ʿAbbās who said, “No one may enter Mecca unless he is in a state of iḥrām.” Ibn Ḥajar remarked, “Its chain of transmission is sound.”

Imām al-Shāfiʿī, however, held that iḥrām is not obligatory for a person who does not intend Hajj or ʿUmrah. This is also the view of the Ẓāhirīs; Ibn Ḥazm defended it in al-Muḥallā. It is one narration attributed to Imām Aḥmad, preferred by Ibn ʿAqīl and by Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah.

Ibn Mufliḥ stated in al-Furūʿ: “It is apparent.”

Their evidence is the Prophet’s wording in the hadith under discussion: “for those who intend Hajj or ʿUmrah,” whose implicit meaning is that anyone who does not intend either rite is not required to assume iḥrām. Moreover, the majority of scholars who do obligate iḥrām place a restriction: the duty does not extend to people who continuously shuttle in and out of the sanctuary—such as couriers, transport workers, and the like—so they do not oblige them to enter iḥrām. This is the collective practice.

Benefit:
Designating these stations for entering iḥrām serves to magnify and honor this blessed precinct. Allah has venerated the House; He has made the Sacred Mosque its courtyard, Mecca the courtyard of the Mosque, the Ḥaram the courtyard of Mecca, and the miqāts the courtyard of the Ḥaram.