just as if he performs the Dhuhr prayer before the sun passes its zenith: it counts as a voluntary prayer. Or we may say that it is invalid and does not take effect.
Some scholars said that the ihram does take effect, but it is disliked. Thus, the ihram is valid because he has responded to Allah’s call, but it is disliked because it goes against the apparent meaning of the verse: “Hajj is in well-known months.” The same applies to the spatial miqats.
The second view on this issue, then, is that entering ihram before the miqat is disliked; but if one does enter ihram, his ihram is valid and takes effect. For example, if someone from Madinah enters ihram from Madinah itself, we say: this is disliked, but it is valid. This is the view of the majority of scholars.
What is meant by ihram is the intention, not washing oneself and putting on the garments of ihram. Most ordinary people understand ihram to mean wearing the garments of ihram, but that is not so. As will come, Allah willing, in the chapter following this one, ihram is the intention to enter into the rite. Accordingly, if someone in Madinah bathes and puts on the garments of ihram but does not enter ihram until he reaches Dhu al-Hulayfah, he has done nothing disliked, because ihram is the intention to enter into the rite, and this intention arose from him only at the miqat.
If someone were to ask: What do you say about a person who does not pass by any of the miqats? Should he enter ihram from his own town, even if it is far away?
We say: The people of Kufah and Basrah complained to Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, saying, “O Commander of the Believers, the Prophet ﷺ designated Qarn al-Manazil as the miqat for the people of Najd, but it lies off our route”—that is, it is to one side of, and far from, their route. So he, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “Look for the point parallel to it along your route.” (1) Thus, we say to one who does not pass through the miqat: Enter ihram when you come parallel to the miqat. This is clear in the case of someone travelling over land, as Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, said; but if he is travelling by air, he should enter ihram when he comes parallel to it in the air.