The jurists also differed over the case of a person who neglects to enter iḥrām at his own miqāt and instead assumes it at another—such as when the people of Madinah bypass Dhū’l-Ḥulayfah and do so at al-Juhfah instead.

One group held that he must offer a compensatory sacrifice (dam); Mālik and some of his companions adopted this view. Abū Ḥanīfah, however, maintained that nothing is required of him.

The root of the disagreement is whether this omission counts among the rites whose abandonment entails a sacrificial offering or not.

There is, nevertheless, no dispute that anyone who passes one of these stations while intending Hajj or ʿUmrah is obliged to enter iḥrām there.

As for a person who is not intending either rite yet happens to pass the stations, one group said: everyone who passes must assume iḥrām, except those who travel back and forth continually—such as wood-cutters and the like. This is the position of Mālik. A second group said: iḥrām is only obligatory for someone who actually intends Hajj or ʿUmrah.

All of this concerns those who are not residents of Mecca. The Meccans themselves enter iḥrām for Hajj from within the city, whereas for ʿUmrah they must, without fail, go outside the sacred precinct (to the ḥill) and assume iḥrām there.

As to the moment when the people of Mecca should enter iḥrām for Hajj, some said it is when they sight the new moon, while others said it is when the pilgrims set out for Minā.

Such, then, is the spatial miqāt required for the various forms of this act of worship.

Statement on the temporal miqāt

The miqāt of time is likewise fixed for the three kinds of Hajj: it is Shawwāl, Dhū’l-Qaʿdah, and the first nine days of Dhū’l-Ḥijjah, by unanimous agreement.

Mālik said: the whole of these three months is a valid time for Hajj. Al-Shāfiʿī said: the two months and nine days of Dhū’l-Ḥijjah. Abū Ḥanīfah said: ten days only.

Mālik’s proof is the general sense of the Almighty’s words, “The pilgrimage is in well-known months” (Qur’an 2:197). Hence the term must apply to every day of Dhū’l-Ḥijjah, just as it applies to every day of Shawwāl and Dhū’l-Qaʿdah.

The second group’s evidence is that iḥrām comes to an end before the third month is finished, once the obligatory rites have been completed.

The practical consequence of the disagreement lies in whether Tawāf al-Ifāḍah may be deferred to the end of the month.

If someone assumes iḥrām for Hajj before the months of Hajj begin, Mālik considered it disliked yet valid; others held that his iḥrām is invalid; al-Shāfiʿī ruled that the iḥrām automatically becomes one for ʿUmrah.

Those who likened the matter to the appointed times of prayer said it cannot take place before its time. Those who relied on the general wording of, “And complete the Hajj and the ʿUmrah for Allah” (Qur’an 2:196) said that whenever a person assumes iḥrām it becomes binding, for he has been commanded to complete it. They thus compared Hajj in this respect to ʿUmrah, and the temporal miqāt of Hajj to that of ʿUmrah.

As for the Shāfiʿī school, its stance rests on the principle that if someone obliges himself to perform an act of worship during the time allotted to its counterpart, it converts to that counterpart—just as one who vows to fast on the days of Ramadan. There is, however, internal disagreement over this principle.

As for ʿUmrah, the scholars agree that it is permissible at all times of the year, for it was in