the Quran, in the words of the Most High:

“On the day of the greater pilgrimage.”

Hajj is prescribed only once a year, and the same therefore applies to ‘umrah. Others, however, permitted this, including the Meccan scholars ‘Atā’, Tāwūs, and ‘Ikrimah. This is also the position of al-Shāfi‘ī and Ahmad, and it is reported from such Companions as ‘Alī, Ibn ‘Umar, Ibn ‘Abbās, Anas, and ‘Ā’ishah.

For ‘Ā’ishah performed ‘umrah twice in one month at the command of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: the ‘umrah she performed together with Hajj, and the ‘umrah she performed from al-Tan‘īm at his command on the night of al-Hasbah, which follows the days spent at Minā—the night of the fourteenth of Dhū al-Hijjah. This is according to the majority, who hold that she did not abandon her ‘umrah but combined it with Hajj in a single state of ritual consecration.

Moreover, in the two Sahīh collections and elsewhere, Abū Hurayrah reports that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“One ‘umrah expiates the sins committed between it and the next, and an accepted Hajj has no reward but Paradise.”

Besides being unrestricted and general in its wording, this implies a distinction between ‘umrah and Hajj. If ‘umrah could be performed only once a year, it would be like Hajj, and the wording would have been, “One Hajj to the next.”

Furthermore, this is supported by the statements of the Companions. Al-Shāfi‘ī narrated from ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib that he said, “Once every month,” and from Anas that whenever the hair on his head had begun to grow back after shaving