Download
0 / 0

She entered ihraam for ‘umrah, then she decided not to do it. What does she have to do?

Question: 40512

I was in al-Taa’if then I decided to go to Makkah to spend some days there. On the day I was going there, I thought of entering ihraam for ‘umrah and in fact I did ghusl and said, “Labbaayk Allaahumma bi ‘umrah, Labbayk Allaahumma labbayk (here I am, O Allaah, for ‘umrah, Here I am, O Allaah, here I am).” Then before I left the house something occurred to me that made me delay the idea. Because I am a woman, ihraam did not change a lot of things for me (i.e., my dress was no different etc), so I forgot that I had spoken the Talbiyah out loud. I went to Makkah but I did not do ‘Umrah. I spent a few days there, then I went back to al-Taa’if for one day. From there I entered ihraam for ‘umrah and I went to Makkah and did ‘umrah (and I did not remember that I had said the Talbiyah the first time until I said the Talbiyah at the meeqaat the second time). What should I do about that?.

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family.

Everyone who enters ihraam for ‘Umrah or Hajj must complete
the rituals even if they are naafil pilgrimages, because Allaah says
(interpretation of the meaning): 

“And perform properly [or complete], the Hajj and ‘Umrah
(i.e. the pilgrimage to Makkah) for Allaah”

[al-Baqarah 2:196]

Whoever intends to enter
ihraam but then does not complete the rituals, with no legitimate shar’i
excuse, has done something that is haraam. 

The scholars of the
Standing Committee said: 

If he has put on the izaar and rida’ (ihraam garments) but he
did not form the intention of starting to do Hajj or ‘Umrah and he did not
recite the Talbiyah, then he has the choice: if he wants he may start Hajj
or ‘Umrah, and if he wants he can abandon the idea. And there is no sin on
him if he has already done the Hajj and ‘Umrah of Islam (i.e., the
obligatory Hajj or ‘umrah). But if he had formed the intention of starting
Hajj or ‘umrah, he does not have the right to cancel that and change his
mind, rather he must complete that for which he entered ihraam in the manner
prescribed in sharee’ah, because Allaah says (interpretation of the
meaning): 

“And perform properly [or complete], the Hajj and ‘Umrah
(i.e. the pilgrimage to Makkah) for Allaah”

[al-Baqarah 2:196]

Thus it should be clear
to you that once the Muslim has started Hajj or ‘umrah by forming the
intention, he does not have the right to change his mind, rather he must
complete what he has started, because of the verse quoted above – unless he
has stipulated a condition and this obstacle that he feared comes to pass;
in that case he may exit ihraam, because when Dubaa’ah bint al-Zubayr said
to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him): “O
Messenger of Allaah, I want to do Hajj but I am ill,” he said: “Do Hajj and
stipulate the condition that you will exit ihraam at the point when you
cannot go any further.” Saheeh – agreed upon.  

Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah li’l-Buhooth al-‘Ilmiyyah
wa’l-Ifta’, 11/166-167. 

Based on this, the ‘umrah that you did takes the place of the
‘umrah for which you entered ihraam at first. 

With regard to the things that are forbidden in ihraam that
you did during those days, they are forgiven, because it seems that you did
not know that it is forbidden to cancel the intention to do ‘umrah after
forming that intention. 

In the answer to question no.
36522 we have stated that whoever
does one of the things that are forbidden in ihraam out of ignorance or
because he forgot, does not have to do anything (i.e., he does not have to
offer any fidyah). 

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen was asked about a woman who entered
ihraam for ‘umrah then she canceled that ‘umrah, and did another ‘umrah a
few days later. Is what she did correct? What is the ruling on what she did
of the things that are forbidden during ihraam? 

He replied: What she did is not correct, because if a person
starts to do ‘umrah or Hajj, it is haraam for him to cancel it unless he has
a valid shar’i reason. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): 

“And perform properly [or complete], the Hajj and ‘Umrah
(i.e. the pilgrimage to Makkah) for Allaah”

[al-Baqarah 2:196]

So this woman has to repent to Allaah for what she did, but
her ‘umrah is valid because even though she cancelled it, it cannot be
cancelled. This is one of the unique characteristics of Hajj. Hajj has
unique characteristics that are not present in any other act of worship. If
a person intends to cancel Hajj it does not become cancelled, but if a
person intends to cancel any other act of worship it does become cancelled.
If a person is fasting then he decides to cancel his fast, his fast is
cancelled, and if a person decides to cancel his wudoo’ whilst doing it, his
wudoo’ is cancelled. But if a person is doing ‘umrah and decides to cancel
it, it does not become cancelled, and if he decides to cancel Hajj whilst
putting on the Hajj garments, it does not become cancelled. Hence the
scholars said that the rituals of Hajj and ‘umrah do not be cancelled even
of a person decides to cancel them. 

Based on this we say: this woman is still in a state of
ihraam from the moment she formed the intention until she completes ‘umrah.
Her intention to cancel it does not have any effect, rather she remains in
that state. 

To sum up: with regard to this woman we say that her ‘umrah
is valid, but she should not cancel ihraam again, because if she cancels
ihraam that does not count. 

With regard to the things
she did that are haraam when in ihraam, let us assume that her husband had
intercourse with her at this time, and intercourse when in ihraam is the
most serious of the forbidden things. But she does not have to offer any
fidyah because she was unaware (of the ruling). Every person who does one of
the things that are forbidden in ihraam out of ignorance or because he
forgot or was forced to do it, does not have to do anything (i.e., offer any
fidyah). 

From Majmoo’ Fataawa Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, 21/351. 

And Allaah knows best.

Source

Islam Q&A

Was this answer helpful?

at email

Our newsletter

To join our newsletter please add your email below

phone

IslamQA App

For a quick access to our content and offline browsing

download iosdownload android