Ibn ʿAbbās, who reported: “The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—married Maymūnah while he was in a state of iḥrām.” This narration is found in the sound compilations, yet it is contradicted by many other reports—among them Maymūnah’s own statement: “The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—married me while he was in a state of ritual purity (ḥalāl).” I have transmitted this latter report through several chains: from Abū Rāfiʿ, from Sulaymān ibn Yasār—her freedman—and from Zayd ibn al-Aṣamm.

The two ḥadīths may be reconciled by holding the first to express disapproval (makrūh) and the second to denote permissibility. These, then, are the well-known prohibitions that apply to the person in iḥrām.

As for the time at which release from iḥrām occurs, we shall discuss it when dealing with the rites of ḥajj. The performer of ʿumrah is released once he has circumambulated the House, performed the saʿy, and shaved his head. Concerning the pilgrim performing ḥajj, the scholars have differed, as will be detailed later. Having spoken of what the muḥrim must abstain from, let us now address what he is required to do.

Discussion of the various forms of this ritual

Those who enter iḥrām fall into three categories: someone who enters solely for ʿumrah, someone who enters solely for ḥajj, and someone who combines ḥajj and ʿumrah. The last category is of two kinds: the mutamattiʿ and the qārin. We should therefore first set out these three types of rites and then explain what the pilgrim must do in each, noting whatever rulings are unique to each of them. We shall proceed in the same manner with the actions that follow iḥrām during the rites of ḥajj, God Most High willing.

Explaining these types

Ifrād is the form that lacks the distinctive features of tamattuʿ and qirān; for that reason we must begin with the description of tamattuʿ, followed by the description of qirān.

Tamattuʿ

The scholars are unanimously agreed that the rite meant by the Almighty’s words, “Whoever enjoys the ʿumrah up to the ḥajj, let him offer whatever sacrifice is easy” (al-Baqarah 2:196), is this: a man whose residence lies outside the Sanctuary enters into iḥrām for ʿumrah during the months of ḥajj from the appointed miqāt; he then proceeds to the House, circumambulates for his ʿumrah, performs the saʿy, and shaves his head—all within those same months. He thereby becomes released in Mecca, and then inaugurates the ḥajj in that same year, during those very months, without returning to his homeland.

An exception is the narration from al-Ḥasan, who held that a person remains a mutamattiʿ even if he returns home and does not perform ḥajj; such a person, he said, must still offer the sacrificial animal prescribed for the mutamattiʿ in the verse, “Whoever enjoys the ʿumrah up to the ḥajj, let him offer whatever sacrifice is easy” (al-Baqarah 2:196), for he used to say, “An ʿumrah performed during the months of ḥajj is an enjoyment (mutʿah).”