The Miqats
- There are five miqats: Dhu’l-Hulayfah, al-Juhfah, Qarn al-Manāzil, Yalamlam, and Dhāt ʿIrq. These points are appointed for the inhabitants of those regions and for anyone who passes by them—regardless of where he comes from—so long as he intends Hajj or ʿUmrah. Anyone whose home lies within those boundaries assumes ihrām from his own residence, and even the people of Mecca enter ihrām from within Mecca.
Dhu’l-Hulayfah is the miqat for the people of Madinah. It is a village six or seven miles outside the city and is the farthest miqat from Mecca, the distance between them being roughly ten stages, more or less depending on the route, for—as Ibn Taymiyyah notes—several roads lead from it to Mecca. It is also called Wādī al-ʿAqīq, and its mosque is known as Masjid al-Shajarah. Within it is a well that the uninformed common folk call “Biʾr ʿAlī,” imagining that ʿAlī fought the jinn there—an unfounded tale.
Al-Juhfah is a village about three stages from Mecca; it is the miqat for the people of Syria and Egypt, and for the people of Madinah as well when they travel by that alternate route. Ibn Taymiyyah says: “It is the miqat for those who come on pilgrimage from the west—Syria, Egypt, and the entire Maghrib. Today it lies in ruins, and for that reason people now assume ihrām before it, at a place called Rabigh.”
Qarn al-Manāzil—also known as Qarn al-Thaʿālib—lies toward Mecca at a distance of one day and one night’s travel; it is the miqat for the people of Najd.
Yalamlam is a location two nights’ journey from Mecca, roughly thirty miles away, and it is the miqat for the people of Yemen.
Dhāt ʿIrq is a spot in the desert marking the boundary between Najd and Tihāmah; it is forty-two miles from Mecca and serves as the miqat for the people of Iraq.