The Ẓāhirī scholars consider this report insufficiently sound to overturn the earlier, established practice.

It is related from ʿUmar that he said:

“Two kinds of mutʿah existed in the time of the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—but I now forbid them and shall punish for them: the temporary marriage and the tamattuʿ of Hajj.”

A report from ʿUthmān states that he declared, “The tamattuʿ of Hajj was granted to us, not to you.”

Abū Dharr said, “After us no one has the right to enter into iḥrām for Hajj and then convert it to an ʿumrah.”

All of this must be viewed alongside the Almighty’s words:

“Complete the Hajj and the ʿumrah for Allah” (al-Baqarah 2:196).

The Ẓāhirīs hold that the default is to follow the practice of the Companions unless evidence from the Book of Allah or a sound Sunnah indicates that the ruling was specific to them. Hence the dispute: should the Companions’ action be understood as general, or as particular?

The second kind of tamattuʿ is the position of Ibn al-Zubayr, who maintained that the tamattuʿ mentioned by Allah refers to the tamattuʿ of someone prevented from completing Hajj by illness or by an enemy. This occurs when a man sets out for Hajj but is blocked by hostile forces—or some other impediment—until the Hajj days pass. He then comes to the Sacred House, circumambulates, performs saʿy between Ṣafā and Marwah, leaves iḥrām, enjoys the lawful things until the following year, and thereafter performs Hajj and offers a sacrifice. On this view, the well-known form of tamattuʿ would not be unanimously agreed upon.

Tāwūs also diverged, stating that if a Meccan performs tamattuʿ after travelling from a place outside Mecca, a sacrificial animal becomes obligatory for him.

The scholars disagreed about someone who enters into an ʿumrah outside the months of Hajj, performs it during the months of Hajj, and then undertakes Hajj in that same year.

Mālik said: “His ʿumrah is ascribed to the month in which he leaves iḥrām; if that month falls within the months of Hajj, he is a mutamattiʿ, and if it falls outside them, he is not.” A similar view was held by Abū Ḥanīfah, al-Shāfiʿī, and al-Thawrī, though al-Thawrī stipulated that all of his ṭawāf be performed in Shawwāl, a condition al-Shāfiʿī accepted.

Abū Ḥanīfah added: “If he completes three circuits in Ramaḍān and four in Shawwāl, he is a mutamattiʿ; but if the reverse occurs—that is, four in Ramaḍān and three in Shawwāl—he is not.”

Abū Thawr said: “If the ʿumrah is initiated outside the months of Hajj, then whether its circumambulation is performed outside those months or within them, he is not a mutamattiʿ.”

The root of the disagreement is whether one attains the status of mutamattiʿ merely by entering iḥrām for ʿumrah during the months of Hajj, or whether the ṭawāf must also fall within those months; and if ṭawāf is required, must it be entirely within them, or is the majority sufficient?

Abū Thawr holds that mutʿa is attained only by entering iḥrām during the months of Hajj, for the ʿumrah is established by iḥrām. Al-Shāfiʿī argues that ṭawāf is its greatest pillar, so mutʿa depends upon it. The majority maintain that performing any part of the ʿumrah during the months of Hajj is tantamount to performing all of it then.

According to Mālik, six conditions govern tamattuʿ: