Islamic Fiqh > Hajj and umra > The pillars and obligations of hajj > The pillars of Hajj school by school
Contents
Updated on 24 September 2026 at 7:46 PM
This dossier gathers the sheets of the chapter on the pillars of Hajj from the major encyclopedia of fiqh. It covers the timing of the standing at Arafah, the validity of standing at Nimira or Urana, the inability to reach Arafah before dawn, the standing of those who lose consciousness, the third pillar (the tawaf of visitation, called al-ifada) with its status and conditions, and the fourth pillar (the sa'i between Safa and Marwa) with its status and timing. Every position is attributed to its school and backed by the classical references cited in parentheses.
The consensus. Ibn al-Mundhir reports the agreement of the scholars: the standing at Arafah is a religious obligation, and there is no Hajj for whoever misses that standing (Al-Ijma', 187). Ibn Rushd reports their unanimity in counting it among the pillars of Hajj, so that whoever misses it must perform Hajj again the following year (Bidayat al-Mujtahid, 1/469).
The end of the time. The people of knowledge are unanimously agreed that the last moment of the standing at Arafah is the rise of dawn on the day of sacrifice. The proof is the report of Abd al-Rahman ibn Ya'mur al-Dayli:
"I witnessed the standing of the Messenger of Allah (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) at Arafah, and some people of Najd came to him and asked: O Messenger of Allah, how is Hajj performed? He said: Hajj is Arafah. Whoever comes before the dawn prayer of the night of the gathering (jam') has completed his Hajj."Reported by Abd al-Rahman ibn Ya'mur al-Dayli (authentic hadith)
The beginning of the time. The Hanafis, Malikis and Shafi'is set the start at midday of the day of Arafah (zuhr), because of the Prophet's deed: he did not stand at Arafah except after midday, and he said: "Take from me your rites" (authentic hadith). Ibn Abd al-Barr reports consensus on this precise point: whoever stands at Arafah on the day of Arafah before midday, then departs before midday, his standing before midday is not counted; if he does not return to stand after midday, or stands only a minimum of that night before dawn, the Hajj has escaped him (Al-Istidhkar, 4/280).
The Hanbali view. The time of standing runs from the rise of dawn on the day of Arafah to the rise of dawn on the day of sacrifice, per the hadith of Urwa ibn Mudarris:
"Whoever prays this prayer of ours, stands with us until we depart, and has stood at Arafah before that, by night or by day, has completed his Hajj and discharged his tafath."Reported by Urwa ibn Mudarris (authentic hadith)
Ibn Qudama draws the argument: the day of Arafah is a time of standing just as the afternoon is; the failure to stand does not prevent a time from being a time of standing, just as after the night prayer; they stood only in the preferred time, without encompassing the entire time of standing (Al-Mughni, 5/24).
Whoever leaves Arafah after midday, before sunset, without returning. The Hanafis, the Hanbalis in the madhhab, al-Shafi'i in one position, and some Malikis such as al-Lakhmi and Ibn al-Arabi, the view to which Ibn Abd al-Barr inclines, hold that it suffices him and his Hajj is complete, but he owes a sacrifice: he left an obligatory act, namely remaining at the standing of Arafah until sunset (Al-Ikhtiyar 1/192; Bada'i al-Sana'i 3/54, 58; Al-Mughni 5/24; Al-Majmu' 8/119-120; Mawahib al-Jalil 4/132). According to the soundest choice of the Shafi'is, it suffices him and no sacrifice is due: combining night and day at Arafah is, for them, a sunna, not an obligation; whoever stands at any time from midday to the dawn of the day of sacrifice is in order (Al-Hawi al-Kabir 4/172-173; Nihayat al-Muhtaj 3/422-423).
Malik, and Ahmad in one narration, require a return: whoever departs before sunset does not have his act suffice until he stands part of the night; Malik insisted: whoever leaves Arafah before sunset without returning until dawn has missed his Hajj, and if he returns and stands before dawn, nothing is upon him. Malik argued that the Prophet stood until sunset and said: "Take from me your rites." The Hanbalis cite the hadith of Urwa ibn Mudarris. Al-Nawawi replied: "Whoever departs by day without returning, his standing and his Hajj are valid, whether or not we require the sacrifice; this is the view of 'Ata, al-Thawri, Abu Hanifa and Abu Thawr, and it is the sound position of Ahmad's madhhab; Ibn al-Mundhir said: all the scholars held it except Malik." The hadith is interpreted as a recommendation, or the standing of night and day is due but repaired by a sacrifice; the reconciliation of the two hadiths runs along these lines (Al-Majmu', 8/119-120).
Ibn Abd al-Barr reports the unanimity of the Muslims: standing at Arafah by night substitutes for standing by day, but the one who does so without being close to the time and without excuse is at fault; some scholars require a sacrifice of him, others nothing. The majority of scholars: whoever stands at Arafah, by night or day, after midday of the day of Arafah has attained the Hajj, Malik alone excepted, who holds that the obligation is standing by night; among the other scholars, night and day are equal after midday (Al-Istidhkar, 4/283).
Standing at Nimira or Urana. The crowding of the sacred sites seen in these times does not excuse standing outside the designated place. This is the view of the majority of the people of knowledge: the Hanafis, the Shafi'is, the Hanbalis and some Malikis; consensus has even been reported: it is not permitted to stand at Nimira nor in the valley of Urana (Bada'i al-Sana'i 2/125; Sharh Fath al-Qadir 2/484; Al-Majmu' 8/105-106; Al-Mughni 5/15; Al-Tamhid 24/420-421). Ibn Qudama: "The valley of Urana is not part of the standing place, and standing there does not suffice."
Ibn Abd al-Barr: the scholars agreed that whoever stands there is not in order; Malik is reported to require a sacrifice while the Hajj is complete. The Prophet said:
"All of Arafah is a standing place; keep away from the bottom of Urana."Reported by Ahmad in the Musnad (4/82) and Ibn Khuzayma (4/254)
The reason is that he did not stand at Arafah, so his act does not suffice (Al-Mughni, 5/15). The jurists then differ over whoever moves from Arafah to Urana: Malik, as Ibn al-Mundhir reports, requires a sacrifice with a complete Hajj, a narration also transmitted by Khalid ibn Nizar. Abu Ishaq ibn Sha'ban delimits: Urana is the passage place leading from Arafah, the valley running from the courtyard of the mosque toward Mecca up to the marker of the sanctuary; Arafah is every plain and mountain facing the standing place, between the hill and the road of Nu'man, and what lies opposite from Kabkab on the Arafah side. Abu al-Mus'ab: whoever stands at the bottom of Urana is like one who did not stand; his Hajj is missed and he owes its performance the following year. It is reported from Ibn Abbas: whoever departs from Urana has no Hajj; al-Qasim and Salim: whoever stands at Urana until the departure has no Hajj.
Ibn al-Mundhir reports this last view from al-Shafi'i: "And that is what I say, for it does not suffice to stand in a place whose standing the Messenger of Allah (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) forbade." Abu Amr notes that the exception of the bottom of Urana from Arafah rests on nothing binding, neither by transmission nor by consensus. Al-Muzani reports from al-Shafi'i that the pilgrim rides back to the standing place by the rocks, faces the qibla in supplication, and that any place where the people stand from Arafah suffices, the Prophet having said: "Here is a standing place, and all of Arafah is a standing place." Abu Amr objects that Abu al-Mus'ab's thesis requires certainty of the place, and there is no certainty amid disagreement (Al-Tamhid, 24/420-421).
Al-Nawawi's delimitation (Al-Majmu', 8/105-112). The valley of Urana, Nimira and the mosque called the mosque of Ibrahim, also called the mosque of Urana, are not part of Arafah: they lie outside it, on its western edge, toward Muzdalifa, Mina and Mecca. That Urana is not part of Arafah admits no disagreement: al-Shafi'i stated it explicitly and his companions agreed. Nimira is not part of it either, but is near it: that is the sound view, stated by al-Shafi'i in al-Mukhtasar al-Awsat, held by al-Bandaniji and his companions, and reported by al-Rafi'i from the majority. The author of Al-Shamil and a few others are said to have held it part of Arafah: a strange claim, unknown, absent from Al-Shamil and denied by sense itself and by the concordant books of the scholars. The mosque of Ibrahim: al-Shafi'i stated that it is not part of Arafah and that standing there is not valid; al-Mawardi, al-Mutawalli, the author of Al-Bayan and the majority of the Iraqis ruled the same. A group of Khurasanis, among them Abu Muhammad al-Juwayni, the judge Husayn in his commentary, Imam al-Haramayn and al-Rafi'i, hold that the front of the mosque is on the side of the valley of Urana, outside Arafah, and its far end within Arafah: standing at the front is not valid, at the end it is, the distinction being made by large rocks scattered there. Abu Amr ibn al-Salah proposes to reconcile by assuming an enlargement of the mosque after al-Shafi'i.
Al-Azraqi measures the mosque: one hundred and sixty-three cubits from its front to its rear, two hundred and thirteen cubits from its right side to its left on the Arafah and road side, one hundred and three porticos, ten doors; one thousand six hundred and five cubits separate the boundary of the sanctuary from the mosque of Urana, and one mile separates the mosque of Arafah from the place where the Prophet stood. Urana and Nimira, lying between Arafah and the sanctuary, belong to neither; as for the Mount of Mercy, it is in the middle of Arafah. Al-Mawardi reports from al-Shafi'i: any place where the people stand within Arafah's sides, mountains, plains, valleys and the well-known markets of Dhu al-Majaz suffices; standing behind Arafah or short of it, deliberately, forgetfully or in ignorance, does not suffice; Malik: it suffices, with a sacrifice. Al-Abdari: what the companions report from Malik (valid with a sacrifice) has not been seen from him; his madhhab is that of the jurists: it does not suffice, his companions having stated explicitly that standing at Urana is not permitted (Al-Majmu', 8/105, 112).
Ibn Rushd: the scholars differ over whoever moves from Arafah to Urana. It is said: his Hajj is complete and a sacrifice is upon him, the view of Malik; al-Shafi'i: no Hajj for him. The basis of those who annul it is the prohibition contained in the hadith; the basis of those who do not annul it is the principle that standing at any point of Arafah is permitted except what evidence excludes, this hadith not being of a strength that requires departing from the principle (Bidayat al-Mujtahid, 1/472).
The people of knowledge are unanimously agreed that the last time of the standing is the rise of dawn on the day of sacrifice; Ibn Qudama: "We know of no disagreement among the people of knowledge that the last moment is the rise of dawn on the day of sacrifice" (Al-Mughni, 5/24). The proofs: the hadith "Hajj is Arafah", from which it follows that whoever misses the standing for any reason whatsoever has missed his Hajj; the hadith of Urwa ibn Mudarris, from which it follows that whoever does not reach Arafah in its time, for any cause, has not completed his Hajj nor discharged his tafath, knowing that this was said to a man who did not know where Arafah is, and the excusable ignoramus has the stronger claim, yet he was not excused; and the consensus that the Hajj is missed by the failure of the standing at Arafah, for any cause, as in miscounting the days of the ten, in which case his Hajj is not valid.
This consensus draws on the hadith of Habar ibn al-Aswad, who came on the day of sacrifice while Omar ibn al-Khattab was sacrificing his offerings: "O prince of the believers, we miscounted: we thought this day was the day of Arafah." Omar replied:
"Go back to Mecca, perform seven rounds, you and those with you, and sacrifice an animal if you have one; then shave or shorten, and depart. When next year comes, perform Hajj and offer a sacrifice; whoever finds none fasts three days during the Hajj and seven on his return."Reported by Malik in the Muwatta (857), authenticated by al-Nawawi (Al-Majmu', 8/220)
Omar did not excuse them when the day of Arafah escaped them, even though their failure had an acceptable cause and a clear excuse; Ibn Abd al-Barr: "This is a matter agreed upon concerning whoever misses the Hajj after entering ihram, without reaching Arafah before the day of sacrifice" (Al-Tamhid, 15/201).
The people of knowledge agree: whoever stands for a moment, of night or day, on the day of Arafah, with a present mind, sick or healthy, then loses consciousness, has completed his Hajj and discharged his tafath. They differ over whoever stands at Arafah and remains unconscious for the entire time of the standing without waking for a single moment: is his standing valid? Two views.
The arguments of the first view: the hadith of Urwa ibn Mudarris, who came from the mountains of Tayy, having saddled his mount and worn out his soul, asking the Prophet whether he has any Hajj, and receiving the affirmative; the unconscious man has indeed performed the standing by his mere presence at the place in its time, by analogy with the one who passes without knowing, like Urwa in this hadith who, apparently, stood at Arafah without knowing it (Al-Mabsut 4/56; Al-Dhakhira 3/257; Fath al-Aziz 7/362). And the unconscious man is in most states without intention or purity; yet the absence of intention and purity after ihram does not prevent the validity of the standing, as with the sleeper (Mukhtasar Ikhtilaf al-Ulama 2/60; Mawahib al-Jalil 3/95).
The second view: the standing of the unconscious man at Arafah does not suffice him nor complete his Hajj: the view of al-Hasan, of the Shafi'is in the soundest position (Al-Majmu' 8/112; Kifayat al-Akhyar 1/212), of the Hanbalis in the madhhab (Al-Mughni 5/25; Al-Insaf 4/29), of Ishaq, Abu Thawr, Dawud and Ibn al-Mundhir (Al-Istidhkar, 4/49). Al-Nawawi: "The soundest with us is that the standing of the unconscious man is not valid; Ibn al-Mundhir reported it from al-Shafi'i, Ahmad, Ishaq and Abu Thawr, saying: and that is what I say; Malik and Abu Hanifa said: it is valid." Their arguments: the word of Allah:
"And they were not commanded except to worship Allah, being sincere to Him in religion."
Surah Al-Bayyinah, 5
And the Prophet's word: "Deeds are only by intentions, and each man attains only what he intended" (reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim). An act enjoined is only valid with the intention of seeking it purely for the sake of Allah, and the unconscious man did not produce such an act (Al-Muhalla, 7/192). The standing at Arafah is an obligation of worship that cannot be discharged without intention, like ihram and the rest of the obligations and pillars, and unconsciousness negates intention and nearness. Finally, if one were rendered unconscious for the entire day of Ramadan, his fast would not be valid; so too with the standing throughout its whole time (Al-Bayan 4/319; Al-Mughni, 5/25).
The pilgrim performs it after leaving Arafah, spending the night at Muzdalifa, reaching Mina on the day of Eid to stone, sacrifice, and shave or shorten, then proceeding to Mecca to circle the House. It is called the tawaf of visitation because the pilgrim comes from Mina to visit the House without staying in Mecca, returning to spend the night at Mina; it is also called the tawaf of ifada because he performs it upon departing Mina for Mecca (Al-Mughni, 5/61).
Its number is seven circuits, all of them a pillar according to the majority: the quantities of worship are known neither by opinion nor by independent reasoning, but by transmission; the Messenger of Allah circled seven circuits, and anything less is not counted. The Hanafis: the pillar is the majority of the circuits, namely three circuits plus more of the fourth; completion is an obligation repaired by a sacrifice: whoever has intercourse after completing the majority of the tawaf before finishing it owes not the camel but a sheep. Al-Kasani: the word of Allah:
"And let them circle around the Ancient House."
Surah Al-Hajj, 29
The absolute command does not require repetition; the excess beyond a single circuit up to the majority of circuits was established by another proof, consensus; and the majority stands in place of the whole in what effects the release from the sacral state, like the slaughter that is valid without cutting all four veins (Bada'i al-Sana'i, 3/73).
Walking the tawaf. The Hanafis, the Malikis and Ahmad in one narration: walking the tawaf is obligatory upon the one able to do it; if he abandons it while able, his tawaf is valid but he owes a sacrifice, for having abandoned an obligation. If he is incapable of walking, nothing is due: no obligation with incapacity (Bada'i al-Sana'i 3/60; Al-Istidhkar 4/214). Al-Sarakhsi: if he circled riding or carried, for an excuse such as illness or old age, nothing is due; without an excuse, he repeats it while in Mecca, and if he returned home the sacrifice is due by our view, nothing by al-Shafi'i's, since the Prophet performed the tawaf of visitation on the day of sacrifice on his mount, touching the corner with his stick; we reply that the tawaf has been transmitted from generation to generation, to this day, on foot. Abu al-Tufayl reports that the Prophet circled riding because of an ailment in his foot; Ibn Abi al-Zubayr, from Jabir: so that the people would see him and ask him about their affairs; or because of his old age. Al-Dusuqi: walking in the tawaf and the sa'i is obligatory on the able; the incapable who circles or runs riding or carried owes no sacrifice; the able man is ordered to repeat it on foot while in Mecca, without repair by a sacrifice, like the incapable man ordered to repeat if he gains strength; if he returned to his country he is not ordered to come back for it, but a sacrifice is due, which drops if he returns and repeats it on foot. In the non-obligatory tawaf, walking is a sunna. The incapacity required is not total inability, but the illness that makes walking hard, per Ibn Abd al-Salam (Hashiyat al-Dusuqi, 2/40; Al-Mabsut, 4/44-45).
The Shafi'is and Ahmad in the other narration: walking the tawaf is a sunna, and it is the choice of Ibn Abd al-Barr among the Malikis. Al-Nawawi: al-Mawardi reported consensus that walking the tawaf is better than riding it; whoever circles riding, for an excuse or without, his tawaf is valid, with no sacrifice in either case: that is the sound position of Ahmad's madhhab, the view of Dawud and Ibn al-Mundhir. Malik and Abu Hanifa: riding with an excuse, it suffices him with nothing due; riding without an excuse, a sacrifice is upon him; Abu Hanifa: if he is still in Mecca, he repeats the tawaf. The two argue that it is an act of worship attached to the House, which does not suffice performed on a mount, like prayer; our companions cite the preceding hadiths, including the word reported by Abu Dawud from Ibn Abbas that the Prophet only circled riding because of a complaint that befell him: a weak hadith (Da'if Abi Dawud, 337). The reply: the authentic hadiths of Jabir and Aisha establish clearly that his riding tawaf was not due to illness, but so that the people would see him and ask him without jostling him; the analogy with prayer is false, since prayer is not valid riding when obligatory, while the validity of riding tawaf is conceded (Al-Majmu' 8/27; Al-Mughni 4/593).
Ahmad in a third narration: riding tawaf never suffices him if he can walk, the Prophet having said:
"The tawaf around the House is a prayer."Reported by al-Tirmidhi (1/180), al-Darimi (2/44), Ibn Khuzayma (2739) and Ibn Hibban (899)
Al-Khiraqi's reading yields the same in his first position. Ibn Qudama: whoever circles and runs carried for an ailment, it suffices him; "we know of no disagreement among the people of knowledge on the validity of riding tawaf with an excuse: Ibn Abbas reported that the Prophet circled the farewell Hajj on his camel, touching the corner with his stick" (reported by al-Bukhari, 1530, and Muslim, 1272). And Umm Salama: "I complained to the Messenger of Allah that I was ill; he said: circle behind the people, riding" (reported by al-Bukhari, 1552, and Muslim, 1276). And Jabir: "The Prophet circled on his mount around the House, and between Safa and Marwa, so that the people would see him, look upon him and ask him, for the crowd pressed upon him" (reported by Muslim, 1273). Being carried is like riding.
Riding or carried tawaf without excuse, three positions. The first, al-Khiraqi's reading and one narration of Ahmad: it does not suffice, the tawaf being a prayer and an act of worship attached to the House. The second: it suffices, repaired by a sacrifice, the view of Malik and Abu Hanifa, the latter adding that he repeats it while in Mecca and, if he has departed, repairs by a sacrifice for leaving an obligatory attribute in a pillar of Hajj, like one who stands at Arafah by day then departs before sunset. The third: it suffices with nothing due, the choice of Abu Bakr al-Khiraqi, the madhhab of al-Shafi'i and Ibn al-Mundhir, since the Prophet circled riding; Ibn al-Mundhir: "No statement stands against the deed of the Prophet; Allah commanded the tawaf in absolute terms, and whatever he did of it suffices; restricting the absolute without evidence is not permitted." There is no disagreement that walking the tawaf, that is, on one's feet, is better: the Prophet's companions circled on foot, and the Prophet circled on foot apart from the farewell Hajj; Umm Salama's report is evidence that the tawaf is only performed walking, and that the Prophet rode only for an excuse: Ibn Abbas reported that the people pressed upon the Messenger of Allah saying "this is Muhammad" until the young women came out of the houses, whereas he never had people pushed away before him; as the crowd grew, he rode (reported by Muslim). Likewise in Jabir's hadith, the crowd pressed him; Ibn Abbas is reported to have said he circled riding because of an ailment. Thus a large crowd and the pressure of the gathering are an excuse, and it is possible the Prophet intended to teach the people their rites, which he could only do riding (Al-Mughni, 4/592, 594).
Two clarifications from al-Khiraqi: in the riding or carried tawaf there is no brisk walking (ramal), the camel proceeding at a slow pace; the first view is sounder, for the Prophet neither did it nor ordered it, the meaning of ramal not being realized. The sa'i riding suffices, with excuse or without, the reason that barred riding tawaf being absent there. Ibn Abd al-Barr sharpens the objection: whoever prays seated while healthy and able to stand, as imam or alone, his prayer is invalid by consensus of the scholars; how could such a basis support riding tawaf when the sunna itself distinguished the two, the Messenger of Allah having circled on his mount without saying it was for an excuse, nor is it transmitted with trustworthiness, while it is known that following him is permitted or obligatory until his specificity appears, with no rebuttal of the binding report (Al-Istidhkar, 4/214; Al-Mughni, 4/592, 594).
When the Bedouin asked the Prophet about the obligations, he mentioned the five prayers; the man asked: "Is there anything else upon me?" He said:
"No, except voluntary acts."Authentic hadith
The tawaf of visitation being a prayer with no prescribed congregation, it is not among the obligatory acts, like voluntary acts in general (Al-Mughni 4/572; Al-Majmu' 8/49, 63; Al-Tamhid 24/414, 416; Al-Ifsah 1/518). Its pillar status and obligation are established by the Book, the Sunna and consensus.
By the Book: the word of Allah:
"And let them circle around the Ancient House."
Surah Al-Hajj, 30
This verse refers to the tawaf of visitation by consensus: it commands the tawaf upon all, so it obliges all; the tawaf of arrival is disputed, and the tawaf of departure (the farewell) does not oblige everyone since it is not due from the people of Mecca: the tawaf of visitation is therefore what the verse intends.
By the Sunna: Aisha reports:
"Safiyya bint Huyayy, the wife of the Prophet, got her menses. I mentioned it to the Messenger of Allah; he asked: is she an impediment to us? They replied: she has already departed (Mina). He said: then no."Reported by al-Bukhari (1670) and Muslim (1211)
The hadith establishes that this tawaf is indispensable, and that whoever does not perform it is hindered (muhsir).
By consensus: reported by Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Abd al-Barr, Ibn Hazm, al-Kasani, Ibn Hubayra, al-Nawawi and Ibn Qudama. Ibn al-Mundhir: "They agreed that the obligatory tawaf is the tawaf of ifada" (Al-Ijma', 200). Ibn Abd al-Barr: "The scholars agreed that the completion of Hajj is the standing at Arafah and the tawaf of ifada around the House" (Al-Istidhkar, 4/370). Ibn Hazm: "They agreed that the second tawaf, called the tawaf of ifada, and the standing at Arafah are obligations" (Maratib al-Ijma', 42). Al-Kasani: the verse (Surah Al-Hajj, 29) refers to the tawaf of visitation by consensus; the tawaf of meeting (arrival) is not obligatory on anyone in itself, and the tawaf of departure does not oblige everyone, the people of Mecca excepted (Bada'i al-Sana'i, 3/60).
Ibn Hubayra: "They agreed that the obligations of Hajj are three: ihram for Hajj, the standing at Arafah, and the tawaf of visitation, called the tawaf of ifada, also named the tawaf of obligation" (Al-Ifsah, 1/532). Al-Nawawi: "This tawaf is a pillar of Hajj without which Hajj is not valid, by consensus of the community" (Al-Majmu', 8/157). Ibn Qudama: "It is a pillar of Hajj without which it is not completed; we know of no disagreement on this," by the word of Allah (Surah Al-Hajj, 29). Ibn Abd al-Barr: it is one of the obligations of Hajj, with no disagreement among the scholars (Al-Mughni, 5/61).
Beside the general conditions of tawaf, four conditions are specific to it:
The time. The tawaf of ifada is not valid before the time fixed for it by law. The Hanafis and Malikis set the start at the rise of dawn on the day of sacrifice: the night preceding that dawn is the time of the standing at Arafah, to which the tawaf is subordinate, a single moment not being the time of two pillars (Bada'i al-Sana'i 3/71-72; Al-Mudawwana, 1/317). The Shafi'is and Hanbalis: from the second half of the night of sacrifice for one who stood at Arafah before it; the Shafi'is reason by analogy from stoning: stoning, slaughter and shaving produce the first release, the tawaf (with the condition of sa'i) the greater release; as the time of stoning begins after midnight, such is the time of the tawaf of ifada (Al-Majmu' 1/161; Nihayat al-Muhtaj 2/429; Al-Ifsah 1/516; Al-Mughni 5/62; Al-Furu', 3/516, 520). What is best according to the scholars is performing it on the day of sacrifice, after stoning, sacrifice and shaving, Jabir describing the Prophet's Hajj: "he proceeded to the House and prayed zuhr in Mecca" (reported by Muslim, 1218). As for its end, no fixed limit is set for performing it as an obligation: all the days and nights are its time, by agreement of the four schools.
The sole exception: Ibn Hazm holds that whoever leaves the month of Dhu al-Hijja before circling has his Hajj void and must return, abstaining from women until he circles the remainder, for "Hajj takes place in well-known months" (Surah Al-Baqarah, 197), namely Shawwal, Dhu al-Qa'da and Dhu al-Hijja, no one being permitted to perform an act of Hajj outside its months; and the abstention from women is required by "...no profanity, nor wickedness, nor disputing during the Hajj" (Surah Al-Baqarah, 197), so long as the obligations of Hajj are not complete; but his return for the farewell tawaf does not obligate the abstention, that return being neither Hajj nor umra (Al-Muhalla, 7/172). The jurists then differ over another time of obligation. Abu Hanifa restricts the tawaf to the days of sacrifice as to its obligation: the delay is valid, but a sacrifice is due for the delay, delay counting as omission as regards the obligation of repair, like one who crosses the miqat without ihram then enters it, or like the delay of an obligation in prayer; the delay entails omitting two obligations, performing the act and observing it in its place, hence repair by a sacrifice (Bada'i al-Sana'i, 3/71-72). Malik: no sacrifice attaches to the delay, even to the end of Dhu al-Hijja, the whole month being for him among the months of Hajj; delaying the ifada to the last days of tashriq is permissible, hastening being better; up to Muharram, a sacrifice is due (Al-Mudawwana 1/317; Sharh al-Zarqani 2/281; Al-Ifsah, 1/516).
Before this case, the sequel of the debate on the time: the Shafi'is, the Hanbalis, the two companions of Abu Hanifa and Malik in one narration hold that no sacrifice is ever due for the delay. The default is the absence of a fixed time; nothing requires acting within the days of sacrifice; if the end of the time were fixed, the duty would lapse at its expiry like the standing at Arafah; since it does not lapse, the tawaf is not time-bound: once delayed, it never lapses, and women remain forbidden to its author until he returns and circles. The ransom does not substitute for the tawaf of ifada by consensus: it is a pillar, and the pillars of Hajj admit no substitution, nothing standing in their place; it must be performed itself (Al-Majmu' 1/161; Nihayat al-Muhtaj 2/429; Al-Mughni 5/62; Bada'i al-Sana'i, 3/71-72).
Ibn Hazm: whoever was in a tawaf, obligatory or voluntary, when the prayer was called, or to whom a funeral prayer presented itself, or the need to urinate or another necessity, let him pray, leave for his need, then resume his tawaf and complete it. Likewise in the sa'i between Safa and Marwa, with no difference: this is the view of Abu Hanifa and al-Shafi'i. Malik: in the obligatory tawaf he starts over, except for the prescribed prayer alone, which he prays before restarting; in the voluntary tawaf he resumes in all these cases. Abu Muhammad notes that this division lacks proof: no text nor consensus on the obligation of restarting the tawaf and the sa'i after an interruption for a need, nor on invalidating what was done, by the word of Allah:
"...and do not invalidate your deeds."
Surah Muhammad, 33
The tawaf and the sa'i are fixed at seven, with no text at all on continuity, the only evidence being the Prophet's deed; and whoever interrupts for amusement: no act counts for the trifler (Al-Muhalla, 7/202-203). From Jamil ibn Zayd:
"I saw Ibn Omar circling on a hot day, three circuits; the heat overcoming him, he entered the hijr and sat, then came out and resumed where he had left off."Reported by Abd al-Razzaq in the Musannaf (8980)
And from 'Ata: there is no harm in a man sitting in the tawaf to rest, nor in one to whom a need occurs during his tawaf going to discharge it and then resuming what he had circled (Al-Muhalla, 7/202-203).
The sa'i between Safa and Marwa is covering the distance between them seven times, by consensus of the community and by the deed of the Messenger of Allah, after the tawaf around the House according to the four imams; from Safa to Marwa one course, and from Marwa to Safa another, the Prophet having made seven courses between them.
Order is a condition of the sa'i for the Hanafis in the famous view, the Malikis, the Shafi'is and the Hanbalis: to begin at Safa and end at Marwa; whoever begins at Marwa has that course without value, then, once at Safa, what follows is counted, order here being commanded by the Prophet's word and deed. Ibn Qudama: "The sa'i follows the tawaf and is only valid if a tawaf precedes it; whoever runs before it, his sa'i is not valid." Malik, al-Shafi'i and the people of opinion said so; 'Ata: it suffices him; from Ahmad: it suffices him if he forgot, not if he did it deliberately, the Prophet having answered the one who asked about precedence and delay out of ignorance or forgetfulness: "No harm." The Prophet only ran after his tawaf, saying: "Take from me your rites"; so whoever runs then learns that he circled without purity has his sa'i without value; and when the ifrad pilgrim (mufrid) and the qarin run after the tawaf of arrival, no further sa'i is due to them, even without a sa'i with the tawaf of visitation (Al-Mughni, 4/579-580).
Ibn Hubayra: "They agreed that the sa'i between Safa and Marwa may precede the tawaf of visitation, being performed right after the tawaf of arrival: it suffices, with no need to run after the tawaf of visitation; they have no disagreement on it" (Al-Ifsah, 1/280).
The jurists differ: is the sa'i a pillar of Hajj that no sacrifice repairs and that must be performed, or an obligation repaired by a sacrifice if abandoned, or a sunna with nothing upon whoever leaves it? The majority of the jurists, Malikis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis in one view, make it a pillar of Hajj without which the Hajj is not valid and which the sacrifice does not replace. The proof is Urwa's report from Aisha:
"I said to Aisha, the wife of the Prophet: I see no merit in one who has not made the courses between Safa and Marwa, and I do not mind not making them. She said: what you say is evil, O son of my sister. The Messenger of Allah made the courses, and the Muslims made the courses between the two: it is therefore a sunna. By my life, Allah does not complete the Hajj of one who does not make the courses between Safa and Marwa."Reported by al-Bukhari (1698) and Muslim (1277)
And the hadith of Habiba bint Abi Tajra: women of Quraysh and she visited at the house of Abu al-Husayn while the Prophet was making the courses between Safa and Marwa, his izar turning around him from the intensity of the running, as he told his companions:
"Make the courses, for Allah has prescribed the courses upon you."Reported by Ahmad in the Musnad (6/421, 437), Ibn Khuzayma (4/232), al-Daraqutni (2/255) and al-Hakim (4/79)
The sa'i is indeed a rite of Hajj and umra, a pillar of both like the tawaf around the House (Al-Maslik al-Mutaqassit pp. 115, 121; Al-Majmu' 8/64, 78; Al-Mughni 4/578-579; Bidayat al-Mujtahid 1/466).
The Hanafis, and Ahmad in the narration chosen by al-Qadi and preferred by Ibn Qudama, make it an obligation of Hajj, not a pillar, repaired by a sacrifice. Ibn Qudama: "This is more likely: the proof of those who obligate it indicates obligation in general, not that the Hajj is not completed without it; Aisha's statement is countered by the statement of the companion who differed with her; and the hadith of the daughter of Abu Tajra, transmitted by Abdallah ibn al-Mu'mmil, was criticized in its transmission, then it indicates a written prescription, that is, an obligation" (Al-Mughni, 4/579). The Hanafis add: pillar status is established only by decisive evidence, which is lacking; the hadith "Allah has prescribed the courses upon you, so make the courses" (reported by al-Tabarani in Al-Awsat, 5032) does not rise to pillar status; it indicates obligation at most. Al-Kasani: Aisha describes the Hajj without the sa'i as deficient, not as corrupt; the neglect of an obligation is what causes deficiency, while the neglect of a farida causes corruption and nullity; moreover such obligation is established only by decisive evidence, which is nowhere found in a field of reasoning where the people of the religion differ. Being an obligation: whoever leaves it for an excuse has nothing due, and whoever leaves it without an excuse owes a sacrifice; such is the rule for abandoning an obligation here, unlike the pillars, which do not lapse even with an excuse, the pillar being the essence of the thing which, without it, does not exist at all, like the pillars of prayer (Bada'i al-Sana'i 3/77; Al-Hidaya 1/142; Al-Mughni 4/578-579; Al-Furu', 3/504).
Ahmad is also reported to have held that the sa'i is a sunna with no sacrifice for leaving it, as were Ibn Abbas, Anas, Ibn al-Zubayr and Ibn Sirin, by the word of Allah:
"...there is no blame upon one who makes the courses between them."
Surah Al-Baqarah, 158
The removal of hardship from the doer is evidence of non-obligation, which is the rank of the permitted; its status as sunna is established by Allah's word describing it as "a sacred emblem of Allah". It is also reported in the mushaf of Ubayy and that of Ibn Mas'ud: "no blame upon one who does not make the courses between them", a reading which, though not Quran, does not fall below the rank of report, both transmitting it from the Prophet; and the sa'i is a rite with a fixed number not attached to the House, hence not a pillar like the stoning (Al-Mughni 4/578-579; Al-Furu', 3/504).
Its original time is the day of sacrifice, after the tawaf of visitation, not after the tawaf of arrival; yet a concession allowed the sa'i after the tawaf of arrival, which thus became a time for it, as an easing for the pilgrim given the crowding of the day of sacrifice's occupations. As for its end, it has none; the jurists differ over its ruling when delayed past its original time, the days of sacrifice after the tawaf of visitation. The Hanafis, as set out by al-Kasani: one who has not returned home runs, with nothing upon him, having fulfilled what was due, the sa'i being performed after the tawaf of visitation; intercourse with his women does not harm him, the release from the sacral state having occurred through that tawaf, the sa'i not being, in their view, a pillar that would bar it; once made lawful by the tawaf, there is no difference between running before or after intercourse; if he is in Mecca, let him run; if he has returned home, a sacrifice is due for abandoning the sa'i without excuse; if he wishes to return to Mecca, he returns in a new ihram, the first having been lifted by the tawaf of visitation; once back and the sa'i performed, the sacrifice drops from him, having made amends. Al-Kasani: "The sacrifice is dearer to me than the return, for it holds benefit for the poor, and the deficiency is not egregious: he becomes like one who circled in a state of minor impurity then returned home" (Bada'i al-Sana'i 3/80-81; Mukhtasar Ikhtilaf al-Ulama, 2/145).
Malik: whoever abandons the sa'i until he has returned comes back and runs; if he has had intercourse with women, an umra and a sacrifice are due; if he left only a single course, he returns and runs (Al-Muwatta 1/374; Al-Istidhkar, 4/221). Ibn Abd al-Barr: Malik requires the umra and the sacrifice only so that the sa'i be performed in a valid ihram, not one corrupted by intercourse, and so the tawaf around the House be in a valid ihram (Al-Tamhid, 2/105). Al-Shafi'i: whoever abandons the sa'i between Safa and Marwa in Hajj: women are forbidden to him until he returns and runs between them; if he has had intercourse, he must return, circle between the two and offer a sacrifice. Ibn Abd al-Barr: al-Shafi'i's position here is Malik's position on the obligation of the sa'i: whoever obligates it requires the return from any distance, in umra as in Hajj, the word of Allah covering both:
"...whoever performs the pilgrimage of the House or the umra, there is no blame upon him to make the courses between them."
Surah Al-Baqarah, 158
Whoever does not obligate it, the sacrifice stands in its place for the one far from Mecca, such being the rule of the sunan of Hajj: repaired by a sacrifice, with no return afterward (Al-Istidhkar, 4/229). Ahmad, across the narrations: al-Athram reports from him, concerning one who departed without running: he returns and runs, otherwise no Hajj for him. From Ibn Mansur: one who begins with Safa and Marwa before the House, it does not suffice him; it is also reported from him that the sa'i is a sunna. From Abu Talib, on one who forgets the sa'i or leaves it deliberately: it does not befit him to leave it; I hope nothing is upon him. Al-Maymuni: the sa'i between Safa and Marwa is voluntary. Harb, on one who forgets the sa'i until he reaches his dwelling: nothing is upon him (Sharh al-Umda, 3/623).