I came to perform 'Umrah on behalf of my mother and entered the state of ihram from the miqat. After completing the 'Umrah, I stayed for two days. Now I want to perform an 'Umrah for myself or for my father. Do I have to return to the miqat from which I entered ihram, or can I go to any other miqat, such as the miqat of the people of Ta'if, or is it sufficient for me to go to al-Hal or the Mosque of 'Umrah and enter ihram from there?

The reader: And this questioner says: I came to perform 'Umrah for my mother and entered the state of ihram from the miqat. After completing the 'Umrah, I stayed for two days. Now I want to perform an 'Umrah for myself or for my father. Do I have to return to the miqat from which I entered ihram, or can I go to any other miqat, such as the miqat of the people of Ta'if, or is it sufficient for me to go to al-Hal or the Mosque of 'Umrah and enter ihram from there? Please note that I had intended to perform several 'Umrahs from my home, meaning before reaching the miqat, and I performed the first 'Umrah. We ask for your guidance and may Allah benefit you?

The Shaykh : First, it must be known that it is not the way of the righteous Salaf for one to perform 'Umrah on behalf of another, and this is not reported except in the case of the obligatory pilgrimage only. In the case of the obligatory pilgrimage, a woman came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: This is an obligation, and the father is unable. The other woman said: This is also an obligation of Hajj that became mandatory by vow, and the one who made the vow was unable to perform Hajj, so the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) permitted her to perform Hajj on behalf of her mother. In the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas: Some people may use this as evidence for the permissibility of performing Hajj on behalf of another if it is voluntary, but this is far-fetched. It appears that he wanted to perform the obligatory Hajj on behalf of his brother, but the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) clarified to him that he should not perform Hajj on his behalf until he performs Hajj for himself. As for what people do today, it is contrary to the practice of the Salaf. A man comes with an 'Umrah in Ramadan, performing the first 'Umrah for himself, the second for his mother, the third for his father, the fourth for his brother, the fifth for his uncle, the sixth for his aunt, the seventh for his maternal aunt, then for his grandmother, then for his wife's mother, and so on! Who said this? Where is this in the Shari'ah of Allah? Where is this in the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)? Where is this in the practice of the Companions? For this reason, Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said: "It is disliked to perform many 'Umrahs and to repeat them consecutively, by the consensus of the Salaf" This is what he said in the Fatawa, and whoever wishes may refer to it. It is regrettable for us to find people going back and forth to al-Tan'im to enter ihram, with each person performing 'Umrah for his mother, father, brother, uncle, and so on. We must, O brothers, not let emotion rule us. We should look at the practice of the Salaf and follow it. Did any of them perform an 'Umrah and then, upon completing it, go to al-Tan'im to perform another for his father or mother? Show me that from today until the end of the month. Show me this. If it was not the case in the era of the Salaf, is it permissible for us to do what was permissible for them, or do we bring a new law? The first answer is that what was permissible for them is permissible for us. Even Ata, who was one of the scholars of Makkah, said: "I do not know about these people who go out to al-Tan'im and perform 'Umrah. I do not know whether they are rewarded or whether they sin" And the meaning of "they sin" is that they commit a sin by doing so, because this is not known in the era of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) or the era of the Companions. This is the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him); we all know that he was the most eager of people for worship. He conquered Makkah and stayed there for nineteen days, and he could have gone out to al-Tan'im and performed 'Umrah, but he did not do so. He did not prescribe it for his Ummah. However, when he campaigned against Ta'if and the campaign ended, and he descended at al-Ji'ranah, he entered ihram for 'Umrah from al-Ji'ranah at night. Only a few people knew about it, and he performed an 'Umrah. He did not leave Makkah to perform an 'Umrah ever. In fact, when Aisha asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) to perform an 'Umrah, he said to her brother 'Abd al-Rahman: He did not guide her to enter ihram with him, nor did he enter ihram with her, because that was not known among them. So what I ask of my brothers, if they love to benefit their deceased, is to follow what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) directed, where he said: He did not say to perform an 'Umrah for him, or to recite the Qur'an for him, or to pray for him, even though the context of the hadith is a context of what? A context of action. So it was expected that he would say "or a righteous son who acts for him," but he (peace and blessings be upon him) turned away from action and said Therefore, we say that making du'a for your father, mother, brother, or sister in prayer, in prostration, or between the adhan and the iqamah, or during tawaf, or during sa'y, is better than performing an 'Umrah for them. And based on this, we say to the brother questioner: your first 'Umrah is sufficient, and it is for you. As for your mother and father, make du'a to Allah for them, and that is better than 'Umrah.