Shaykh al-Islām Abū al-ʿAbbās Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah—may Allah be pleased with him and grant him contentment—was asked:

“Which is preferable: tamattuʿ (performing ʿumrah and Hajj with a break in ritual consecration between them) or qirān (combining them in a single state of ritual consecration)?”

He replied:

All praise belongs to Allah. We seek His help and forgiveness, and we seek refuge in Allah from the evil within ourselves and from our evil deeds. Whoever Allah guides, none can misguide; and whoever He leaves astray, none can guide. We bear witness that there is no god worthy of worship except Allah alone, with no partner, and we bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. May Allah bless him and his family and grant him abundant peace.

There is no disagreement within Ahmad’s school that, if a person arrives during the months of Hajj without bringing sacrificial animals, tamattuʿ in its specific sense is preferable for him. This means performing ʿumrah and leaving ihrām (ritual consecration) after circumambulating the House and going between al-Safā and al-Marwah, then entering ihrām for Hajj.

If, however, he brings sacrificial animals, al-Marwadhī reported from Ahmad that qirān is preferable. Some of our fellow scholars treated this as a second position reported from Ahmad. Thus, for someone who brings sacrificial animals, they presented two reported positions on whether tamattuʿ or qirān is preferable. This is the approach of the later scholars who said that the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—