known—praise be to Allah—up to the present day. They vary in their distance from the Ka'bah: some are close to it, while others are far away. The nearest of them to the Ka'bah is al-Tan'im, while the furthest are in the direction of Jeddah and also in the direction of Arafah; some are nine miles away, and others eleven miles. These boundaries are divinely prescribed; there is no room for personal opinion regarding them. Thus, one should not ask: Why are the boundaries of the Sacred Precinct farther away in this direction than in that direction?

His statement, “For Umrah, he enters ihram from outside the Sacred Precinct,” includes locations outside the Sacred Precinct that are near as well as those that are far. Thus, if someone were to say, “I do not wish to enter ihram from al-Tan'im; rather, I wish to enter ihram from the Jeddah road, which is far away—around ten miles,” he may do so.

But is it better to choose the more distant place, the nearer place, or the easier one?

Some scholars have said that it is preferable to choose the more distant place, because it entails greater reward. Yet there is some reservation about this.

Some scholars have said that it is preferable to enter ihram for Umrah from the miqat of one’s homeland. Thus, if he is from Najd and wishes to enter ihram, we would say: “It is preferable for you to enter ihram from Qarn al-Manazil.”

The closer view is that the preferable option is the easier one. Accordingly, if you are in Muzdalifah, enter ihram from Arafah, for it is the nearest point outside the Sacred Precinct to you. And if you are in the direction of al-Shara'i while within the Sacred Precinct, then al-Ji'ranah is preferable, because the Prophet ﷺ entered ihram from there when he came from Ta'if after the Battle of Hunayn (1).