Mālik and al-Shāfiʿī maintain that a tawāf performed without ritual purity is not valid, whether the omission was deliberate or inadvertent.

Abū Ḥanīfah holds that it is technically valid, yet it is recommended that one repeat it, and a blood-sacrifice becomes obligatory.

Abū Thawr says: If a person circumambulates without wuḍūʾ and was unaware of his state, his tawāf suffices; if he knew, it does not.

Al-Shāfiʿī further stipulates that the pilgrim’s garment be pure, just as purity is required for the one who prays.

Those who insist on purity for tawāf rely chiefly on the Prophet’s—peace and blessings be upon him—words to the menstruating woman, Asmāʾ bint ʿUmays: “Do everything the pilgrim does, except that you must not circumambulate the House.” This ḥadīth is authentic. They also cite the report in which he—peace be upon him—said:

“Circumambulation of the House is prayer, except that Allah has permitted speech therein; so let nothing be spoken in it but good.”

Those who allow tawāf without purification argue from the consensus that saʿy between Ṣafā and Marwah is permissible without purification, and that not every act of worship requiring freedom from menstruation likewise requires freedom from minor impurity; fasting is their precedent.

Concerning the kinds and rulings of tawāf: the scholars unanimously agree that tawāf is of three types: (1) Tawāf of Arrival on entering Mecca; (2) Tawāf al-Ifāḍah after pelting the Jamrah of ʿAqabah on the Day of Sacrifice; and (3) the Farewell Tawāf.

They further concur that the obligatory tawāf whose omission invalidates the ḥajj is Tawāf al-Ifāḍah, that it is the act meant by the Almighty’s words,

“Then let them remove their untidiness, fulfil their vows, and circumambulate the Ancient House” (al-Ḥajj 29),

and that no compensatory sacrifice can replace it.

The majority hold that the Arrival Tawāf cannot stand in place of Tawāf al-Ifāḍah if the latter is forgotten, because it occurs before the Day of Sacrifice. A group of Mālik’s companions, however, judged that the Arrival Tawāf does suffice for Tawāf al-Ifāḍah, regarding the obligation as a single tawāf.

Most scholars state that the Farewell Tawāf counts for Tawāf al-Ifāḍah when the latter has not yet been performed, since it is a circumambulation carried out within the time allotted for the obligatory tawāf, unlike the Arrival Tawāf which precedes that time.

They are also unanimous—as Abū ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-Barr reports—that the Arrival and Farewell tawāfs are Sunnah for the pilgrim, except for one who fears missing the ḥajj; for him Tawāf al-Ifāḍah suffices. A number of scholars recommend that whoever finds himself in such a situation should walk briskly (ramal) during the first three circuits of Tawāf al-Ifāḍah, following the practice of ramal in the Arrival Tawāf.

The scholars agree that a resident of Mecca is only required to perform Tawāf al-Ifāḍah, just as they agree that the ʿumrah-performer has only the Arrival Tawāf.

They further concur that whoever performs tamattuʿ—an ʿumrah followed by ḥajj—must perform two tawāfs: one for the ʿumrah, by which he exits its consecrated state, and one for the ḥajj on the Day of Sacrifice, as is mentioned in the ḥadīth of