“…Look for the point that lies directly in line with it along your route.” ʿUmar then fixed Dhāt ʿIrq for them. [al-Bukhārī 1531] From that time on it became the Sunnah that anyone who does not actually pass one of the appointed miqāts must enter iḥrām as soon as he comes parallel with the one nearest to him.
12- The jurists—may Allah have mercy on them—have stated that it is disliked to assume iḥrām before the miqāt designated by the Lawgiver, in accordance with the authentic ḥadiths and with the Prophet’s own practice ﷺ. Al-Ḥasan narrated that ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn once entered the state of iḥrām while still in Egypt; when the news reached ʿUmar he became angry and said, “Are people to hear that a Companion of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ began his iḥrām in his own town?”
13- It is likewise disliked to enter iḥrām before the months of ḥajj. The commentary says, “We know of no disagreement on this point,” for Allah says, “Ḥajj is during well-known months” (Q 2:197), and Ibn ʿAbbās said, “Part of the Sunnah is that one does not assume iḥrām for ḥajj except during its months.” [al-Bukhārī, suspended] Even so, the iḥrām does take legal effect if initiated before either the temporal or the spatial miqāt.
14- A person who does not pass directly by a miqāt must assume iḥrām when he comes level with the nearest one to him. This principle of alignment was laid down by ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with him—when he designated Dhāt ʿIrq as the miqāt for the people of Iraq, and the scholars are unanimously agreed upon it.
In the Name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful
Decision of the Council of Senior Scholars concerning the miqāt of “Dhāt ʿIrq,” No. 177:
Praise belongs to Allah, Lord of all worlds, and may blessings, peace, and grace be upon His servant and Messenger, our Prophet Muḥammad, and upon his family and Companions. To proceed:
The Council of Senior Scholars, in its fortieth session, examined the petition submitted by a number of residents of al-Ḍuraybah requesting the construction of a mosque at the miqāt of Dhāt