after he had completed the stoning and counted that circumambulation in place of the Farewell Circumambulation, and he did not remain in Mecca thereafter but set out at once, it would suffice for the Farewell Circumambulation.
Juristic disagreement:
The three Imams—Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, and Aḥmad—hold that ritual purification (wuḍūʾ) is a condition for tawāf, whereas Abū Ḥanīfah maintains that it is not a condition, though he still judges it obligatory. The practical consequence is that, according to the Ḥanafīs, tawāf performed while in a state of minor impurity is valid but requires a compensatory sacrifice (with details on its type and amount); according to the other schools, such a tawāf is invalid.
Ibn Rushd remarked: “The root of their disagreement is whether the legal status of tawāf should be assimilated to that of prayer. It is authentically reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade a menstruating woman from performing tawāf just as he forbade her from prayer, so tawāf resembles prayer in this respect. Abū Ḥanīfah’s evidence, however, is that not everything from which menstruation bars a woman necessarily requires ritual purity for its performance.”
A useful note:
The circumambulations connected to the rites are three:
- Tawāf al-qudūm (the Circumambulation of Arrival), which is sunnah by consensus of the scholars.
- Tawāf al-ifāḍah, an essential pillar of both Ḥajj and ʿumrah: one may not partially exit the state of consecration without it, nor can a sacrifice or anything else take its place—this is likewise a point of consensus.
- Tawāf al-wadāʿ (the Farewell Circumambulation), which is obligatory according to the majority of scholars and sunnah according to the Mālikīs. The Ḥajj is still valid without it, yet—according to those who deem it obligatory—anyone other than a menstruating or postpartum woman who omits it must offer a blood-sacrifice.
Decision of the Council of Senior Scholars concerning the Farewell Circumambulation:
In the Name of Allah alone; may blessings and peace be upon His Prophet Muḥammad, his family, and his companions.
The Council of Senior Scholars, in its fourteenth session held in the city of Ṭāʾif from 10/10/1399 AH to 21/10/1399 AH, considered the ruling on