What is the ruling on one who enters the state of ihram before the miqat?

Question : Okay. Or that the 'Umrah is not performed by descending from the Haram, for it is not recommended after your departure, and there is no harm. This is the outcome.

Answer : There is a difference of opinion on this. The well-known view among the schools of jurisprudence, as far as we know, is that the ihram is valid, but he owes a sacrificial animal because he left off an obligatory act. There is also a view, which I attribute to the Zahiri school, that one who enters ihram other than at the miqat does not have a valid ihram, just as if he entered ihram before the months of Hajj. They hold that the temporal miqat and the spatial miqat are on the same level. That is the case, but up to now I have not been convinced by the view of the Zahiris.