Third view – a position also reported from Ibn Masʿūd.

Its proponents cite the ḥadīth related by al-Ḥajjāj ibn ʿAmr al-Anṣārī, who said: “I heard the Messenger of Allah – peace and blessings be upon him – say, ‘Whoever suffers a fracture or becomes lame is released from his iḥrām, but he must perform another Hajj.’”

They further argue by consensus that a pilgrim prevented by an enemy is not required to circumambulate the Kaʿbah in order to come out of iḥrām. The majority likewise hold that a person prevented by illness must offer a sacrificial animal (hady).

Abū Thawr and Dāwūd, however, maintain that no hady is due, relying on (i) the outward purport of the ruling for such a pilgrim and (ii) the fact that the Qur’ānic verse revealed concerning one who is prevented refers specifically to being blocked by an enemy.

All scholars agree that he must make up the rite. Moreover, anyone who misses the Hajj through miscalculating the days, failing to sight the new moon, or any similar excuse is, in Mālik’s view, treated exactly like the pilgrim prevented by illness.

Abū Ḥanīfah says: Whoever misses the Hajj for a reason other than sickness comes out of iḥrām by performing an ʿumrah; no hady is required of him, but he must repeat the Hajj. According to Mālik, a Meccan who is prevented by illness is treated no differently from a non-Meccan: he releases himself through an ʿumrah, owes a hady, and must redo the Hajj.

Al-Zuhrī said: “He must still stand for the ʿumrah, even if he has to be carried on a litter.”

The root principle in Mālik’s school is that if the invalid stays in iḥrām until the following year and then performs the compensatory Hajj, no hady is due. If, however, he releases himself through an ʿumrah, the hady of the muḥṣar becomes obligatory, because he shaved his head before the animal for the make-up Hajj was slaughtered.

Whoever takes the Almighty’s words –

“When you are secure, then whoever enjoys an ʿumrah up to the Hajj…” (al-Baqarah 2:196) –

to be addressing the muḥṣar must, by the plain sense of the verse, hold that two offerings are incumbent upon him: one for shaving his head upon release before his hady for the compensatory Hajj is sacrificed, and another for having enjoyed the ʿumrah up to the Hajj. If he comes out of ʿumrah during the months of Hajj, a third offering is required – the hady of tamattuʿ, which is one of the recognised modes of performing Hajj.

Mālik – may Allah have mercy on him – interprets the matter differently: to him the muḥṣar owes only a single hady. He would say that the offering mentioned in the verse

“If you are prevented, then (offer) whatever sacrifice is feasible” (al-Baqarah 2:196)

is the very same offering meant in the words

“When you are secure, then whoever enjoys an ʿumrah up to the Hajj, let him offer whatever sacrifice is feasible” (al-Baqarah 2:196).

This interpretation is, however, rather strained. The more evident reading is that the phrase “When you are secure…” concerns someone other than the muḥṣar; it deals with genuine tamattuʿ. The sense is: “When you are no longer in fear, yet you have enjoyed an ʿumrah up to the Hajj, then (offer) whatever sacrifice is feasible.”

Supporting this reading are His words: “That is for those whose families are not resident at the Sacred Mosque” (al-Baqarah 2:196), whereas in the case of the muḥṣar, people living in Mecca and those from elsewhere are treated alike by unanimous agreement.

Having concluded the rulings for the muḥṣar explicitly addressed by Allah, we now proceed to the rulings for one who kills game while in iḥrām.