Islamic Fiqh > Hajj and umra > Umra > Umra: definition, merits, status and sequence
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Updated on 24 September 2026 at 7:46 PM
This chapter gathers the sheets devoted to the 'umrah according to the encyclopedia of fiqh (al-Mawsou'a al-fiqhiyya). It first presents the hadiths on the merits of the 'umrah and the merit of the spending devoted to it, then addresses the scholars' point of divergence over its legal status: a one-time obligation like the Hajj, or a confirmed but non-obligatory sunnah, together with the evidence of each camp and the detailed replies given to each proof. It ends with the full description of the 'umrah, from entering into ihram through the tawaf and the sa'i, including the schools' positions.
It has been said: the 'umrah is the visit to the House of Allah for the well-known rite composed of entering into ihram, the tawaf (circumambulation), the sa'i (the ritual walk between Safa and Marwah), then shaving or shortening the hair ("Adwa' al-Bayan", 5/227).
Second: the hadiths on the merits of the 'umrah. The many legislative texts have converged, praise and favor belong to Allah, in praising the merit of the 'umrah, the immensity of its reward and its ample recompense with Allah the Most High. Among these legislative texts are the following.
1. What Abdallah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
Join the Hajj and the 'umrah together, for both of them remove poverty and sins as the bellows of the forge remove the impurity of iron, gold and silver, and an accepted Hajj has no reward other than Paradise. In another version: no believer stays in ihram for a whole day without his sins vanishing at sunset.Reported by al-Tirmidhi, who graded it hasan sahih (good and authentic), and by al-Nasa'i and Ibn Khuzayma without the added version; al-Mundhiri notes in "al-Targhib wa-al-Tarhib" (2/119) that this addition is not found in some copies of al-Tirmidhi's Sahih, and that Ibn al-Athir attributed it to al-Tirmidhi in "Jami' al-Tahsil" (9/461); see also "Adwa' al-Bayan" (5/227)
2. What Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
One 'umrah to the next is an expiation for what comes between them, and an accepted Hajj has no reward other than Paradise.Reported by Bukhari (1773) and Muslim (1349)
3. What Abdallah ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The fighter...", the quotation breaking off at this first word in the source.
Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to her about her 'umrah:
You will have a reward in proportion to your effort and your spending.Reported by al-Hakim, who declared it authentic according to the conditions of the two imams (Bukhari and Muslim); in a version of his that he authenticated: your reward in your 'umrah is in proportion to your spending; see "al-Mustadrak" (1/644)
The original of this hadith is found with Bukhari (1695) and Muslim (1211), from al-Qasim, from the Mother of the Believers Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her):
I said: Messenger of Allah, the people return with two rites and I with only one. He said: Wait; when you are purified, go out to al-Tan'im and enter ihram from there, then we will meet you at such and such a place. He said: I think he said: tomorrow; but it (the reward) is in proportion to your effort, he said, or your spending.Reported by Bukhari (1695) and Muslim (1211)
Third: the legal status of the 'umrah. The jurists and scholars differed over its status: is it obligatory, or a sunnah? Two views were held.
First view: the 'umrah is obligatory, once in a lifetime, on whoever can afford it, like the Hajj. This is the view of the Shafi'is and the Hanbalis according to their madhhab, and of some Hanafis. Among the Companions: Umar ibn al-Khattab, his son Abdallah, Ibn Abbas, Jabir and Zayd ibn Thabit. Among the Successors (tabi'in): Tawus, Ata, Ibn al-Musayyab, Sa'id ibn Jubayr, al-Hasan al-Basri, Ibn Sirin, Abu Burda ibn Abi Musa al-Hadrami, Abdallah ibn Shaddad, al-Thawri, Ishaq, Abu Ubayd, Dawud, al-Bukhari and Ibn Hazm.
They established the obligation with the following proofs:
1. The word of Allah the Most High:
"And complete the Hajj and the 'umrah for Allah"
Surah al-Baqarah, 196
A command implies obligation; moreover, the 'umrah is coordinated there with the Hajj, and the governing principle is the equality of the item coordinated with the one to which it is coordinated. Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with both of them) said: "By the One in whose hand my soul is, it is the Hajj's companion in the Book of Allah". Al-Bukhari reported this statement in suspended (mu'allaq) form with the jussive (2/629), in the chapter on the obligation of the 'umrah; al-Shafi'i connected the chain in "al-Umm" (2/132), from Sufyan, from Amr ibn Dinar, from Tawus, from Ibn Abbas. Ibn Hazm wrote in "al-Muhalla" (7/38): this statement comes from Ibn Abbas through chains of the utmost authenticity establishing that it is obligatory like the Hajj.
2. What Aisha, the Mother of the Believers (may Allah be pleased with her), reported:
I said: Messenger of Allah, do women have a jihad? He said: Yes, there is a jihad for them in which there is no fighting: the Hajj and the 'umrah.Authentic hadith reported by Ahmad (6/75), Ibn Majah (2901), al-Daraqutni (2/284) and al-Bayhaqi in "al-Sunan al-Kubra" (8540)
3. From Zayd ibn Thabit (may Allah be pleased with him), in a statement attributed to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):
The Hajj and the 'umrah are two obligations: it does you no harm with which of them you begin.Weak hadith reported by al-Daraqutni (2/284), al-Hakim in "al-Mustadrak" (1/643) and al-Bayhaqi (4/351); see "al-Umm" (2/132), "al-Hawi al-Kabir" (4/33), "Ikhtilaf al-'Ulama" by al-Marwazi (1/88), "Mukhtasar Khilafiyat al-Bayhaqi" (3/136, 138), "al-Majmu'" (7/57), "al-Mughni" (4/308, 310), "Kashshaf al-Qina'" (2/377), "al-Mubdi'" (3/84), "Nayl al-Awtar" (5/5) and "al-Muhalla" (7/38)
4. Abu Razin al-'Uqayli (may Allah be pleased with him) said:
Messenger of Allah, my father is an old man who can neither perform the Hajj, nor the 'umrah, nor travel. He said: Perform the Hajj on behalf of your father and perform the 'umrah.Authentic hadith reported by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad (4/10-11), al-Tirmidhi (930), al-Nasa'i (2637), Ibn Majah (2906), Ibn Khuzayma in his Sahih (4/45), Ibn Hibban in his Sahih (1/399) and others
The thrust of this proof is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded Abu Razin to perform the 'umrah on behalf of his father with his words "and perform the 'umrah": it is a form of command concerning the 'umrah joined to the command of the Hajj, and the form of command conveys obligation. More than one narrator reported from Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) this statement: I know of no hadith on the obligation of the 'umrah more generous or more authentic than this one.
5. The account of al-Su'abi ibn Ma'bad:
I was a Bedouin man, a Christian, then I embraced Islam. I went to a man of my clan called Hudhaym ibn Thurmala and said to him: welcome; I am eager for jihad, and I have found the Hajj and the 'umrah written upon me: how can I combine them? He said: Combine them and slaughter whatever sacrificial animal is easy for you. So I entered ihram for both together. When I reached al-'Udhayb, Salman ibn Rabi'a and Zayd ibn Suhan met me while I was in ihram for both together, and one of them said to the other: he is no more generous than his camel. He said: it was as if a mountain had been thrown upon me, until I came to Umar ibn al-Khattab. I said to him: Commander of the Believers, I was a Bedouin man, a Christian, then I embraced Islam; I am eager for jihad, and I have found the Hajj and the 'umrah written upon me; I went to a man of my people who told me: combine them and slaughter whatever sacrificial animal is easy for you; and I had entered ihram for both together. Umar said to me (may Allah be pleased with him): you have been rightly guided to the sunnah of your Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).Authentic hadith reported by Abu Dawud (1799), al-Nasa'i (2719) and Ibn Majah (2970)
Umar's silence (may Allah be pleased with him), as he refrained from objecting, indicates that the 'umrah is obligatory.
6. What Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) reported in the story of the questioner who asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) about Islam, namely Jibril (peace be upon him). Umar said:
We were sitting with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) among people when a man came with no trace of travel upon him, who was not one of the people of the town; he made his way through until he sat before the Messenger of Allah with his legs folded and said: Muhammad, what is Islam? He said: Islam is to bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, to establish the prayer, to pay the zakat, to perform the Hajj and the 'umrah, to wash from major impurity, to complete the ablution and to fast the month of Ramadan. He said: if I do that, am I a Muslim? He said: Yes. He said: you have spoken the truth...Authentic hadith reported by Ibn Khuzayma in his Sahih (1/3), Ibn Hibban in his Sahih (1/398), al-Daraqutni in his Sunan (2/282) who said: firmly established and authentic, and al-Bayhaqi (4/369)
Second view: the 'umrah is a confirmed sunnah (mu'akkada), not an obligation. This is the view of the Hanafis, the Malikis, al-Shafi'i in his earlier position, and Imam Ahmad according to a version chosen by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah; it is also narrated from Ibn Mas'ud, Abu Thawr, al-Nakha'i, al-Shawkani and others. They established it with the following:
1. What is narrated from Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him):
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was asked about the 'umrah: is it obligatory? He said: No; and performing the 'umrah is better.Weak hadith reported by al-Tirmidhi (913)
2. What is narrated from Talha ibn Ubaydillah (may Allah be pleased with him): he heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say:
The Hajj is a jihad, and the 'umrah a voluntary act.Weak hadith reported by Ibn Majah (2989)
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: this view is the more correct, for Allah only required the completion of the 'umrah in His word:
"And complete the Hajj and the 'umrah for Allah"
Surah al-Baqarah, 196
which is the obligation of completion; as for the initial enactment, He only required the Hajj, and the same applies to all the authentic hadiths, which contain nothing but the obligation of the Hajj ("Majmu' al-Fatawa", 26/5; "al-Fatawa al-Kubra", 2/203). He said elsewhere: it is also because Allah said:
"And due to Allah from the people is a pilgrimage to the House, for whoever is able to find a way"
Surah Ali Imran, 97
without mentioning the 'umrah: had it been obligatory, He would have mentioned it, as we have seen. Likewise, when He commanded its completion and the sa'i within it in His word "And complete the Hajj and the 'umrah for Allah", and in His word:
"Whoever performs Hajj to the House or performs the 'umrah incurs no blame in going between them"
Surah al-Baqarah, 158
and when He likewise commanded His close friend to call the people to the Hajj:
"And proclaim among the people the Hajj: they will come to you on foot"
Surah al-Hajj, 27
up to His word:
"and mention the name of Allah on known days"
Surah al-Hajj, 28
the specification of known days belongs to the Hajj alone, not to the 'umrah: it is therefore known that He did not command the people to perform the 'umrah, even though it is a good and beloved deed. Thus, when He mentioned the meanings of Islam, He said: "And due to Allah from the people is a pilgrimage to the House, for whoever is able to find a way"; and in the hadith of Jibril (peace be upon him):
Islam is to bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, to establish the prayer, to pay the zakat, to fast Ramadan and to perform the pilgrimage of the House if you are able to find a way.Reported by Muslim (8)
with no mention of the 'umrah. Dimam ibn Tha'laba likewise asked him about the obligations of Islam, up to the point where he said:
Your messenger claims that the pilgrimage of the House is due from us, for whoever is able to find a way? He said: That is true. He said: then he went away. He said: By the One who sent you with the truth, I will add nothing to them and take nothing away from them. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) then said: if he is truthful, he will enter Paradise.Reported by Muslim (12)
Had the 'umrah been obligatory, he would have objected to his words "I will add nothing to them", and would not have guaranteed him Paradise while he omitted one of the obligations of Islam.
Another argument: on his farewell pilgrimage, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was accompanied by Muslims whom none but Allah could count, each one having come to fulfill the obligation Allah the Most High had laid upon him. When he had completed the days of Mina, he spent the night at al-Mahsab after the dispersal, then set out the next morning in caravan for Medina, without performing the 'umrah afterwards, without commanding those with him to perform it, or to travel again for it. Yet among them were mufrid and qarin pilgrims, and they did not consider that another obligation remained upon them; they had even heard from him that the Hajj is only required once, and they had performed it. Had the 'umrah been obligatory like the Hajj, he would have made that clear to them, or he would have stayed until those who had not performed the 'umrah did so.
He said: some have sometimes argued with his words "the 'umrah has entered into the Hajj", which is worthless. The 'umrah is part of the Hajj, which is why it is not obligatory on its own, like the tawaf. The Hajj is not required repeatedly, but only once; were the 'umrah obligatory, two pilgrimages, a lesser and a greater, would be due from a person, which is not the case, just as neither a Hajj together with a tawaf are required of him. Everything the performer of the 'umrah does is already contained in the Hajj: nothing in the 'umrah calls for an obligation of its own. Allah did however set the rites on three degrees: the most complete is the Hajj, comprising ihram, the standing, the tawaf, the sa'i, the stoning and release from ihram; then the 'umrah, comprising ihram, the tawaf, the sa'i and release from ihram; then the tawaf alone. And because it is a rite whose beginning and end are not fixed in time, it is not obligatory the way the tawaf is.
Likewise, because it is an act of worship not fixed in time, whereas the obligation of its kind is fixed, it is not obligatory like the supererogatory prayer: pure acts of worship, when they become obligatory, are assigned a time, like the prayer, the fast and the Hajj. When an act is legislated for all times, it is known to have been legislated as a mercy and an ease, for drawing near to Allah (the Most High) through varied kinds of worship and multiple paths, so that people are not prevented from drawing near to Allah most of the time ("Sharh al-'Umda", 2/89, 95).
Those who hold that the 'umrah is not obligatory answered the proofs of the other side as follows:
1. To the hadith of Zayd ibn Thabit (may Allah be pleased with him) attributed to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), "The Hajj and the 'umrah are two obligations: it does you no harm with which of them you begin", it was replied that it is a weak hadith which cannot be used as proof (see "Bada'i' al-Sana'i'", 3/322, 324; "al-Mabsut", 4/58; "al-Ikhtiyar", 1/169; "al-Bahr al-Ra'iq", 3/329; "Hashiyat al-Tahawi", 1/484; "Ahkam al-Qur'an" by al-Jassas, 1/329; "Mukhtasar Ikhtilaf al-'Ulama", 2/98; "'Umdat al-Qari", 10/108; "al-Muwatta'", 13/347; "al-Istidhkar", 4/109, 112; "al-Tamhid", 20/14, 22; "Bidayat al-Mujtahid", 1/347; "Tafsir al-Qurtubi", 2/368; "Mawahib al-Jalil", 2/417; "Hashiyat al-Dasuqi 'ala al-Sharh al-Kabir", 2/2; "Sharh al-Zurqani", 2/362; "al-Sharh al-Saghir", 2/3; "al-Hawi al-Kabir", 4/33; "Ikhtilaf al-'Ulama" by al-Marwazi, 1/88; "al-Majmu'", 7/57; "al-Mughni", 4/308, 310; "Nayl al-Awtar", 5/5; "Fath al-Bari", 3/597).
2. To the hadith of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), it was replied, concerning his words "there is a jihad for them in which there is no fighting", that the phrase "for them" is not explicit about obligation, for it can apply to what is a confirmed sunnah; since it admits both meanings, an outside proof must be sought. Now an outside proof establishes the obligation of the Hajj, while no outside proof to which one would need to return establishes the obligation of the 'umrah (see "Adwa' al-Bayan", 5/227 and what follows).
3. To the mention of the 'umrah in the hadith of Jibril (peace be upon him), in Umar's version (may Allah be pleased with him) attributed to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with the words "perform the pilgrimage of the House and perform the 'umrah", two replies were given. The first: the firmly established versions in the Sahih of Muslim and elsewhere contain no mention of the 'umrah, and these are the more authentic. The second, noted by Imam al-Shawkani (may Allah have mercy on him) in "Nayl al-Awtar": if it is said that the occurrence of the 'umrah in the answer to the one who asked what Islam is indicates obligation, it is answered that not every command of Islam is obligatory; the proof is the hadith of the branches of Islam and faith, which contains matters that are not obligatory by consensus ("Nayl al-Awtar", 5/6).
Ibn al-Turkmani said in "al-Jawhar al-Naqi", concerning this hadith: the supererogatory acts belong to Islam because they are among its branches, as narrated: "Islam has sixty and odd branches; the lowest of them is removing harm from the road". The pairing of the 'umrah with the obligations does not require it to be like them in obligatoriness; in this very hadith, completing the ablution is paired with the obligations although it is not obligatory. The most famous version of the hadith mentions the Hajj alone, without the 'umrah, in agreement with the authentic and well-known hadiths, such as "Islam is built upon five" and others ("al-Jawhar al-Naqi", 4/350).
4. As for the hadith about which Imam Ahmad said: I know of no hadith more generous on the obligation of the 'umrah than it, namely the hadith of Abu Razin al-'Uqayli containing "Perform the Hajj on behalf of your father and perform the 'umrah", it was replied that the form of command in "and perform the 'umrah" comes after a question from Abu Razin, and a group of legal theorists established that a command following a prohibition or a question conveys only permission, not obligation: its occurrence in answer to a question about permissibility is a decisive indicator turning from obligation to permission, and the disagreement on this question is well known (see "Adwa' al-Bayan", 5/227 and what follows). Ibn al-Turkmani said: there is no indication in it of the obligation of the 'umrah, for he commanded the child to perform the Hajj on behalf of his father and to perform the 'umrah, while neither the Hajj nor the 'umrah performed for the father is required of the child, by consensus ("al-Jawhar al-Naqi", 4/350). Abu Bakr al-Jassas (may Allah have mercy on him) said: his words "Perform the Hajj on behalf of your father and perform the 'umrah" contain no indication of its obligation, that is the 'umrah, for there is no dispute that this statement does not take the form of an injunction, since neither the Hajj on behalf of his father nor the 'umrah is required of him ("Ahkam al-Qur'an", 1/332).
5. As for the reply to al-Su'abi ibn Ma'bad's words to Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), "I have found the Hajj and the 'umrah written upon me", and to Umar's silence (may Allah be pleased with him) in refraining from objecting, it proceeds from several angles. The first: he only said "they are written upon me", not "written upon the people"; the apparent meaning is that he had vowed them, so that they became written upon him through the vow. The second: he said it only in interpreting the verse, an interpretation that has a footing, so Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) did not object to it, the verse admitting it; he stands in the position of the one who holds the 'umrah obligatory, and both alike deserve no objection, since independent reasoning (ijtihad) is permissible there. The third: al-Su'abi ibn Ma'bad himself explained their being written upon him with his words "and I had entered ihram for both together": once he entered ihram for the 'umrah, it became obligatory upon him.
6. To the word of Allah the Most High, "And complete the Hajj and the 'umrah for Allah", it was replied that it means completion after embarking upon the act. Abu Bakr al-Jassas (may Allah have mercy on him) said: the verse contains no indication of its obligation, the 'umrah; most of the command it contains concerns completing them, which implies warding off any deficiency from them once the acts are done, for the opposite of completeness is deficiency, not invalidity ("Ahkam al-Qur'an", 1/329). Al-Kasani (may Allah have mercy on him) said: the noble verse contains no indication that the 'umrah is an obligation; it has been read with the 'umrah in the nominative, "and the 'umrah is for Allah", a statement complete in itself, not coordinated with the command of the Hajj: Allah the Most High informs that the 'umrah belongs to Allah, in refutation of the claim of the disbelievers, who made the 'umrah an act for idols, in keeping with their associator worship. As for the reading followed by the generality, it is no proof either, for it contains a command to complete the 'umrah ("Ahkam al-Qur'an", 1/329).
The second element is the shaving or the shortening, according to the Hanafis, the Malikis and the Hanbalis; the Shafi'is, in the correct view according to them, make it a pillar (rukn). On this basis, whoever leaves out an obligation among the obligations of the 'umrah, such as the sa'i according to the Hanafis and the Hanbalis in one view, or the shaving according to the majority of scholars in contrast to the Shafi'is, or the last three circuits according to the Hanafis, commits a sin and owes the blood expiation (dam) according to them (previously cited sources).
Sixth: the description of the 'umrah. Whoever intends the 'umrah prepares to enter ihram as soon as he reaches the miqat or draws near to it, if he comes from afar (afaqi), that is, if his home lies outside the zone of the miqats; or he enters ihram from the place where he sets out for the 'umrah, if he belongs to the miqats (miqati), that is, if he resides or lodges within the zones of the miqats, in what borders them, or in the zone between them and the Sacred Territory (Haram). If he is a Meccan (makki) or an inhabitant of the Haram, that is, of the Sacred Territory, or resides or lodges in Mecca or in the zone of the Haram around Mecca, he must leave the Haram for the nearest profane zone (hal), and he enters ihram for the 'umrah as soon as he passes from the Haram into the hal, even by a single step, for it is required to combine the hal and the Haram.
It is better for him to enter ihram from al-Ji'rana, for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) performed his 'umrah from there; next in merit comes al-Tan'im, because he commanded Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr to perform the 'umrah for the Mother of the Believers Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) from al-Tan'im.
Preparing for the ihram means doing what is recommended: washing with the intention of entering ihram, cleansing and perfuming the body; it is better to perfume oneself with a scent that leaves no visible trace. He then wears two clean garments, new or washed, provided they are not dyed with a scented dye. As for the woman, she wears what covers her body except the face and the palms of the hands: she wears neither a face veil nor gloves, because of the Prophet's prohibition (peace and blessings be upon him) of that.
He then prays two rak'ahs, the sunnah of the ihram, the obligatory prayer sufficing in their place, and he prays the sunnah of the ablution as well; then he forms the intention of the 'umrah and says with his tongue: "O Allah, I intend the 'umrah, so make it easy for me and accept it from me; You are the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing"; then he raises his voice in the talbiyah:
Here I am at Your service, O Allah, here I am; here I am, You have no partner, here I am; praise, favor and sovereignty belong to You, You have no partner.The two imams al-Tahawi and al-Qurtubi said: the scholars are unanimous on this talbiyah; the qadi 'Iyad reported from most of the scholars that it is recommended to confine oneself to the talbiyah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), which is the view of Malik and al-Shafi'i
With this he is fully within the 'umrah: the prohibitions of the ihram become forbidden to him, and he continues the talbiyah until he enters Mecca and begins the tawaf.
When the performer of the 'umrah enters Mecca, he hastens to the Sacred Mosque and enters with his right foot first, saying: "In the name of Allah; peace be upon the Messenger of Allah; O Allah, forgive me my sins and open for me the gates of Your mercy; I seek refuge with Allah the Most Great, with His noble countenance and His ancient authority, from the accursed devil".
He turns toward the venerated Kaaba in deep humility and reverence, mindful of the favor Allah has granted him by making it easy to reach His Sacred House. He begins the tawaf at the Black Stone: he touches it (istilam) at the start of the tawaf and kisses it if he does not fear the crowd or harm to anyone, saying the declaration of greatness (takbir). If he cannot kiss it, he touches it with his hand and kisses his hand; failing that, he points to it and says Allahu akbar. He stops the talbiyah upon touching the Black Stone at the start of the tawaf, or upon pointing to it, and each time he draws near it he touches it, kisses it or points to it.
He then keeps to his right side, placing the House on his left, and performs seven circuits, a pillar of the 'umrah, intending them. At the Yemeni corner, he touches it if he can, without kissing it (hadiths on the merit of the Black Stone and the Yemeni corner will come later, Allah willing). Between the Yemeni corner and the Black Stone, he says:
"Our Lord, give us good in this world and good in the Hereafter, and protect us from the punishment of the Fire"
Surah al-Baqarah, 201
and during the rest of his tawaf he says whatever remembrance, supplication and Quran recitation he loves.
It is recommended for the man, unlike the woman, to practice idtiba' throughout these circuits of the tawaf: idtiba' consists in passing the middle of the garment under the right armpit and bringing its two ends over the left shoulder, leaving the right shoulder uncovered. It is also recommended for the man to perform raml during the first three circuits, and to walk at his usual pace for the rest; raml is a brisk walk with short steps. Let the performer of the 'umrah abound, throughout his tawaf, in supplication, remembrance and recitation.
When he has finished his tawaf, he moves forward to the station of Ibrahim and recites:
"And take the station of Ibrahim as a place of prayer"
Surah al-Baqarah, 125
He then prays two rak'ahs behind it, close to it if possible, otherwise further away, reciting in the first, after the Fatihah, surah al-Kafirun, and in the second surah al-Ikhlas. He then returns to the Black Stone, touches it if he can, and says Allahu akbar.
He then goes out to the place of the sa'i and performs it. As he draws near to Safa, he recites the word of the Most High:
"Indeed, Safa and Marwah are among the symbols of Allah: whoever performs Hajj to the House or performs the 'umrah incurs no blame in going between them, and whoever volunteers good, then Allah is Appreciative, All-Knowing"
Surah al-Baqarah, 158
then he says: "I begin with what Allah began with". The sa'i begins at Safa: he climbs upon Safa until he can see the venerated Kaaba, which he must face, stopping oriented toward it, raising his hands to praise Allah, declare His oneness and greatness, and supplicate. The Prophet's supplication (peace and blessings be upon him) at this place was:
There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah alone, without partner; to Him belong sovereignty and praise, and He is powerful over all things; there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah alone: He fulfilled His promise, supported His servant and defeated the confederates alone.Reported by Muslim
He would repeat this three times, supplicating between the repetitions, then descend from Safa heading toward Marwah. It is recommended for the man to hasten his pace between the two green markers, then walk at his usual pace until he reaches Marwah: he climbs upon it, turns toward the qiblah, raises his hands in supplication and says what he said upon Safa.