And if a person is unable to perform tawaf on foot and therefore circles the House while mounted or carried, it is valid by unanimous agreement.
The same applies to any other obligation of tawaf that he cannot fulfil—such as someone who has an impurity on his body (1) that he cannot (2) remove, like a woman experiencing irregular bleeding (3) or a person afflicted with chronic urinary incontinence. Such an individual may perform tawaf, and nothing further is required of him, according to the consensus of the jurists.
Likewise, should he be unable to perform tawaf except while unclothed, he may do so at night, just as a person who can only pray while unclothed (4).
The same ruling also applies to a menstruating woman who cannot perform the obligatory tawaf except while in that state and for whom remaining longer in Mecca is not possible (5).
(1) In manuscript D the reading is: “kanat” (was).
(2) In manuscript A: “wa-la yumkin” (and it is not possible); in manuscript B: “la yumkin” (it is not possible).
(3) In manuscripts A and B the phrase reads: “ka-l-istihada” (such as chronic non-menstrual bleeding).
(4) According to the authoritative Hanbali view, covering the awra (the parts of the body that must be concealed) is a prerequisite for tawaf; see al-Mubdiʿ, 3/202, and al-Insaf, 4/16.
(5) The Hanbali school maintains that this tawaf is neither permissible nor valid; the issue was discussed above.
Addendum: Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyya held that a menstruating woman’s tawaf is restricted to two situations:
– If she performs tawaf out of necessity, it is valid and no compensation is required.
– If she performs it without necessity, she must give a blood-sacrifice (dam).
He states in Majmuʿ al-Fatawa, 26/214: “If a woman knowingly performs tawaf while menstruating, the opinion that a dam is obligatory applies; but if she is unable [to avoid it], the most that can be said is …”