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What we have mentioned as evidence that circumambulation is superior also shows that setting out from Mecca to perform ‘umrah, thereby abandoning circumambulation, is not recommended. Rather, what is recommended is circumambulation, not performing ‘umrah. Indeed, performing ‘umrah in these circumstances is an innovation: the early generations did not practise it, neither the Quran nor the Sunnah commands it, and no scriptural evidence establishes that it is recommended. Anything of this kind is a reprehensible innovation, by scholarly agreement.

For this reason, the early generations and the leading scholars used to discourage it. Sa‘īd narrated in his Sunan that Tāwūs, one of Ibn ‘Abbās’s foremost students, said:

“Those who perform ‘umrah from al-Tan‘īm—I do not know whether they are rewarded for it or punished.”

He was asked, “Why would they be punished?”

He replied, “Because a person leaves off circumambulating the House, goes four miles away, and returns. By the time he returns from those four miles away, he could have completed two hundred circuits. Every circuit he makes around the House is better than walking to no purpose.”

Abū Tālib reported that Ahmad ibn Hanbal was asked, “What do you say about the muhrim’s ‘umrah?”

He replied, “What merit is there in it? In my view, ‘umrah is that for which you set out from your home. Allah said: