The Manner of Hajj.

The Shaykh : As for Hajj, it is for a person to intend to go to the House of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to perform the rituals of Hajj. We will mention its best manner in general terms. You leave your home intending to perform Hajj and 'Umrah, leaving from your home so that your steps are in obedience to Allah from the day you walk from your house. When you reach the first miqat you pass, you enter the state of ihram from there. Upon entering ihram, you take a ritual bath, apply perfume, and wear the ihram garments. If you are close to Makkah, meaning close to the miqat, and you can reach it during the day but fear that the place will be crowded, and you have taken a bath at your home, there is no harm in that. However, do not wear the ihram garments until you are at the miqat. If you wear the ihram garments, pray the obligatory prayer if it is due, or the prayer of ablution if it is not an obligatory time. Then make your intention and say, "Labbaik 'Umrah." Of course, you say "Labbaik 'Umrah" while intending Hajj this year. Proceed until you reach the House, then perform tawaf for seven circuits, starting with the Black Stone and ending with the Black Stone in this tawaf. It is a recommended practice (sunnah) for the man to do two things: the first is ramal (brisk walking), and the second is idtiba' (exposing the right shoulder). As for ramal, it is to walk quickly with close steps in the first three circuits only, and to walk in his usual manner in the remaining four. If the area around the Ka'bah is crowded in the first three circuits, let him walk in a way that is comfortable for him and for the other pilgrims. When he completes seven circuits, he prays two rak'ahs behind the Maqam Ibrahim if it is convenient for him, otherwise anywhere in the mosque. Then he goes out to al-Safa. When he approaches al-Safa, he recites: before climbing al-Safa. Then he climbs al-Safa, faces the qiblah, raises his hands, and says what was reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). This is not the place for detailed dhikr, as I fear it will take too long. Then he descends from al-Safa heading toward al-Marwah. When he reaches the green marker, the green pole with green lights above it, he runs, meaning he runs vigorously to the other marker, provided it is convenient and does not cause hardship to himself or others. Then he walks in his usual manner to al-Marwah, climbs al-Marwah, faces the qiblah, raises his hands, and says what he said on al-Safa. This is one circuit. Then he descends to al-Marwah, walks in the place where he walks, and runs in the place where he runs, and says on al-Safa what he said the first time, until he completes seven circuits. He starts with al-Safa and ends with what? With al-Marwah. His going from al-Safa to al-Marwah is one circuit, and his return from al-Marwah to al-Safa is another circuit. Then he shortens the hair of his head from the entire head, not from one side or sides, but from the entire head. Then he exits his 'Umrah completely, completely. He wears regular clothes, applies perfume, and enjoys the company of his family if they are with him. He is free from everything that was forbidden to him in ihram. He remains in this state of being free from ihram until the eighth day of Dhu al-Hijjah. He enters the state of ihram for Hajj on the eighth day in the morning before Dhuhr. He takes a bath as he does for 'Umrah and applies perfume to his body, not to his clothes. He remains in Mina and prays Dhuhr, 'Asr, Maghrib, 'Isha', and Fajr there, shortening the prayers without combining them. When the sun rises, he goes to 'Arafah and stops at Muzdalifah if it is convenient for him, which is a village near 'Arafah and not part of 'Arafah. When the sun passes its zenith, he goes to 'Arafah. If that is not convenient for him, he goes directly from Mina to 'Arafah and stays there until the time for Dhuhr comes, then he prays Dhuhr and 'Asr combined and shortened. The combining here is combining by bringing the later prayer forward. Then he devotes himself to supplication, persists in supplication, faces the qiblah with his hands raised, and strives in supplication, dhikr, and reciting the Qur'an, and in everything that keeps him active. If he feels boredom or laziness, as is common in our time, there is no harm in him speaking to refresh himself, but let him strive to be free for supplication and dhikr at the end of the day. When the sun approaches setting, he goes to Muzdalifah. When he arrives, he prays Maghrib and 'Isha' combined and shortened, then sleeps until Fajr breaks. Of course, after praying Maghrib, 'Isha', and Witr, he sleeps until Fajr breaks. When Fajr breaks, he prays the Fajr prayer promptly, praying the sunnah of Fajr and the Fajr prayer. He remains there, in Muzdalifah, until it is very light, meaning until the light is completely clear. Then he departs from Muzdalifah to Mina. A weak person or one accompanying a weak person may depart from Muzdalifah at the end of the night, like a man with women with him who wants to go to Mina to throw the pebbles before the crowds arrive. Let him go to Mina, and he may throw the pebbles as soon as he arrives in Mina, even if it is one or two hours before Fajr. But when does one depart from Muzdalifah? It was said one departs when the night is half over, and it was said one departs when the moon sets, meaning when two-thirds of the night have passed, and this is the most correct view. The important thing is that we have arrived in Mina. The first thing he does is throw the pebbles at the Jamrat al-Aqabah, which is the last of the pillars closest to Makkah. He throws it with seven pebbles, saying takbir with each pebble. Where does he take the pebbles from? From any place in Mina, from the road between Mina and Muzdalifah, from Muzdalifah, whatever he wishes. He takes only seven, throws them with seven pebbles, saying takbir with each pebble. Then he departs and slaughters his sacrificial animal, then shaves his head or shortens it, and shaving is better. Then he is free from everything that was forbidden to him except women. Then he goes down to Makkah and performs Tawaf al-Ifadah, which is the tawaf of Hajj, and performs sa'y between al-Safa and al-Marwah. Then he returns to Mina and stays there. How long does he stay? Two nights, the eleventh and twelfth. After the sun passes its zenith on the eleventh day, and after the sun passes its zenith on the twelfth day, he throws the three pillars: the first, then the middle, then the Jamrat al-Aqabah. Each with seven pebbles, saying takbir with each pebble. But after the first, he stands facing the qiblah with his hands raised, supplicating to Allah (the Exalted) with a long supplication, and likewise after the second. As for after the Jamrat al-Aqabah, he does not stand. Let us now return to the Day of 'Id. On the Day of 'Id, when we arrived in Mina, how many things did we do? First: throwing the pebbles. Second: slaughtering. Third: shaving or shortening. Fourth: tawaf. Fifth: sa'y. This is the best order. If he brings some of them forward, there is no harm on him, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) was asked on this day about bringing forward and delaying, and he was not asked about anything being brought forward or delayed except that he said: . If he throws the three pillars on the twelfth day, he may hasten and end his Hajj, or he may stay the night of the thirteenth and throw on the thirteenth day as he threw on the twelfth and eleventh. If he wants to leave for his family from Makkah, he does not leave until he performs the farewell tawaf upon his departure, seven circuits in his regular clothes, without ramal and without sa'y, except for a menstruating woman or a woman with post-natal bleeding, for whom there is no farewell tawaf. And with this, Hajj and 'Umrah end in the manner that is the most complete of the rituals.
We ask Allah (the Exalted) to make things easy for us and for you for good wherever we are, and to guide us all to sincerity for His face and following His Messenger. Indeed, He is capable of all things. And to the questions, we ask Allah to guide us to the truth in them.