Chapter on ʿUmrah

In the view of Mālik and his companions, ʿumrah is not an obligatory pillar (farḍ). Nevertheless, he considers it binding with the force of a sunnah: anyone who is able to perform it may not lawfully neglect it, and it carries greater weight than the witr prayer. A number of scholars from Madinah, however—including Ibn ʿUmar and Ibn ʿAbbās—regard it as compulsory in the same way that Hajj is compulsory.

It is permissible to perform ʿumrah before Hajj, together with it, or after it, whether during the months of Hajj or at any other time.

Whoever is undertaking an isolated Hajj (ifrād) should not perform ʿumrah until he has completed his pilgrimage, and none of the pilgrims should undertake ʿumrah until the sun has set on the last of the Days of Tashrīq. There is no objection if travellers from distant regions enter the state of consecration (iḥrām) for ʿumrah during the Days of Tashrīq, but doing so for Hajj is not allowed.