Faraidh of Umrah:

1. To enter in the state of Ihram
2. To do Tawaf

There are two Wajibat of Umrah:

1. To do Saee between Safa and Marwah
2. To do Halaq or Qasar. (Shave or shorten the hair on ones head)

There are two requirements of Ihram.
1) A person should enter into the state of Ihram before before their Miqaat.
2)The person must not do what is prohibited in Ihram.

The following things are prohibited and become Haram in Ihram. Violation of these requires Kaffara.

• Using perfume or fragranced items
• Wearing garments that are tailored to the human form(for Men only)
• Covering the head or face (for Men only)
• Trimming, shaving or plucking any hair on the body
• Trimming and/or filing ones nails
• Marrying or proposing for marriage
• Having sexual intercourse

The Ihram for women is the same as that for men with the exception of the following:

• It is Wajib for her to cover hear head.
• She cannot wear a veil that touches her face. However, she should hide her face in front of non-Mahrams.
• She can wear tailored clothes

You need to have the intention of getting out of the state of Ihram and you need to do Halaq or Qasr.

Talbiya is the recitation of the dua below with the intention of doing Hajj, Umrah, or Hajj and Umrah.
Arabic:

There are three Faraidh (obligatory acts) of Tawaf. If one does not do any one of them, the Tawaf will not be counted and must be repeated.

1. To do the majority of the laps/rounds of the Tawaf (more than three and a half)
2. To do the Tawaf outside of the Kaaba and inside Masjid-a-Haram
3. To do the Tawaf yourself, even if you need to use a wheelchair or other form of assistance

If any of the Wajibat of Tawaf are not done, the Tawaf needs to be repeated or a Kaffara needs to be done

1. One must be clean (Taharat)
2. One must have his or her Satar covered
3. Those who can walk must do the Tawaf on foot.
4. Go around the Kaaba in the counter-clockwise direction
5. One must go around the Hateem
6. Complete all seven rounds of the Kaaba

There is only one Fard of Saee, which is to do Saee between Safa and Marwah, not some other location.

The following are the Wajibaat of Saee, if any one in not completed, then the Saee has to be repeated or Kaffara needs to be done.

• Saee should be done in-person even if a wheelchair or other aid is required
• Saee must be done after a Tawaf.
• To start the Saee from Safa and end at Marwah
• To do all the seven rounds of Saee
• To do Saee on foot if one is capable of walking
• To go all the distance from Safa to Marwah and vice versa.

Omitting or not completing as per the requirements any of the following during Umrah requires slaughtering an animal for each mistake:

• Wajibat of Tawaaf
• Wajibat of Saee
• Doing Halaq or Qasr

(Click bullets for the Details)

If any of the following are violated in Ihram, the Kaffara needs to be done:

• Using perfume
• Wearing garments that are tailored to the human form
• Covering the head or face
• Trimming, shaving or plucking any hair on the body
• Trimming and/or filing ones nails
• Kissing; having sexual intercourse completely invalidates the Umrah

There are two categories of violations: excused and unexcused.
Within these two categories, there are two types of violations: complete and partial
Example: An excused violation would be that if you have sustained an injury to your finger and need the have the nail removed to prevent infection. Similarly, if you clip all the nails of your hand, it would be a complete violation and if you clip some of the nails it will a partial violation.

• Slaughtering of animal requires that you slaughter either a sheep, goat, cow or camel.
• The minimum age requirements for the animals are that a sheep should 6 months old, a goat should be a year old, a cow should be two years old and a camel should be five years old.
• A cow or a camel can satisfy up to seven Kaffara that require slaughtering an animal
• The animals should not have any defects.  Their ears, tails, noses, and teeth should be intact.
• The animals need to slaughtered within Huddod Haram (the boundary of Makkah)
• The meat must be distributed to the people who reside inside Huddod Haram and are eligible to receive Zakat.

Fasting-A kaffara by fasting consists of fasting three days.  These days do not have to consecutive

Feeding the Poor or Sadaqa- The actual form of this type of Kaffara is to feed two meals of an average nature to a person who resides inside Huddod Haram and are eligible to receive Zakat.  This can be done or Sadaqa of the amount of Sadaqa/Zakat-ul-Fitr can be distributed to the people who reside inside Huddod Haram and are eligible to receive Zakat.

1. Damm: Literally means blood.  This represents the slaughtering of an animal for the expiation of mistakes done during Hajj and/or Umrah.  More specifically, an animal for each Wajib skipped or not performed as prescribed.
2. Fard/Faraidh: These are the acts that are obligatory.  If these are not done, that act is invalid and must be to be repeated.
3. Hajar Aswad (Black Stone):  This is a stone from paradise. The time it came from paradise it was white as milk, however, due to sins of children of Adam being absorbed by this stone, it has turned black.
4. Halaq: Shaving off the hair from one’s head.
5. Haram: This is the boundary defined of the city of Makkah in the Sharia. It is prohibited to hunt, cut trees, or shepherd within these boundaries.
6. Hateem: This is a semi-circle touching the Kaaba. It is part of the Kaaba.  When the Quraish rebuilt the Kaaba, this was left out due to the lack of Halal resources they had.
7. Hill: This is the land between the boundaries of Haram and the boundaries of the Meeqat. It is called Hill as in this land those things are halal which were haram in Haram.
8. Ihram: Ihram means making haram. When the haji makes intention for Hajj or Umrah and says the Talbiya, then at that time some Halal things become Haram.
9. Istilam: Istilam is to kiss or touch the Hajar Aswad. It is also to touch, but not kiss, the Ruknai Yamani.
10. Kaaba: Kaaba is also known as Baitullah (House of Allah).  It is shrine in the middle of Masjid Haram and is the world’s first place of worship.  Angels, by the order of Allah built, the Kaaba even before the birth of Adam PBUH. Adam PBUH, Ibrahim PBUH, the Quraish, Abdullah bin Zubair, and Abdul Malik, subsequently rebuilt the Kaaba.  It was also been repaired many times. This is the Qibla of Muslims and is a very high respectful place.
11. Kafaara: Literally means expiation.  This is achieved through the slaughtering of an animal for each mistakes done during Hajj and/or Umrah.  More specifically, an animal for each Wajib skipped or not performed as prescribed.
12. Maqam Ibrahim: A rock of paradise, which aided Ibrahim PBUH in building the Kaaba.
13. Marwah: A mountain near Kaaba where Saee is competed.
14. Mataaf: Place for doing Tawaf.
15. Meelain Akhdarain: Green lights between Safa and Marwah where men doing Saee have to run.
16. Meeqat. That place where putting on Ihram is Wajib for people entering Haram.
17. Multazim: The wall between Hajra Aswad and Kaaba’s door where it is Sunnah to make dua.
18. Qasar: Shortening the hair of one’s head
19. Raml: Raml is to complete the first three laps/rounds of Tawaf at a fast pace.
20. Ruknai Yamani: This is the Kaaba’s third corner.  It faces towards Yemen.
21. Saee: Saee is go from Safa to Marwah seven times. Going to from Safa to Marwah is counted as one and then from Marwah to Safe is counted as two and so on until the seventh round ends at Marwah.
22. Safa: A mountain from where Saee is started from
23. Talbiyah: Talbiya is the recitation of the dua : لَبَّيْكَ اللَّهُمَّ لَبَّيْكَ، لَبَّيْكَ لاَ شَرِيْكَ لَكَ لَبَّيْكَ، إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ وَالنِّعْمَةَ لَكَ وَالْمُلْكَ لاَشَرِيْكَ لَكَ
24. Tawaaf: Going around the Kaaba seven times.
25. Umrah: Doing Umrah requires that a person enters into the state of Ihram and then do Tawaf around the Kaaba and than do Saee between Safa and Marwah.
26. Wajib/Wajibaat:  There are that acts that are necessary. If these Wajibaat are not completed, then that act needs to be repeated or a Kaafra, in the form of a Damm, needs to be completed for each Wajib not completed.