Chapter: Tamattuʿ
The rites of pilgrimage are three: 1) tamattuʿ, 2) qirān, and 3) ifrād.
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Tamattuʿ is to enter the state of consecration (iḥrām) for ʿumrah during the months of Hajj, complete the ʿumrah, then assume iḥrām again for Hajj in that same year.
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Qirān is to enter iḥrām for both ʿumrah and Hajj together, or to introduce the intention of Hajj into an existing ʿumrah, so that the actions of the two rites merge.
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Ifrād is to enter iḥrām for Hajj alone, with no ʿumrah attached to it.
The scholars have differed as to which of the three is superior; the forthcoming ḥadiths will, God willing, address the issue.
First ḥadith
Abū Jamrah Naṣr ibn ʿImrān al-Ḍabʿī reported:
“I asked Ibn ʿAbbās about the mutʿah (tamattuʿ), and he instructed me to perform it. I then asked him about the sacrificial offering. He said, ‘It may be a camel, a cow, a sheep, or a share in the blood of a larger animal.’
“It seemed that some people disapproved of tamattuʿ, so I went to sleep and saw in a dream someone calling out: ‘An accepted Hajj and an accepted tamattuʿ!’
“I came to Ibn ʿAbbās and related the dream to him. He exclaimed, ‘Allāhu akbar! It is the Sunnah of Abū al-Qāsim ﷺ.’”
Uncommon terms
al-jazūr: a male or female camel.
al-shāh: a male or female sheep or goat.
shirk: partnership in the sacrifice of a cow or camel.
Overall meaning
In the pre-Islamic period the Arabs regarded performing ʿumrah during the months of Hajj as one of the gravest violations. They would say, “When the footprints have faded (1), the skin has healed (2), and the month of Ṣafar has passed (3), then ʿumrah becomes lawful for whoever wishes to perform it.”
Islam abolished this belief, both by the Qur’anic revelation, “Whoever performs ʿumrah, then follows it with Hajj, let him offer whatever sacrificial animal he can afford” (al-Baqarah 2:196), and by the Prophet’s own practice, for he performed an ʿumrah during the months of Hajj and combined it with his Farewell Pilgrimage, entering iḥrām as a qārin.
Despite this, traces of the old notion lingered in the hearts of some of the earliest Muslims. For that reason Abū Ḥamzah asked Ibn ʿAbbās about performing tamattuʿ from ʿumrah to Hajj, and Ibn ʿAbbās told him to do so. He then asked about the obligatory sacrificial animal mentioned in the verse, and Ibn ʿAbbās replied: the best is a camel, followed by a cow, then a sheep; or one-seventh of a camel or a cow shared with others for the purpose of the Hajj sacrifice or an udḥiyah (festival offering).