in which there is no fighting: Hajj and Umrah.” (1) His statement, “They are required,” apparently indicates obligation, because the preposition “upon” is one of the forms denoting obligation, as the scholars of legal theory have stated. Accordingly, Umrah is obligatory—but is it obligatory for the resident of Mecca?

There is a difference of opinion on this within the school of Imam Ahmad, may Allah have mercy on him. Imam Ahmad explicitly stated that it is not obligatory for the resident of Mecca, and this was also the view chosen by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him. Indeed, Shaykh al-Islam held that Umrah is not legislated at all for the people of Mecca, and that a person’s leaving Mecca in order to perform Umrah is not legislated in the first place. However, I have some reservations about this, because the basic principle is that the indications of the Quran and the sunnah are general and encompass all people, unless there is evidence showing that certain individuals are excluded from the general ruling.

Some scholars have cited as evidence for the obligation of Umrah the saying of Allah, Most High: “And complete Hajj and Umrah for Allah.” [Quran 2:196] But is this evidence conclusive for them?

The answer is that it may not be conclusive, because there is a difference between completing an act and initiating it. The verse indicates that whoever begins either of them must complete it, for this verse was revealed at al-Hudaybiyyah, before Hajj had been made obligatory. Hajj was not made obligatory until the ninth year, whereas al-Hudaybiyyah took place in Dhu al-Qadah of the sixth year. Thus, if a person begins Hajj or Umrah in any year, we would say: You must complete it. But as for undertaking Hajj in the first place, it is required only once.