beginning of the rite suffices, just as it does in prayer. The evidence is that a person praying is not required to intend the bowing, prostration, standing, or sitting individually. Circumambulation is therefore not an independent act.

It may also be said: if you do not stipulate intention for standing at Arafah—although it is the greatest of the pillars of Hajj, such that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Hajj is Arafah” (1)—then what is equivalent to it or less than it is even more deserving of this ruling. This is the view preferred by al-Shanqiti in his Qur’anic exegesis, and it is the correct view. It also serves people’s interests, for many people, if asked while circumambulating, “What did you intend by this circumambulation?” would reply, “I intended circumambulation,” without it occurring to them whether it was for Hajj or for Umrah. Yet they are in the state of Hajj. According to the view that stipulates intention, their circumambulation is invalid; according to the second view, it is valid.

Accordingly, we should omit the words, “or its intention,” because there is no pillar for which intention is stipulated. Entering into the state of ihram is the intention for the rite, and it has previously been mentioned that the rite is not established without it. Standing at Arafah does not require an intention.

Accordingly, a specific intention is not stipulated—namely, the intention that it is a circumambulation for Hajj. As for intending circumambulation itself, this is necessary: one must intend to circumambulate, but its being for Hajj is not a condition. Thus, if someone circumambulates without intending it to be for Hajj or Umrah, his circumambulation is valid. However, if he is carried around against his will and made to circumambulate while having no intention, then his circumambulation is invalid, because he did not intend it.

The evidence that the Hajj of one who omits a pillar is invalid is that a pillar is an essential constituent upon which the act of worship is built. It is also established by the Prophet’s statement regarding standing at Arafah: “Whoever arrives on the night of Jamʿ before dawn has caught it” (2). This indicates that if he misses standing at Arafah, he has missed Hajj.