Is there a specific prayer for entering the state of ihram?

Question : May Allah bless you. Honorable Shaykh, the questioner says: Is there a specific prayer for entering the state of ihram? And what is the ruling on one who prays the sunnah of ihram during the prohibited times?

Answer : The stronger position is that there is no specific prayer for entering the state of ihram, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not order it and did not do it himself. However, if a person is near an obligatory prayer, he should make his ihram after the obligatory prayer. If he is not near an obligatory prayer, then if he prays two rak'ahs with the intention of the sunnah of wudu, he enters ihram after them; otherwise, there is no specific prayer for entering the state of ihram. This is what the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) chose, and it is the truth because there is no evidence indicating a specific prayer for entering the state of ihram. But does one perform the sunnah of wudu, for example, during the prohibited times? There is disagreement among the scholars on this. Some say that one prays the sunnah of wudu during the prohibited times because it is a sunnah that has a cause, and every sunnah that has a cause does not have prohibited times. Others say that one does not pray the sunnah of wudu during the prohibited times, because these scholars do not distinguish in voluntary prayers between what has a cause and what does not, even though they make an exception for some voluntary prayers and permit them during the prohibited times. But the stronger position is that every prayer that has a cause is permissible to perform during the prohibited times, such as the greeting of the mosque, the sunnah of wudu, and the prayer of istikharah for a matter that will be missed before the end of the prohibited time, and the like of that.