What is your opinion regarding a man who resides in a city other than Makkah and performs 'Umrah every day in Ramadan by returning to his area and then coming back? Is this permissible?

The questioner : Your Eminence, peace be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings. As for what follows, what is your opinion regarding a man who enters the state of ihram in a city other than Makkah and performs 'Umrah every day in Ramadan by returning to his area and then coming back? Is this permissible?

The Shaykh : The continuity between two 'Umrahs is established by the Sunnah, but this continuity should be restricted to what came from the Salaf. The Salaf (may Allah have mercy on them) did not have it as their practice to repeat 'Umrah every day. In fact, Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "The continuity between two 'Umrahs and the multiplication of 'Umrahs is disliked by the consensus of the Salaf". Therefore, a person should not constantly repeat it, as we see some people doing. One performs 'Umrah for himself upon first arriving, then after two or three days he goes out to perform 'Umrah for his father, then after two or three days for his mother, then after two or three days for his maternal aunt and paternal aunt, and he leaves a day or a day and a half between each 'Umrah. This is not the way of the Salaf (may Allah have mercy on them). There is no doubt that the Salaf were more eager than we are for good and doing good. The best path is the path of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Rightly Guided Caliphs, which is what we were commanded to adhere to, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Perhaps you have heard of what I witnessed a few years ago: a man was performing sa'y between al-Safa and al-Marwah, and he had shaved exactly half of his head. He had shaved half of his head with a razor, and the other half had a lot of hair. I asked him what this was, and he said, "I shaved half of my head for yesterday's 'Umrah and left the other half for today's 'Umrah." I do not know if he would take four 'Umrahs and shave a quarter each time until he was finished. In any case, we should know that acts of worship are based on following the Sunnah. The best guidance is the guidance of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). We all know that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) stayed in Makkah for nineteen days during the Conquest, ten of which were in Ramadan in the last ten days, and the rest in Shawwal. He did not fast these ten days, as is authentic from the hadith of Ibn Abbas in al-Bukhari. And he did not perform 'Umrah. Do you know when he performed 'Umrah? He performed 'Umrah when he campaigned against Thaqif, then returned and stopped at al-Ja'ranah to distribute the war spoils. He (peace and blessings be upon him) entered Makkah at night and performed 'Umrah, then left. This indicates that we should, indeed, we must, follow the example of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), and indeed follow the example of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the way of the Rightly Guided Caliphs.