he cannot handle. This issue is heard on people’s lips a great deal nowadays: some say, “The door of independent legal reasoning is open,” while others insist, “The door of independent legal reasoning is closed,” and so forth. A proper distinction must therefore be made: one may not declare that the door of ijtihad is unconditionally open, nor that it is unconditionally closed. Rather, it is open to those who meet all the prerequisites of ijtihad and are specialists in the field. For anyone who lacks those qualifications, the door of ijtihad is shut, and he must be restrained so that his faulty rulings do not bring ruin upon the community. Allah knows best.

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The Rites of Hajj

Question: After a pilgrim puts on the garments of ihram and intends both Hajj and ʿUmrah, what rites is he required to perform? Kindly advise, and may you be rewarded.

Answer: If a person intends Hajj and ʿUmrah together—whether he makes that intention from the very start of his ihram, or he first intends ʿUmrah and later adds the intention for Hajj—he is thereby combining the two rites and becomes a qarin (one who performs Hajj and ʿUmrah together). In other words, he has entered ihram for both acts of worship, or he entered ihram for ʿUmrah and then introduced the ihram of Hajj as well.

What is required of him thereafter is to remain in the state of ihram. Upon arriving in Mecca, he performs the Arrival Tawaf, which is a sunnah. If, after it, he chooses to perform the saʿy for both Hajj and ʿUmrah ahead of time, there is no objection. He then stays in his ihram until the Day of ʿArafah, when he proceeds to ʿArafah and stands there. He completes the rites of Hajj by standing at ʿArafah, spending the night in Muzdalifah, throwing the stones at Jamrat al-ʿAqabah, shaving or shortening his hair, and then performing the Tawaf al-Ifadah and, if he has not already done so, the saʿy afterwards.