Answer: It is well established that a valid tawāf requires the circuits to follow one another without interruption, and that one should keep moving within each individual circuit until it is completed. Still, an excuse allows the sequence to be broken. If, for instance, the obligatory prayer is called to begin while he is circumambulating, he should perform the prayer. After concluding it with salām, he resumes the remaining circuits and builds on what he had already performed. Likewise, if he becomes fatigued in the middle of a circuit, pauses briefly to rest, and then continues, there is, God willing, no objection so long as there is a need.

However, if he disrupts the sequence without any necessity—such as inserting a long break between circuits—he must start the tawāf from the beginning, for he has abandoned the required continuity without a valid excuse.

Farewell tawāf
Question: I reside in Jeddah and have performed ḥajj several years in a row, making ʿumrah between one pilgrimage and the next, yet I never performed the farewell tawāf. When I intended to travel to Yemen, I performed an ʿumrah and then made a farewell tawāf. Will that tawāf suffice for the farewell tawāf I neglected in those previous pilgrimages, or is something else required of me? May Allah reward you with goodness.

Answer: With regard to ḥajj, the farewell tawāf is obligatory and must be the final rite, because of the Prophet’s statement: “They were commanded that their last act at the House be a tawāf, except that the concession was granted to a menstruating woman.” Thus, if a pilgrim omits it and departs from Makkah for his homeland or the place where he resides,