Chapter: The Conduct of the Pilgrimage
When the pilgrim reaches the miqāt that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ fixed for the people of that region, he removes his ordinary clothes, bathes, puts on the garments of iḥrām, and then enters the state of iḥrām. We shall devote a separate chapter to the mawāqīt and their rulings after this, God willing.
It is recommended that he enter iḥrām immediately after performing a prayer offered with that specific intention. If he does so after an obligatory or supererogatory prayer, that is sufficient. Mālik nevertheless preferred that he pray two rakʿahs—provided the time allows voluntary prayer—and then pronounce the iḥrām. Whoever omits the prayer and enters iḥrām without it, or at a time when prayer is not permitted, incurs no blame; the preferable course, however, is as we have described. If he is not afraid of missing the proper time, it is commendable for him to wait until a period in which prayer is permissible, pray, and then depart.
When his mount has stood upright with him astride, he should raise his voice with the talbiyah; if he is on foot, he pronounces the talbiyah once he begins to walk. He may intend either Hajj or ʿUmrah, as he wishes. The talbiyah is to say:
“Here I am, O Allah, here I am; here I am, You have no partner, here I am. Truly, praise, favour, and dominion are Yours; You have no partner.”
He forms the intention for whichever of Hajj or ʿUmrah he chooses. If he adds, “Here I am, O God of Truth,” or adds what Ibn ʿUmar used to add to the talbiyah—
“Here I am, here I am; at Your service and at Your pleasure. All goodness lies in Your hands; to You belong entreaty and deed”—
there is no harm in that.
If he is driving a sacrificial animal, he should place a sandal-thong as a collar around its neck, incise its hump as a mark, and, if able, drape a covering over it at his miqāt before entering iḥrām.
We shall devote a separate chapter to the sacrificial animals and their rulings later, if Allah wills.
In our view, performing Hajj alone (ifrād) is superior and is the preferred course; yet whoever performs tamattuʿ—completing an ʿUmrah and then a Hajj—incurs no blame.
The same applies to qirān, and qirān is to combine