should make it an umrah.” He also said, “Had I known beforehand what I came to know afterward, I would not have brought the sacrificial animal, and I would have exited ihram with you.” (1)

The Companions questioned him about this and said, “Messenger of Allah, how can we make it an umrah when we have declared Hajj”—that is, entered the talbiyah for Hajj? He replied, “Do what I have commanded you.” (2) They even raised with him a matter that one would be embarrassed to mention, but what was in their minds drove them to raise it. They said, “Messenger of Allah, shall we proceed to Mina while one of us is dripping semen from his private part?” (3)—that is, after having intercourse with his wife, since they would be completely released from ihram.

Yet the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, insisted on making it binding upon them that they make it an umrah; so they made it an umrah, except for those who had brought sacrificial animals. For one who has brought a sacrificial animal cannot perform tamattuʿ, since he does not exit ihram until the Day of Eid, and thus tamattuʿ becomes impossible.

Second: because tamattuʿ entails more actions.

Third: because it is generally easier for the legally accountable person.

His statement: “The best of the modes of pilgrimage is tamattuʿ” indicates, may Allah have mercy on him, that modes other than tamattuʿ are permissible, and that tamattuʿ is not obligatory. This is the view of the majority of scholars.

Some scholars, however, maintain that tamattuʿ is obligatory, and that a person who