—one who has carried out all or part of those acts.
All scholars agree that a pilgrim may not wash his head with khitmi, a scented cleansing herb. Mālik and Abū Ḥanīfah held that anyone who does so must offer a compensatory sacrifice, whereas Abū Thawr and others said that nothing is required of him.
They also differed about entering the public bath. Mālik considered it disliked and ruled that whoever enters must pay the fidyah. Abū Ḥanīfah, al-Shāfiʿī, al-Thawrī, and Dāwūd, however, saw no harm in it. Two separate chains report that Ibn ʿAbbās entered a bathhouse while in iḥrām, yet the sounder view is that doing so is disliked, for the pilgrim has been forbidden to remove tafath—that is, accumulated dirt and grime.
The fifth prohibited act is hunting. This, too, is a point of consensus, based on the Almighty’s words: “Hunting land animals is forbidden to you as long as you remain in a state of pilgrimage” (al-Māʾidah 5:96) and “Do not kill game while you are in a state of pilgrimage” (al-Māʾidah 5:95). All jurists agree that the pilgrim may neither hunt game himself nor eat anything he has personally taken.
They disagreed, however, about game taken by someone who is not in iḥrām (a ḥalāl). May the pilgrim eat it? Three opinions emerged:
- It is unconditionally permissible. This was the position of Abū Ḥanīfah and is reported from ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb and al-Zubayr.
- It is absolutely forbidden. This view is ascribed to Ibn ʿAbbās, ʿAlī, and Ibn ʿUmar, and was adopted by al-Thawrī.
- Mālik said: Game not hunted on behalf of the pilgrim—or for a group of pilgrims—is lawful for him; whatever is hunted specifically for the pilgrim is unlawful.
Their divergence stems from seemingly conflicting narrations. One such report is Mālik’s version of the ḥadīth of Abū Qatādah: He was traveling with the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—when, on one of the roads to Mecca, he lagged behind with companions who were in iḥrām while he was not. Spotting an onager, he mounted his horse and asked them to hand him his whip; they refused. He then asked for his spear, and they refused. He took it himself, charged the onager, and killed it. Some of the Prophet’s Companions ate from it while others abstained. When they rejoined the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—and asked him about the matter, he said, “It is merely a meal that Allah has provided for you.”
A similar meaning is found in the ḥadīth of Ṭalḥah ibn ʿUbayd Allāh, related by al-Nasāʾī. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Tamīmī said: “We were with Ṭalḥah ibn ʿUbayd Allāh while we were in iḥrām. Someone presented him with a gazelle while he was asleep, and some of us ate from it. When Ṭalḥah awoke, he approved of our eating and said, ‘We ate it with the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him.’”