Ibn ‘Abbās and Ibn ‘Umar regarded it as obligatory. Ibn ‘Abbās said, “By Allah, it is indeed paired with Hajj in the Book of Allah.” A number of scholars said, “The lesser Hajj is ‘umrah.” Since the term Hajj applies to it, this indicates that it is obligatory. Thus, someone who sets out to perform tamattu‘ has fulfilled both his Hajj and his ‘umrah obligations, having performed a separate ‘umrah and a separate Hajj. As for ‘umrah performed in Muharram, I do not consider it sufficient to discharge his obligation. Nor is it a complete ‘umrah: it begins only four miles away.

The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to ‘Ā’ishah:

“Your reward is only in proportion to your exertion and expenditure.”

What is meant by ‘umrah in Muharram is that they used to leave Mecca during Muharram and go to the nearest point outside the sacred precincts to perform ‘umrah. What, then, of someone who performs ‘umrah from Mecca in Dhū al-Hijjah immediately after Hajj? This was not a practice of the early generations.

Once it is clear that, by scholarly consensus, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, never combined Hajj with an ‘umrah undertaken from Mecca immediately afterward, that none of the Companions did so except ‘Ā’ishah, and that his rightly guided caliphs did not practise it, this cannot be the preferable course.

As for any jurist who says, “Ifrād means performing Hajj and then performing ‘umrah from Mecca immediately afterward,” he is mistaken according to scholarly consensus. For there is no disagreement among them that someone who performs ‘umrah before the months of Hajj and returns home, then performs Hajj, or remains in Mecca until he performs Hajj