What are the different types of hajj? What is qiran hajj?
According to the Hanafis, hajj is divided into three types; farḍ, wājib, and sunnah. It is obligatory for every Muslim who meets the necessary conditions to perform hajj once in their lifetime. If a person who is not obligated to perform hajj vows to perform hajj, it becomes wājib to fulfill this vow. Again, as in other supererogatory acts of worship, it is also wājib to make up for a supererogatory pilgrimage that is invalidated after it has started to be performed. Hajj performed by a person who has already performed the farḍ hajj, and a child who is not yet obliged to do so will be considered supererogatory. ʿUmra, on the other hand, is a sunnah act of worship that can be performed outside of the months of hajj. Hajj is divided into three types according to the way of its performance, whether it is farḍ or wājib, sunnah or supererogatory: hajj al-ifrād, hajj al-tamattūʿ, and hajj al-qirān.
Hajj and ʿumra can be performed individually, or they can be performed together during the months of the hajj of the same year. According to this, the pilgrimage is divided into three types as follows, depending on whether the ʿumra is performed before the pilgrimage or not; and if it is performed before the pilgrimage, whether it is performed in a single state of iḥrām or with separate states of iḥrām.
A) Hajj Al-Ifrad
The pilgrimage performed without ʿumra is called hajj al-ifrād (lit. singular pilgrimage). It got this name because only the pilgrimage is performed. During the months of hajj, those who do not perform ʿumra before the hajj but enter the state of iḥrām with the intention of hajj and only perform hajj will be performing a hajj al-ifrād. Anyone can perform hajj al-ifrād, whether they live within the limits of mīqāt or outside. The person who performs this pilgrimage stays in the state of iḥrām until throwing pebbles at Jamra al-Aqaba on the first day of the feast. After that, he can leave the state of iḥrām by shaving or shortening his hair. In hajj al-ifrād, it is not obligatory to slaughter the gratitude (shukr) sacrifice required by the hajj. However, those who wish can voluntarily sacrifice an animal to earn spiritual rewards. In hajj al-ifrād, ʿumra is not performed before the hajj. When entering the state of iḥrām, one makes an intention to perform only the pilgrimage and does not leave the state of iḥrām until after shaving on the first day of Eid. The first circumambulation performed by those who perform hajj al-ifrād when they arrive at Mecca is called “ṭawāf al-qudūm”. Meccan people and those who are in the status of Meccans perform only hajj al-ifrād. If they perform the other two types of pilgrimage, i.e. hajj al-tamattūʿ or hajj al-qirān, they will have carried out a bad deed.
The verse that states the obligation of pilgrimage in the Qur’an, “Pilgrimage thereto is a duty that men owe to Allah, those who can afford the journey.”[1] primarily includes hajj al-ifrād. Although it is reported from the Companions such as Aisha and Ibn Umar (r. anhum) that the Prophet (saw) intended only for hajj al-ifrād in the Farewell pilgrimage,[2] there are also strong narrations that he performed hajj al-tamattūʿ or hajj al-qirān.[3]
B) Hajj Al-Tamattū
The pilgrimage which is performed by first entering the state of iḥrām for ʿumra and completing the ʿumra during the hajj months, and then entering the state of iḥrām again for the hajj in the same year is called “hajj al-tamattūʿ”. Here, ʿumra and hajj are performed in a separate state of iḥrām.
A person who will perform hajj al-tamattūʿ enters the state of iḥrām with the intention of ʿumra at the place of mīqāt. When he reaches Mecca, he performs circumambulation and saʿy, shaves or shortens his hair. Thus, he completes the ʿumra and leaves the state of iḥrām. He wears his daily clothes and may do the things that are permissible for those who are not in the state of iḥrām. Then, on the eighth day of Dhu’l-Hijja, he enters the state of iḥrām wherever he is in the Ḥaram region, intending to perform the pilgrimage, and complete the pilgrimage. For a pilgrimage to be considered a “hajj al-tamattūʿ”, the ʿumra and the hajj must be performed within the same hajj season. Performing ʿumra before the pilgrimage season and then performing the hajj during the hajj season is not accepted as hajj al-tamattūʿ, nor does hajj al-tamattūʿ occur by performing ʿumra in one year, and hajj in the next year.
Pilgrims coming from towns and countries outside the borders of mīqāt places (āfāqīs) prefer tamattūʿ pilgrimage to avoid staying in iḥrām for a long time. Here, a sacrifice of gratitude is offered for the sake of Allah, as he has made it possible to perform ʿumra and hajj in the same season of hajj. This sacrifice is offered on one of the days of Eid al-Aḍḥā, after the stoning at Jamra al-Aqaba, before shaving or shortening the hair. A person who cannot afford to sacrifice an animal, fasts for a total of ten days meaning three days before the Eid, and seven days after he returns to his hometown.
Allah Almighty says, “and when you are in peaceful conditions (again), if anyone wishes to continue the ʿumra on to the hajj, he must make an offering, such as he can afford, but if he cannot afford it, he should fast three days during the hajj and seven days on his return, making ten days in all. This is for those whose household is not in (the precincts of) the Sacred Mosque. And fear Allah, and know that Allah Is strict in punishment.”[4]
Abdullah ibn Abbas explains the practice of tamattūʿ pilgrimage in the Farewell pilgrimage as follows, “The Muhajirin and the Ansar and the wives of the Prophet (saw) and we did the same. When we reached Mecca, Allah’s Messenger (saw) said, ‘Give up your intention of doing the hajj (at this moment) and perform ʿumra, except the one who has garlanded the hady.’ So, we performed ṭawāf round the Kaʿba and saʿy between the hills of Safa and Marwa slept with our wives and wore ordinary (stitched) clothes. The Prophet (saw) added, ‘Whoever has garlanded his hady is not allowed to finish the state of iḥrām till the hady has reached its destination (has been sacrificed).’[5] Then on the night of Tarwiya (8th day of Dhu’l-Hijja, in the afternoon) he ordered us to assume iḥrām for hajj and when we have performed all the rites of hajj, we came and performed Ṭawāf round the Kaʿba and (saʿy) between Safa and Marwa, and then our hajj was complete, and we had to sacrifice a hady.” After that, Ibn Abbas recited the above-mentioned verse and said that a sacrifice was needed in the same year because of the combining of hajj and ʿumra.”[6]
C) Hajj Al-Qiran
Hajj al-qirān is the type of pilgrimage performed by combining ʿumra and hajj in a single state of iḥrām during the hajj months of the same year. This name is given here in the sense of “combined pilgrimage”, as ʿumra and hajj are performed in a single state of iḥrām. Intending to perform both “ʿumra and hajj”, a person enters the state of iḥrām to perform ʿumra and hajj together; completes ʿumra, but does not leave the state of iḥrām. He begins the rites of pilgrimage by observing the requirements of iḥrām, performing the circumambulation of qudūm, performing the ritual standing at Arafat, then stoning the devil at Jamra al-Aqaba on the first day of the Eid, he offers his sacrifice, shaves and then leaves the state of iḥrām.
It is obligatory for those who perform the tamattūʿ or qirān pilgrimage to offer a gratitude sacrifice. The one who performs the ifrād pilgrimage has no such obligation, he can offer a voluntary sacrifice if he wishes. A person who cannot offer a gratitude sacrifice in the qirān pilgrimage fasts for ten days, three days before the feast, and seven days after returning home. The above verse is the evidence for both tamattūʿ and qirān pilgrimages.
Aisha (r. anha) said the following about the type of pilgrimage performed by the Prophet and the Companions in the Farewell pilgrimage, “We went out with the Messenger of Allah (saw) in the year of the Farewell pilgrimage. Some of us intended to do the ʿumra alone, some of us to do theʿumra together with the hajj, and some of us for hajj alone. The Messenger of Allah also recited talbiyah only for pilgrimage. Only those who made intention for hajj and recited talbiyah or combined hajj and ʿumra did not leave the state of iḥrām until the day of Eid al-Aḍḥā.”[7] Here, the pilgrimage and ʿumra performed with a single iḥrām without leaving the state of iḥrām are called “hajj al-qirān”.
Abdullah bin Umar (r. anhuma) also narrated that the Prophet (saw) performed the tamattūʿ pilgrimage by combining hajj and ʿumra in the Farewell pilgrimage, he performed the pilgrimage without leaving the state of iḥrām after performing the ʿumra, and he performed the obligatory ṭawāf after offering the hady sacrifice on the day of Eid al-Aḍḥā.[8] The form of pilgrimage defined here, although expressed with the word “tamattūʿ, is the “hajj al-qirān”. For the hajj and ʿumra are performed in a single state of iḥrām.
On the other hand, Imam Shafiʿi and Ahmad Ibn Ḥanbal, based on some narrations, said that ʿumra and hajj should be performed with one ṭawāf in hajj al-qirān.[9]
It is not permissible for the people of Mecca and those who live within the borders of the mīqāt to perform hajj al-tamattūʿ or hajj al-qirān. Since they will only perform the hajj al-ifrād, they do not have to offer the sacrifice of gratitude.[10]
The āfāqīs who came to Mecca before the months of pilgrimage and stay there until the pilgrimage days are subject to the same rule in this regard. Those who perform hajj should not perform ʿumra after the hajj months of that year commence. Otherwise, they will have carried out a bad deed.
According to the Ḥanafis, if a person who returns to his country after the ʿumra during the months of hajj and according to the Shafiʿis, if he goes outside the limits of the mīqāt does not perform ʿumra again on his return, the pilgrimage he will do that year is not accepted as a tamattūʿ, but as an ifrād pilgrimage. On the other hand, in the pilgrimage of qirān, since the state of iḥrām does not end after ʿumra, the pilgrimage will not turn into ifrād even if the person goes outside the mīqāt, or leaves for his home country or to another place between ʿumra and hajj.
According to the Ḥanafis, the order of pilgrimage types in terms of their virtue is qirān, tamattūʿ, and then ifrād; According to the Shafiʿis, ifrād, tamattūʿ, and then qirān; According to the Malikis, ifrād, qirān, and then tamattūʿ; According to the Ḥanbalis, it is in the order of tamattūʿ, ifrād, and then qirān. The reason for this difference of opinion is that there are different narrations about the type of hajj the Prophet performed.
Umar (ra) thought that when the ʿumra was performed together with the hajj, people would not come to visit the Baytullāh later and that the Hijaz would remain unmanned and empty, and he wished for the continuation of ʿumra visits throughout the year.[11] For this reason, he forbade pilgrims to make an intention for the tamattūʿ pilgrimage. It is reported that in his own time Uthmān (ra) thought like Umar (ra) on this issue and encouraged the pilgrims to perform hajj al-ifrād and hajj al-qirān, despite the opposition of Ali (ra).[12] However, it should be noted that neither Umar nor Uthmān said that the tamattūʿ pilgrimage was illegitimate, perhaps they wanted to encourage people to do more virtuous deeds.
[1] Āl ʿImrān, 3: 97.[2] See Muslim, Ḥajj, 122; 184.[3] Muslim, Ḥajj, 185.[4] Al-Baqara, 2: 196.[5] For hady sacrifice see al-Baqara, 2: 196; al-Fatḥ, 48: 25.[6] Al-Bukhari, Ḥajj, 37.[7] Al-Bukhari, Ḥajj, 34.[8] Al-Bukhari, Ḥajj, 104; See Muslim, Ḥajj, 176.[9] Al-Tirmidhī, Ḥajj, 102, Hadith No: 947. [10] Al-Kasanī, Badāyiʿ al-Ṣanā’iʿ, II, 167; Ibn al-Humām, Fatḥ al-Qadīr, II, 199 ff.; al-Maydanī, Lubāb, I, 192 ff.; Al-Zaylaī, Naṣb al-Rāya, III, 99, 113; al-Zuhaylī, ibid, III, 133 ff.[11] Malik, Muwaṭṭā’, Ḥajj, 21.[12] Muṣṭafa Shalabī, Taʿlil al-Aḥkām, Egypt 1947, p. 48.
Source: Basic Islamic Principles (ilmiḥal) According to the Four Sunni Schools With Evidence From The Sources of Islamic Law, Prof. Hamdi Döndüren, Erkam Publications