The first is that no person who is not in a state of ihram may enter the Sacred Precinct upon coming to it until he assumes ihram for entry—either for Hajj or for an Umrah upon completing which he exits ihram. An exception is made for those who enter it frequently to serve the needs of its inhabitants, such as woodcutters and water-carriers, who leave in the morning and return in the evening. They may therefore enter it without ihram, since requiring them to assume ihram every time they entered would impose hardship upon them.

If someone coming to the Sacred Precinct enters it without ihram, he has sinned and must undertake the ihram he failed to undertake, as a make-up obligation. If he fulfills Hajj al-Islam—the obligatory Hajj—with it in the same year, the obligation falls away. But if he postpones it until the following year, it will not count as Hajj al-Islam, and he will still owe a Hajj or an Umrah.

In a narration transmitted by Ḥarb, he said concerning someone who came from a distant land as a merchant and entered Makkah without ihram: “He must return to the miqat and enter ihram for Umrah if it is outside the days of Hajj; but if it is during the days of Hajj, he must enter ihram for Hajj.” The rationale is that when he intends to enter it, assuming ihram becomes incumbent upon him. By failing to assume ihram, he has failed to undertake an ihram that had become obligatory, and he must therefore fulfill it—just as if he had said, “I owe Allah that I enter ihram,” and then failed to do so; he would be required to fulfill it.

If it is objected that when he leaves to fulfill this obligation, the ihram he newly assumes pertains only to his second entry, and therefore cannot serve as a make-up for his first entry, making the make-up impossible, the answer is that when he leaves for this purpose and reaches the miqat, he is required to proceed to Makkah in ihram. Once he does so, nothing further is required of him. The same principle applies to what we unanimously say: if he assumes ihram for Hajj al-Islam or for a vowed Hajj, it is valid. We do not say that entering the Sacred Precinct made one ihram incumbent upon him while Hajj al-Islam is also incumbent upon him by the Law, for that would make the obligatory duty impossible to fulfill. No compensatory sacrifice is due, according to the apparent meaning of what Ḥarb transmitted from him, because he has fulfilled the obligation.

The second ruling is that its inhabitants are not to be fought, because the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) prohibited fighting them, saying: “It is not lawful for a Muslim who believes in Allah and the Last Day to shed blood there.” If they rebel against the people of justice, the ruler may fight them on account of their rebellion when it cannot be checked except through fighting.