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# Hajj and ʿUmra
- URL: https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/hajj/
- Published: 2026-09-30T21:33:12.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T23:52:55.000Z
- Description: What the pilgrimage is, rite by rite and day by day from Jābir's account of the Prophet's Hajj, where the schools differ, and how to get there from Australia through Nusuk without being scammed.
- Author: Mohammad Siddiqui
- Tags: Deen

New to the Qur'an? Start with [The Qur'an: What It Is, How It Came Down, and How It Was Kept](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/the-quran/), then read [Muhammad ﷺ: A Life](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/prophet-muhammad/). All articles: [Deen: Start Here](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/deen/).

Deen · The pilgrimage

Every year a couple of million people put on two pieces of unstitched cloth, or plain modest clothes, and spend five or six days walking between a city, a tent town and a plain in the Hejaz, doing what Muslims believe Abraham, Hagar and Ishmael did before them and what the Prophet ﷺ did once, in the last year of his life. From Sydney or Melbourne it is also an expensive, bureaucratic and physically punishing trip that many people save for over years. This page tries to cover both: what the Hajj and the lesser pilgrimage, ʿUmra, actually are, rite by rite and day by day, and how an Australian gets there without being scammed or cooked.

The religious part draws on the Qur'an and on the single most detailed eyewitness source, the long hadith of Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh in Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ. Where the four Sunni schools and Twelver Shia practice differ, the differences are set out side by side. The practical part relies on official Australian and Saudi pages, which change from year to year, so treat the dates on the sources as part of the information.

### The short version

1. The Hajj is due once in a lifetime from every adult Muslim who is able to make the journey (Qur'an 3:97). ʿUmra, the "lesser pilgrimage", can be done at any time of year and takes a few hours once you are there.
2. Muslims trace the rites to Abraham, who with Ishmael raised the Kaʿba, and to Hagar, whose search for water between Ṣafā and Marwa is re-enacted in the saʿy. The Prophet ﷺ performed the Hajj once, in 632, and Jābir's account of it is the model all the schools work from.
3. The core days run from 8 to 13 Dhū al-Ḥijja: Minā, the standing at ʿArafāt (the one rite that cannot be made up if it is missed), the night at Muzdalifa, the stoning, the sacrifice, the shaving, and the ṭawāf of the Kaʿba.
4. There are three ways to combine Hajj and ʿUmra: tamattuʿ, qirān and ifrād. The Sunni schools disagree on which is best; for Twelver Shia living far from Makka, tamattuʿ is obligatory, and their Hajj includes an extra ṭawāf, the ṭawāf al-nisāʾ.
5. From Australia, Hajj is booked only through the Saudi Nusuk Hajj platform, with authorised providers. Doing Hajj without a permit now brings fines of up to SAR 20,000, deportation and a ten-year ban. A meningococcal ACWY vaccination is compulsory.
6. Numbers have swung from about a million in 1970 to more than three million in 2012 and down to 1,707,301 in 2026, shaped by transport, politics, pandemics and Saudi quotas.

### Contents

1. [A duty for those who are able](#duty)
2. [Abraham, Hagar and the House](#history)
3. [The Prophet's Hajj](#farewell)
4. [Three ways to combine Hajj and ʿUmra](#types)
5. [The rites, day by day](#rites)
6. [The route: a step-through](#route)
7. [ʿUmra, step by step](#umra)
8. [One question, five answers](#schools)
9. [What the rites mean](#meaning)
10. [Visiting Madina and the Prophet's grave ﷺ](#madina-visit)
11. [Going from Australia](#australia)
12. [Health](#health)
13. [The Hajj in history](#numbers)
14. [Glossary](#glossary)
15. [Sources](#sources)

## A duty for those who are able

The verse every discussion of the Hajj starts from is in Āl ʿImrān:

وَلِلَّهِ عَلَى ٱلنَّاسِ حِجُّ ٱلۡبَيۡتِ مَنِ ٱسۡتَطَاعَ إِلَيۡهِ سَبِيلٗاۚ

"Pilgrimage to this House is an obligation by Allah upon whoever is able among the people."

Qur'an 3:97[1](#src-1)

Two limits are built into that sentence. The duty is to God, and it falls on those who are able. The jurists spent centuries spelling out what "able" means (health, the money for the journey and for the family left behind, a safe road), but the principle is in the verse itself. A report in al-Tirmidhī has the Prophet ﷺ answer the question of what makes the Hajj obligatory with "the provisions and a means of conveyance", but Darussalam grades it ḍaʿīf,[117](#src-117) so the jurists' fuller list rests on the verse and on their own reasoning. They add that the duty falls on a Muslim who is adult, sane and free. A child's Hajj is still valid: a woman lifted up a boy to the Prophet ﷺ and asked whether he would be credited with a Hajj, and he said, "Yes, and you will have a reward", in Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ.[118](#src-118) It does not, though, take the place of the obligatory Hajj once the child grows up; al-Tirmidhī and Ibn al-Mundhir both report the scholars' agreement on this, as Egypt's Dār al-Iftāʾ notes.[119](#src-119) When the Prophet ﷺ announced that the Hajj had been made obligatory, a man asked whether it was every year. The Prophet ﷺ stayed silent until the question had been asked three times, then said: "If I were to say 'Yes,' it would become obligatory and you would not be able to do it." Once in a lifetime is the duty; more is voluntary.[2](#src-2)

The rewards promised are large. "Whoever performs Hajj for Allah's pleasure and does not have sexual relations with his wife, and does not do evil or sins, then he will return as if he were born anew."[3](#src-3) And: "ʿUmra is an expiation for the sins committed between it and the previous one, and the reward of Hajj mabrūr (a Hajj that is accepted) is nothing except Paradise."[4](#src-4) The Qur'an adds its own code of conduct for the days of pilgrimage: "let them stay away from intimate relations, foul language, and arguments during pilgrimage."[5](#src-5) Anyone who has queued for a bus at Muzdalifa at two in the morning will understand why arguing needed to be mentioned.

The Hajj can only be done at one time of year, in "appointed months" that end in Dhū al-Ḥijja, the twelfth month of the lunar calendar.[5](#src-5) Because the Islamic year is about eleven days shorter than the solar one, the Hajj comes around eleven days earlier each year and moves slowly through the seasons.[6](#src-6) In 2026 it fell at the end of May; over the next few years it moves back through May into April, which is still hot in Makka but less brutal than the June seasons of 2023 to 2025.

One much-discussed condition concerns women. A hadith in al-Bukhārī says "a woman should not travel except with a maḥram" (a husband or a close male relative she cannot marry); when a man said his wife was setting out for Hajj while he had enlisted for an expedition, the Prophet ﷺ told him: "Go along with her."[7](#src-7) The schools read that hadith differently for the obligatory Hajj. The Ḥanafīs, and the Ḥanbalīs in their standard position, make a husband or maḥram a condition for a woman whose journey is long enough to count as travel, citing Ibn ʿĀbidīn and al-Kāsānī on one side and Ibn Qudāma's al-Mughnī on the other; the Shāfiʿīs and Mālikīs let her go for the obligatory Hajj in a group of trustworthy women or safe company.[68](#src-68) Al-Bukhārī, in the same chapter on the Hajj of women, also records that ʿUmar, in his last Hajj, allowed the Prophet's ﷺ widows to make the pilgrimage and sent ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf with them as escorts.[120](#src-120) Egypt's Dār al-Iftāʾ has ruled that, with modern secure travel, a woman may go for Hajj without a maḥram and is not to blame.[69](#src-69) In Sayyid al-Sīstānī's rulings a maḥram is not a condition at all provided her safety is secured; if it is not, she must take a trusted male companion, even a paid one, and if she cannot, the Hajj is not yet due from her.[70](#src-70) The Saudi rules moved in the same direction: in February 2024 the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah reaffirmed that women may perform Hajj without a maḥram.[71](#src-71) What the state allows and what your school requires are separate questions, so it is still one to ask a scholar before booking.

## Abraham, Hagar and the House

The Qur'an presents the Kaʿba as older than Islam and older than the Arabs' idolatry. "Surely the first House ˹of worship˺ established for humanity is the one at Bakkah, a blessed sanctuary and a guide for ˹all˺ people."[1](#src-1) It describes Abraham (Ibrāhīm) and his son Ishmael (Ismāʿīl) raising its foundations and praying, "Our Lord! Accept ˹this˺ from us."[8](#src-8) It makes the House "a centre and a sanctuary for the people", tells believers to take "the standing-place of Abraham as a site of prayer", and charges Abraham and Ishmael to purify it "for those who circle it".[9](#src-9) And it records the command to Abraham that the Hajj itself grows from: "Call ˹all˺ people to the pilgrimage. They will come to you on foot and on every lean camel from every distant path."[10](#src-10)

Hagar (Hājar) has no named verse, but she is at the centre of the rites. A long hadith of Ibn ʿAbbās in al-Bukhārī tells how Abraham left her and the infant Ishmael in the empty valley with a bag of dates and a skin of water. When the water ran out she climbed Ṣafā to look for anyone, came down, crossed the valley at a run, climbed Marwa, and did this seven times. The Prophet ﷺ said: "This is the source of the tradition of the walking of people between them." Then an angel struck the ground at the place of Zamzam and water came out; a passing tribe, Jurhum, saw birds circling and asked to settle, and Makka began.[11](#src-11) Every pilgrim who walks between the two hills is walking her route.

By the Prophet's ﷺ time the pilgrimage had become entangled with the idols of Arabia. Two small details in al-Bukhārī show how the Qur'an took it back. Quraysh, who called themselves al-Ḥums, used to stop at Muzdalifa rather than go on to ʿArafāt with everyone else, as a mark of their status; the verse "Then go forth with the rest of the pilgrims" ended that.[12](#src-12)[13](#src-13) And some of the Anṣār of Madina had avoided the saʿy between Ṣafā and Marwa because in their pagan days they had entered pilgrim sanctity for the idol Manāt; when they asked, the Qur'an answered that Ṣafā and Marwa "are among the symbols of Allah".[14](#src-14)[15](#src-15) The historian F. E. Peters's study of the Hajj traces how much of the pre-Islamic rite survived, reinterpreted, and how much was swept away.[16](#src-16)

## The Prophet's Hajj

The Prophet ﷺ performed the Hajj once, in the tenth year after the Hijra (632), a few months before his death. It is known as the Farewell Pilgrimage, and the fullest account of it is a single hadith of Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh in Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ, long enough to fill several pages. It is the closest thing the religion has to a manual, and every school's description of the rites starts from it.[17](#src-17)

Jābir begins with the announcement: the Prophet ﷺ had stayed in Madina nine years without performing Hajj, then in the tenth year let it be known he was going, and a huge crowd came to follow him. At Dhū al-Ḥulayfa, the first stop, Asmāʾ bint ʿUmays gave birth; the Prophet ﷺ told her to bathe, bind herself and enter iḥrām, a small detail that has settled many questions about women and the pilgrimage since. They raised the talbiya. At the Kaʿba he touched the corner, went round seven times, "running three of them and walking four", prayed at the Station of Abraham reciting 2:125, and went out to Ṣafā.[17](#src-17)

At the end of the saʿy on Marwa came the moment that shaped the later argument about the types of Hajj. The Prophet ﷺ said: "If I had known beforehand what I have come to know afterwards, I would not have brought sacrificial animals and would have performed an ʿUmra." He told those without sacrificial animals to leave iḥrām. Asked whether this was for that year only, he interlaced his fingers and said: "The ʿUmra has become incorporated in the Hajj," and "for ever and ever".[17](#src-17)

On the eighth they went to Minā; on the ninth to ʿArafāt, where he addressed the people. Jābir preserves the sermon's core: "Your blood, your property are as sacred as the sacredness of this day of yours, in this month of yours, in this town of yours." The blood-feuds and the usury of the pre-Islamic period were abolished, his own family's first. He spoke of women's rights and husbands' rights, and ended: "I have left among you the Book of Allah, and if you hold fast to it, you would never go astray."[17](#src-17) According to ʿUmar, the verse "Today I have perfected your faith for you" (5:3) was revealed that Friday while the Prophet ﷺ was standing at ʿArafa.[18](#src-18)[19](#src-19) He then went on to Muzdalifa, to Minā for the stoning, and "sacrificed sixty-three \[camels\] with his own hand", leaving the rest to ʿAlī.[17](#src-17)

What stands out in the account is how practical it is. When people asked about rites done out of order on the day of sacrifice, shaving before slaughtering or slaughtering before stoning, his answer, recorded in al-Bukhārī, was always the same: "Do it, and there is no harm."[20](#src-20)

## Three ways to combine Hajj and ʿUmra

ʿĀʾisha describes the Farewell Pilgrimage as already containing three kinds of pilgrim: "some of us entered iḥrām for ʿUmra, some for Hajj and ʿUmra, and some for Hajj alone."[21](#src-21) Those became the three types:

- **Tamattuʿ** ("enjoyment"): ʿUmra first, during the Hajj months; then out of iḥrām, free to live normally, until entering iḥrām again for the Hajj on the eighth. A sacrifice is due. The Qur'an names it: whoever takes this option and cannot afford an animal fasts "three days during pilgrimage and seven after returning ˹home˺, completing ten". It adds that this is for "those who do not live near the Sacred House".[22](#src-22)
- **Qirān** ("joining"): one iḥrām for both ʿUmra and Hajj together, kept on throughout. A sacrifice is due.
- **Ifrād** ("singling out"): iḥrām for the Hajj alone. No sacrifice is required, though one may be offered.[23](#src-23)

Which is best is one of the classic disagreements. Egypt's Dār al-Iftāʾ summarises the four Sunni schools: the Mālikīs and Shāfiʿīs rank ifrād first, the Ḥanafīs qirān, and the Ḥanbalīs tamattuʿ.[23](#src-23) The Ḥanafī reasoning, as one modern Ḥanafī teacher puts it, is that qirān "entails greater hardship by remaining in the state of pilgrim sanctity".[24](#src-24) The Prophet's ﷺ own wish at Marwa to have done ʿUmra first is the obvious argument on the Ḥanbalī side. Tamattuʿ also has a practical advantage: less time in iḥrām.

For Twelver Shia the question is settled differently. According to Sayyid al-Sīstānī's manual, tamattuʿ is obligatory for anyone living more than 48 miles (about 77 km) from Makka, and ifrād or qirān for those nearer.[25](#src-25) The difference has a history. Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ records Ibn ʿAbbās urging tamattuʿ, Ibn al-Zubayr forbidding it, and Jābir saying that they had done it with the Messenger of Allah; it also records ʿUmar, as caliph, telling people to complete the Hajj and ʿUmra "as Allah has commanded you", which was understood as discouraging tamattuʿ.[26](#src-26) Sunni jurists came to treat all three as valid. Shia scholars have long cited ʿUmar's position as an example of a caliph setting aside something the Prophet ﷺ had allowed.

## The rites, day by day

Not every rite carries the same weight. The jurists separate the pillars (*arkān*), without which there is no Hajj, from required acts that can be made good with a sacrifice if they are missed. All the schools count the standing at ʿArafa and the ṭawāf al-ifāḍa as pillars.[32](#src-32)[121](#src-121) Beyond those two they differ. In Ahmad Kutty's summary the Shāfiʿīs count five pillars (the intention and iḥrām, ʿArafa, the ṭawāf al-ifāḍa, the saʿy, and the shaving or shortening); the Ḥanafīs treat iḥrām as a condition rather than a pillar, and the saʿy and the shaving as required acts that a sacrifice can repair; the other schools hold the saʿy to be a pillar.[122](#src-122)

### Before the eighth: the mīqāt and iḥrām

Pilgrims enter the state of consecration (*iḥrām*) at or before a boundary point called a *mīqāt*. The Prophet ﷺ fixed four for people coming from outside: Dhū al-Ḥulayfa for Madina, al-Juḥfa for Syria, Qarn al-Manāzil for Najd and Yalamlam for Yemen, adding that they apply to anyone who passes through them.[27](#src-27) After the conquest of Iraq, ʿUmar fixed a fifth, Dhāt ʿIrq, by the simple method of choosing a point level with Qarn on the Iraqis' own road.[28](#src-28) That precedent, a point level with a mīqāt, is what lets pilgrims who arrive by air enter iḥrām on the plane. Flights from Australia usually pass the line before landing in Jeddah, so operators tell pilgrims when to make their intention; ask yours, and ask your scholar, before you fly.

For men, iḥrām means two plain unstitched sheets. A hadith of Ibn ʿUmar lists what a man in iḥrām may not wear: shirts, turbans, trousers, hooded cloaks, leather socks (unless he has no sandals), or anything dyed with saffron or *wars*.[29](#src-29) Women wear their ordinary modest clothes. On entering iḥrām the pilgrim begins the talbiya:

لَبَّيْكَ اللَّهُمَّ لَبَّيْكَ، لَبَّيْكَ لاَ شَرِيكَ لَكَ لَبَّيْكَ، إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ وَالنِّعْمَةَ لَكَ وَالْمُلْكَ، لاَ شَرِيكَ لَكَ

"I respond to Your call, O Allah, I respond to Your call. I respond to Your call; You have no partner; I respond to Your call. All praise and blessings are Yours, and all sovereignty. You have no partner."

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1549[30](#src-30)

Some restrictions of iḥrām differ between the traditions. The clearest example is shade. In Sayyid al-Sīstānī's rulings a man in iḥrām may not travel under a roof overhead by day (a bus roof, a car, an aircraft cabin), although shade from the side and moving clouds are fine, a covered bus is allowed at night, and once he has reached his lodging in Makka or Minā he can move about in the shade. The expiation for breaking the rule is a sheep, whether it was deliberate or forced.[31](#src-31) Sunni pilgrims have no such rule, which is why Shia groups are often seen in open-top buses.

On arrival in Makka the pilgrim performs a ṭawāf, seven circuits of the Kaʿba beginning at the Black Stone, followed by two rakʿas of prayer near the Station of Abraham and the saʿy between Ṣafā and Marwa.[9](#src-9)[15](#src-15) For a tamattuʿ pilgrim this is the ʿUmra, and it ends with shortening the hair and leaving iḥrām until the eighth.

### 8 Dhū al-Ḥijja: the day of tarwiya

Pilgrims enter iḥrām again (if they had left it) and go to Minā, a valley a few kilometres east of the Ḥaram, now a city of fireproof tents. Jābir says the Prophet ﷺ went there on the eighth, prayed the noon, afternoon, sunset, night and dawn prayers there, and waited until the sun had risen.[17](#src-17) The name *tarwiya* is usually explained as "watering", from the old custom of taking on water for the days ahead. The CDC's guide for travel doctors puts the walk from Makka to Minā at about 9 km.[6](#src-6)

### 9 Dhū al-Ḥijja: ʿArafa

This is the heart of it. "The Hajj is ʿArafa," the Prophet ﷺ said, in a hadith in al-Tirmidhī that Darussalam grades ṣaḥīḥ; whoever reaches ʿArafa before the dawn of the tenth has caught the Hajj.[32](#src-32) Pilgrims move to the plain of ʿArafāt (about 12.5 km from Minā) and stay there from after noon until sunset, praying the noon and afternoon prayers together and shortened, then standing, sitting or lying in prayer and remembrance for the rest of the afternoon.[6](#src-6)[17](#src-17) The Prophet ﷺ said that there is no day on which God frees more people from the Fire than the day of ʿArafa.[33](#src-33) Twelver Shia rulings, as a matter of precaution, require presence from the beginning of noon on the ninth until sunset.[34](#src-34)

People who have been describe the afternoon at ʿArafāt in very different ways: exhausting, overwhelming, calm, the most important few hours of their lives. The rite itself asks nothing complicated. You are there, and you ask.

### The night of the tenth: Muzdalifa

After sunset the whole mass of pilgrims moves back towards Minā and stops at Muzdalifa, about 10.5 km away, where the sunset and night prayers are prayed together.[6](#src-6) The Qur'an commands it: "When you return from ’Arafât, praise Allah near the sacred place," which is understood as al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām.[13](#src-13) Pilgrims sleep in the open and many collect the pebbles for the stoning here. The Prophet ﷺ stayed until dawn, prayed, stood in prayer at al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām until the sky was bright, then left before sunrise.[17](#src-17) He let the weak go early: his wife Sawda, "a slow woman", asked to leave before the crowd and was allowed; ʿĀʾisha, who stayed, later wished she had asked too.[35](#src-35)

### 10 Dhū al-Ḥijja: the day of sacrifice

The tenth is the busiest day and the first day of ʿĪd al-Aḍḥā. The pilgrim returns to Minā and throws seven pebbles at the largest pillar, Jamrat al-ʿAqaba, saying *Allāhu akbar* with each, as Jābir saw the Prophet ﷺ do.[17](#src-17) Then the sacrifice, for those who owe one; then the shaving or shortening of the hair. The Prophet ﷺ prayed three times for mercy on those who shaved before adding those who shortened, which is why shaving is preferred for men; women only shorten, as a report al-Albānī graded ṣaḥīḥ says.[36](#src-36)[37](#src-37)[115](#src-115) The usual measure for women, a fingertip's length, is the jurists' measure rather than part of that report. With the shaving the pilgrim leaves the first stage of iḥrām; most of its restrictions lift. The pilgrim then goes to Makka for the ṭawāf al-ifāḍa (a pillar of the Hajj) and the saʿy, and returns to Minā.

These four acts were done in a set order by the Prophet ﷺ, and when people asked about doing them in a different order he said, "Do it, and there is no harm."[20](#src-20) With two million people trying to do the same four things on the same day, that hadith is probably the most practically useful sentence in the whole literature of the Hajj.

Sacrifice today is done almost entirely through vouchers: the pilgrim pays for an animal, and the slaughter and distribution are handled at scale. It is worth remembering what the Qur'an says about it: "Neither their meat nor blood reaches Allah. Rather, it is your piety that reaches Him."[38](#src-38)

### 11 to 13 Dhū al-Ḥijja: the days of tashrīq

Pilgrims spend the nights at Minā and each day, after noon (Jābir says the Prophet ﷺ stoned on those days once the sun had passed its height),[116](#src-116) throw seven pebbles at each of the three pillars in turn, the small, the middle and the large. The Qur'an allows two ways to finish: "Whoever departs swiftly on the second day is not sinful, neither are those who stay behind."[39](#src-39) Most leave after stoning on the twelfth; some stay for the thirteenth. These are, in the Prophet's ﷺ words, "days of eating and drinking", and fasting on them is not allowed.[40](#src-40) In Twelver rulings the pillars must be stoned in order and in daylight, with night stoning only for those who are ill, in danger, or otherwise excused.[41](#src-41)

Before leaving Makka for home, the pilgrim does a farewell ṭawāf, "the last thing before leaving"; women in menstruation are excused.[42](#src-42) In Twelver Shia practice there is one more ṭawāf that Sunnis do not do, the ṭawāf al-nisāʾ, with its prayer, which must be completed before intimacy between spouses becomes lawful again.[43](#src-43)

## The route: a step-through

The same days, as a route. Step through with the buttons or the day numbers; on a phone, scroll the steps below. The map is a sketch to show the order of places, not to scale. Distances are the approximate walking figures used in the CDC's travel-medicine guide.[6](#src-6)

### Makka, Minā, ʿArafāt, Muzdalifa and back

Makka Minā Muzdalifa ʿArafāt 
1. Before the 8th · Mīqāt to MakkaIḥrām at or before the mīqāt (on the plane for most Australians); talbiya; arrival ṭawāf and saʿy  
Tamattuʿ pilgrims complete their ʿUmra and leave iḥrām. Qirān and ifrād pilgrims stay in iḥrām and do the arrival ṭawāf. Texts: 2:125, 2:158; Bukhārī 1524, 1549.
2. 8 Dhū al-Ḥijja · Makka to MināAbout 9 km · the day of tarwiya  
Iḥrām for the Hajj (tamattuʿ pilgrims). Five prayers at Minā, shortened but not combined in most schools. Text: Jābir in Muslim 1218.
3. 9 Dhū al-Ḥijja · Minā to ʿArafātAbout 12.5 km · the pillar of the Hajj  
Noon and afternoon prayers joined; the standing until sunset. Missing ʿArafa means missing the Hajj. Texts: Tirmidhī 889; Muslim 1348; Bukhārī 45 (5:3 revealed here).
4. Night of the 10th · ʿArafāt to MuzdalifaAbout 10.5 km · sleep under the sky  
Sunset and night prayers joined; the night in the open; dawn prayer and remembrance at al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām. The weak may leave early. Texts: 2:198; Bukhārī 1681.
5. 10 Dhū al-Ḥijja · Back to MināʿĪd al-Aḍḥā · stoning, sacrifice, shaving  
Seven pebbles at Jamrat al-ʿAqaba; the sacrifice; shaving or shortening. First release from iḥrām. Order is flexible: "Do it, and there is no harm." Texts: Bukhārī 1727, 1736; 22:37.
6. 10 Dhū al-Ḥijja (or later) · Ṭawāf al-ifāḍaTo Makka and back to Minā  
The ṭawāf of the Hajj, a pillar, and the saʿy for those who owe it. Then back to Minā for the night.
7. 11 Dhū al-Ḥijja · MināDays of tashrīq  
After noon, seven pebbles at each of the three pillars, small, middle, large. Twelver rulings: in order, and in daylight unless excused. Texts: Muslim 1141; Sīstānī rules 431, 433.
8. 12 Dhū al-Ḥijja · MināLeave, or stay  
Stone the three pillars again. Leaving Minā before sunset is allowed: "Whoever departs swiftly on the second day is not sinful." Text: 2:203.
9. 13 Dhū al-Ḥijja · MināFor those who stayed  
A third day of stoning, then back to Makka.
10. Before going home · Farewell ṭawāfMakka · plus ṭawāf al-nisāʾ for Twelver Shia  
The last act in Makka is a ṭawāf; menstruating women are excused. Texts: Bukhārī 1755; Sīstānī, *Hajj Rituals*.

## ʿUmra, step by step

ʿUmra has four parts, and once you are in Makka it takes a few hours.[44](#src-44)

1. **Iḥrām** at or before the mīqāt, with the intention for ʿUmra and the talbiya.[27](#src-27)[30](#src-30)
2. **Ṭawāf**: seven circuits of the Kaʿba anticlockwise, beginning and ending at the Black Stone, followed by two rakʿas behind the Station of Abraham if there is room.[9](#src-9) Men uncover the right shoulder, as the Prophet ﷺ did with his mantle under his right armpit,[113](#src-113) and walk briskly (*ramal*) on the first three circuits of the arrival ṭawāf.[17](#src-17) The ramal began in 629, when Quraysh said the Muslims had been weakened by the fever of Yathrib, and the Prophet ﷺ told his companions to show their strength.[45](#src-45) Pilgrims pray in their own words as they go round; the one supplication reported from the Prophet ﷺ in the ṭawāf is the one he said between the Yemeni corner and the Black Stone, "O Allah, bring us a blessing in this world and a blessing in the next and guard us from punishment of Hell", in a report al-Albānī graded ḥasan.[114](#src-114) Then Zamzam: "The water of Zamzam is for whatever it is drunk for," a hadith in Ibn Mājah graded ḥasan by Darussalam.[46](#src-46)
3. **Saʿy**: seven lengths between Ṣafā and Marwa, starting at Ṣafā, with men hurrying on the stretch between the green lights where Hagar ran, as Jābir describes the Prophet ﷺ running in the bottom of the valley.[15](#src-15)[11](#src-11)[17](#src-17)
4. **Shaving or shortening** the hair, which ends the iḥrām.[37](#src-37)[36](#src-36)

ʿUmra can be done at any time outside the days of Hajj. "ʿUmra in Ramaḍān is equal to Hajj" in reward, the Prophet ﷺ told a woman who had missed the pilgrimage, though scholars are clear that it does not replace the obligatory Hajj.[47](#src-47) In Twelver practice a standalone ʿUmra (*ʿumra mufrada*) has an extra ṭawāf al-nisāʾ at the end, and a man may shave or shorten, shaving being better; in the ʿUmra of tamattuʿ he shortens only.[44](#src-44)

## One question, five answers

Most of the rites are shared. These are the points where the four Sunni schools and the Twelver Shia (Jaʿfarī) school give different answers, drawn only from sources I could check.

| Question                        | Ḥanafī                                                      | Mālikī                                                                   | Shāfiʿī                                       | Ḥanbalī                                       | Jaʿfarī (Sīstānī)                                                                               |
| ------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Best type of Hajj               | Qirān, then tamattuʿ, then ifrād[23](#src-23)[24](#src-24)  | Ifrād, then qirān, then tamattuʿ[23](#src-23)                            | Ifrād, then tamattuʿ, then qirān[23](#src-23) | Tamattuʿ, then ifrād, then qirān[23](#src-23) | Not a preference: tamattuʿ is obligatory for those living over 48 miles from Makka[25](#src-25) |
| Is a sacrifice due?             | Yes for qirān and tamattuʿ; optional for ifrād[23](#src-23) | Yes in tamattuʿ, slaughtered at Minā[43](#src-43)                        |                                               |                                               |                                                                                                 |
| Ṭawāf al-nisāʾ                  | Not part of the Sunni rites                                 | Obligatory in the Hajj and in ʿumra mufrada[43](#src-43)[44](#src-44)    |                                               |                                               |                                                                                                 |
| Shade overhead for men in iḥrām | No prohibition                                              | Forbidden while travelling by day; a sheep as expiation[31](#src-31)     |                                               |                                               |                                                                                                 |
| Stoning at night                | Details differ by school; ask your scholar or group         | Daylight only, unless excused by illness, danger or similar[41](#src-41) |                                               |                                               |                                                                                                 |

## What the rites mean

Muslim writers have offered many readings of the Hajj: the unstitched cloth as a rehearsal of the shroud, the crowd at ʿArafāt as a preview of the gathering on the Day, the stoning as a rejection of the devil who tempted Abraham. Some of these are old and widely shared, some are one writer's reflection, and it is fair to say that the texts themselves say less than the sermons do. What the texts do say is worth noticing.

The first thing is that the rites are about people, not objects. ʿUmar stood in front of the Black Stone and said, in a hadith in al-Bukhārī: "I know that you are a stone and can neither benefit anyone nor harm anyone. Had I not seen Allah's Messenger kissing you I would not have kissed you."[48](#src-48) The sacrifice is described the same way: the meat and blood do not reach God, "it is your piety that reaches Him".[38](#src-38) The Hajj is full of physical things, a stone, a well, two hills, three pillars, and the tradition works hard to stop any of them becoming the point.

The second is memory. The saʿy is Hagar's search for water, and the Prophet ﷺ said so.[11](#src-11) The ramal remembers a moment when the first Muslims needed to look strong in front of people who had driven them out.[45](#src-45) The standing at ʿArafāt is where the Prophet ﷺ gave his last great sermon and where the verse "Today I have perfected your faith for you" came down.[17](#src-17)[19](#src-19) The Hajj is a way of walking through a family history that Muslims claim as their own, from a woman alone in a valley to a community of a hundred thousand.

The third is equality, which pilgrims mention more than anything else. The Qur'an's own intervention in the rite was to abolish a privilege: Quraysh had stopped at Muzdalifa while everyone else stood at ʿArafāt, and they were told to go forth "with the rest of the pilgrims".[12](#src-12)[13](#src-13) The iḥrām does the same work at the level of clothes. It does not do it perfectly; a pilgrim in a five-star package and a pilgrim who has saved for twenty years for a basic one do not have the same week. But at ʿArafāt, in the afternoon, the difference is harder to see than almost anywhere else on earth.

## Visiting Madina and the Prophet's grave ﷺ

Many pilgrims add a few days in Madina. The visit is not a rite of the Hajj or the ʿUmra, and nothing in either depends on it. Ibn Bāz, whose guidance shapes much of what pilgrims are told in Saudi Arabia, was asked whether a Hajj is lacking if the pilgrim cannot get to Madina. The visit to the Prophet's Mosque, he replied, "is a sunna, not an obligation, and it has no connection with the Hajj" (وليس لها تعلق بالحج).[108](#src-108)[73](#src-73) What the visit is, and what a traveller should intend by it, is one of the older arguments in Sunni law, and it helps to know its shape before you arrive.

### What the texts say

The mosque has the clearest evidence. The Prophet ﷺ said that one prayer in his mosque is better than a thousand in any other, except the Sacred Mosque in Makka,[74](#src-74) and that "between my house and my pulpit there is a garden of the gardens of Paradise".[75](#src-75) That strip of carpet, the Rawḍa ("garden"), is what visitors queue to pray in. He also named his mosque as one of only three worth a special journey: "Do not set out on a journey except for three Mosques", the Sacred Mosque, his own, and al-Aqṣā in Jerusalem.[76](#src-76)[77](#src-77) Most of the later argument turns on that one sentence.

Visiting graves in general was forbidden at first and then allowed. "I forbade you to visit graves, but you may now visit them," he said,[78](#src-78) and after weeping at his mother's grave he told people to visit graves, "for that makes you mindful of death".[79](#src-79) He would go out at night to al-Baqīʿ, the cemetery beside the mosque, greet the dead as "a people who are believers", and ask forgiveness for them.[80](#src-80)

Two reports in Abū Dāwūd concern his own grave. In one he says: "If any one of you greets me, Allah returns my soul to me and I respond to the greeting", graded ḥasan by al-Albānī.[81](#src-81) In the other: "do not make my grave a place of festivity. But invoke blessings on me, for your blessings reach me wherever you may be", graded ṣaḥīḥ by al-Albānī.[82](#src-82) Both camps quote both, with the weight in different places. The Qur'an's command to "invoke Allah's blessings upon him, and salute him with worthy greetings of peace" (33:56) can be kept anywhere, which is the point the second report makes.[83](#src-83)

Two other sayings, often quoted, are much weaker. "Whoever visits my grave, my intercession is due to him" comes through al-Dāraquṭnī. Al-Nawawī called its chain weak, and al-Dhahabī and al-Albānī graded it munkar, a weak report at odds with stronger ones.[84](#src-84) "Whoever performs Hajj and does not visit me has shunned me" fares worse: Ibn al-Jawzī listed it among fabrications, and al-Dhahabī, Ibn Taymiyya and al-Albānī all rejected it.[85](#src-85) Even so, Ibn Qudāma cited the first report in *al-Mughnī*,[86](#src-86) and al-Subkī, who gathered its routes, argued that it was ḥasan or even ṣaḥīḥ, and that if one route were weak the routes together would still lift it to ḥasan,[112](#src-112)[87](#src-87) so the grading is itself part of the dispute.

The verse argued over most is 4:64: "If only those ˹hypocrites˺ came to you ˹O Prophet˺, after wronging themselves, seeking Allah's forgiveness and the Messenger prayed for their forgiveness, they would have certainly found Allah ever Accepting of Repentance, Most Merciful".[88](#src-88) Its wording is about people who came to him while he was alive; whether it reaches past his death is a question of interpretation. Al-Subkī thought it did. He opened his chapter on the visit as a devotion with this verse and argued that the standing it gives the Prophet ﷺ, of being come to and asking forgiveness for those who come, is "not cut off by his death, out of reverence for him" (لا تنقطع بموته تعظيماً له).[112](#src-112) Ibn Kathīr, on this verse, repeats a story he says several scholars reported, among them the Shāfiʿī jurist Abū Naṣr ibn al-Ṣabbāgh: al-ʿUtbī was sitting by the grave when a Bedouin came, recited the verse and asked forgiveness, and al-ʿUtbī then dreamt that the man had been forgiven.[89](#src-89) Al-Qurṭubī has a similar story, through Abū Ṣādiq from ʿAlī, of a Bedouin who arrived three days after the burial.[90](#src-90) As a recent study of the debate observes, these exegetes saw nothing remarkable in the idea of addressing the Prophet after his death.[91](#src-91) Critics, from Ibn ʿAbd al-Hādī in the fourteenth century to al-Albānī and the IslamQA site today, say the story has no sound chain and that the verse is about coming to the Prophet ﷺ during his lifetime.[92](#src-92)[91](#src-91)

On conduct there is less disagreement. The Qur'an told the Companions not to raise their voices above the Prophet's, and praised "those who lower their voices in the presence of Allah's Messenger" (49:2–3).[93](#src-93) In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ ʿUmar tells two visitors from Ṭāʾif that, had they been locals, he would have punished them "for raising your voices in the mosque of Allah's Messenger".[94](#src-94) Ibn Kathīr, commenting on 49:2, records that scholars disliked raising the voice at his grave just as it was disliked in his lifetime.[95](#src-95)

### Ibn Taymiyya and al-Subkī

The sharp form of the debate dates from Damascus in the 1320s. Ibn Taymiyya drew his line between the mosque and the grave. Setting out for the Prophet's Mosque, he wrote, is "legitimate by agreement of the Muslims" (مشروع باتفاق المسلمين), and whoever comes to it "greets him and his two companions, as the Companions used to do". A journey to visit the grave without intending the mosque was the disputed case, and there he sided with "the imams and most scholars" that it is neither prescribed nor commanded, citing the three-mosques hadith.[96](#src-96) In another fatwa he calls travel to visit the graves of prophets and the righteous an innovation that none of the Companions or Successors practised. Yet he also insisted that nobody had forbidden travelling to the mosque, even when the traveller visits the grave there too: "rather, this is among the best of righteous deeds".[96](#src-96) Answering the Mālikī judge al-Ikhnāʾī, he put it in a sentence: whoever sets out for the mosque and the grave together "has intended something recommended and legitimate by consensus" (قصد مستحبا مشروعا بالإجماع).[109](#src-109) In 1326 he was imprisoned for this teaching, and he died in prison in 1328.[97](#src-97) The Shāfiʿī judge Taqī al-Dīn al-Subkī answered him in a book first titled, pointedly, *Shann al-ghāra ʿalā man ankara safar al-ziyāra* ("Launching the raid on whoever denies the journey of visitation"), later renamed *Shifāʾ al-siqām fī ziyārat khayr al-anām*. It argued that the visit is an act of devotion (*qurba*), that travelling for it is too, and that scholars were agreed on this. The fifth and sixth chapters carry the first two claims in their titles, the sixth being "on travelling to it being an act of devotion" (في كون السفر إليها قربة).[112](#src-112) For the consensus he quoted al-Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ, who had written in *al-Shifā* that the visit is "one of the sunnas of the Muslims, agreed upon" (سنة من سنن المسلمين مجمع عليها).[111](#src-111) On the three-mosques hadith he argued that the exception is about mosques. Journeys to ʿArafa for the Hajj, for knowledge, for trade or to visit one's parents are lawful by agreement, so the hadith cannot forbid every journey; what it rules out is travelling to some other mosque or spot out of reverence for the place itself. A journey to visit the Prophet ﷺ, he wrote, ends at one of the three mosques, "and its motive is honouring the one who dwells in the place, not the place" (وعلّته تعظيم ساكن البقعة، لا البقعة).[112](#src-112) Ibn Taymiyya's student Ibn ʿAbd al-Hādī replied point by point in *al-Ṣārim al-munkī*. That consensus he did not contest: his teacher accepted it too, he wrote, and the quarrel had only ever been over a journey made for the grave alone.[87](#src-87)

Later positions follow those lines. Al-Nawawī called the visit one of the most important acts of devotion, while ruling out circumambulating the grave or pressing oneself against its wall;[98](#src-98) Ibn Qudāma calls it recommended and gives the greeting to say.[86](#src-86) Egypt's Dar al-Ifta says most scholars regard the visit as recommended,[99](#src-99) counts travelling for it among the best of deeds, and relies on al-Subkī.[100](#src-100) The Saudi view, set out by Ibn Bāz, is Ibn Taymiyya's: intend the mosque, pray two rakʿas, then greet the Prophet ﷺ, Abū Bakr and ʿUmar, and do not touch the walls or ask the Prophet for one's needs.[101](#src-101)[73](#src-73) The IslamWeb fatwa centre calls a journey solely for the grave impermissible in the view of "most scholars", which shows that each side is capable of claiming the majority.[102](#src-102) For Twelver Shia the visit is a strongly recommended act; Muḥammad Jawād Mughniyya adds the graves of Fāṭima and of the Imams buried in al-Baqīʿ.[103](#src-103) Christopher Taylor's study of tomb visitation in late medieval Egypt sets these legal arguments beside what ordinary Muslims of the same period actually did at graves.[104](#src-104)

Women are a further difference. Ibn Bāz wrote that the visit to the grave "is prescribed for men only; as for women, it is not for them to visit any graves" (إنما تشرع في حق الرجال خاصة), citing the hadith cursing women who visit graves, while travelling to Madina to pray in the mosque is "legitimate for everyone".[73](#src-73) Asked in a broadcast about a woman who had been taken to the grave, he acknowledged that scholars differ but held the stricter view, "neither the grave of the Prophet ﷺ and his two companions nor other graves". She may still invoke blessings on him and greet him "at home, on the way and in the mosque", he said, since the greeting reaches him wherever it is made.[110](#src-110) Egypt's Dar al-Ifta says the majority see no dislike in women visiting the Prophet's grave and regard it as recommended,[99](#src-99) and Jordan's Iftaa' Department, which dislikes women visiting graves in general, excludes his grave from that.[105](#src-105)

**Where the schools and scholars agree.** Praying in the Prophet's Mosque is meritorious. Greeting him with salām is legitimate. Nothing done at the grave may be worship directed to anyone but God. The dispute is over making the journey for the grave itself, and over some of what people do once they are there.

**What rests on what.** Sound hadith establish the merit of prayer in the Prophet's Mosque,[74](#src-74) the Rawḍa,[75](#src-75) the three-mosques journey,[76](#src-76) the permission to visit graves,[78](#src-78) that a greeting to him is returned,[81](#src-81) and that his grave is not to be made a festival.[82](#src-82) The Qur'an commands blessings and greetings on him without tying them to a place (33:56).[83](#src-83) The reports that name a visit to his grave are graded weak or worse by most hadith critics, though al-Subkī defended the first of them.[84](#src-84)[85](#src-85)[112](#src-112) So the case for the visit as a devotion in its own right, and for travelling to make it, rests on the general permission to visit graves, on reading 4:64 beyond his lifetime, and on the scholars' reasoning and claims of consensus described above.[112](#src-112)[111](#src-111)

### In practice today

Entry to the Rawḍa needs a permit,[51](#src-51) booked through the Nusuk app. As reported in January 2025, a standard permit is issued once every 365 days per person, with repeat visits possible through an "Immediate Path" service for those already near the mosque.[106](#src-106) Timings announced by the mosque authority in December 2025 gave women the hours after Fajr until 11 am and after ʿIshāʾ until 2 am, with men taking the rest, and each group about 10–15 minutes inside.[107](#src-107) These were the latest published figures I could find in October 2026; they change often, so check Nusuk before you travel. The greeting at the grave itself is short: "Peace be upon you, O Prophet, and the mercy and blessings of Allah".[86](#src-86)[73](#src-73) Ibn Bāz also recommends visiting al-Baqīʿ and the mosque at Qubāʾ,[73](#src-73) and al-Baqīʿ is where the Prophet ﷺ made the prayer for the dead quoted above.[80](#src-80)

## Going from Australia

Australia has no official Hajj mission of its own. Since 2024, pilgrims from Europe, Australia and the Americas book through **Nusuk Hajj**, the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah's platform for countries without official Hajj missions.[49](#src-49)[50](#src-50) The process runs through the platform: create an account, upload documents, get verified, choose a category, top up an e-wallet, then choose a package from the authorised service providers listed there. Registering does not guarantee a place.[50](#src-50) When I checked on 1 October 2026, the platform said only that packages and payment for the coming season would be available "at a later time".[50](#src-50) The Australian Government's Smartraveller advice says plainly that Nusuk is "the only approved platform from the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah for Hajj visas and services".[51](#src-51)

This system is the result of an unhappy few years. In June 2022 Saudi Arabia replaced the old arrangements for Western pilgrims with a portal called Motawif and a lottery, announced on 6 June with a four-day application window. ABC News reported that Australian travel agents lost their role overnight, that package prices first advertised from $6,000 ended up at $11,000 to $18,500, and that pilgrims could not get answers.[52](#src-52) Nusuk replaced Motawif, and it has been more stable, but the lesson from 2022 is that rules can change at short notice.

### Scams and permits

The Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah warned in April 2025 about fake Hajj campaigns on social media, reported arrests of people promoting them, and repeated that Nusuk is the only authorised route; an adviser to the national Hajj committee called online Hajj advertising "outright scams".[53](#src-53) Nusuk itself advises checking that any official link ends in `.sa`.[50](#src-50) Practical rules that follow from the official pages:

- Book only through Nusuk Hajj, with a provider shown there. A local agent may help you, but the booking and payment should be visible on the platform.
- Do not try to perform Hajj on a tourist, visit or ʿUmra visa. Smartraveller notes that a permit is needed for Hajj, for ʿUmra, and even to visit the Rawḍa in the Prophet's Mosque.[51](#src-51) For the 2025 season the Saudi Interior Ministry announced fines of up to SAR 20,000 for anyone caught performing or trying to perform Hajj without a permit between 1 Dhū al-Qaʿda and 14 Dhū al-Ḥijja, with deportation and a ten-year ban on entry for residents and overstayers, and it repeated the same penalties for 2026 (18 April to 31 May 2026).[54](#src-54)[72](#src-72)
- Hajj visas are for the pilgrimage itinerary; pilgrims are not permitted to travel around Saudi Arabia as tourists outside it.[51](#src-51)
- The minimum age for Hajj pilgrims has been raised to 15, according to Smartraveller.[51](#src-51)

The heat deaths of 2024 are the strongest argument for these rules. Saudi Arabia reported 1,301 deaths during that Hajj, with temperatures reaching 51.8°C in Makka, and said 83 per cent of those who died were not registered pilgrims: people who had come on other visas, walked long distances and had no access to the air-conditioned tents and medical care that permit-holders get.[55](#src-55)

## Health

Check the current requirements on Nusuk and with your doctor well before you travel, because they change. As of the pages checked for this article:

- **Meningococcal ACWY vaccine: compulsory.** Saudi Arabia requires proof of the quadrivalent meningococcal vaccine, given at least ten days before arrival; polysaccharide vaccines are valid for three years and conjugate vaccines for five. NSW Health notes that the visa will not be issued without it.[56](#src-56)[57](#src-57)
- **COVID-19:** Nusuk lists completion of the required doses as mandatory for pilgrims aged 12 and over.[56](#src-56)
- **Polio and yellow fever** apply to pilgrims from listed countries, not normally to Australian residents coming from Australia.[56](#src-56)
- **Recommended:** seasonal influenza; NSW Health also suggests discussing pneumococcal, hepatitis A and B and typhoid vaccines with your doctor.[57](#src-57)
- **MERS:** avoid contact with camels and raw camel products; wash hands, and consider a mask in crowds.[51](#src-51)[57](#src-57)
- **Heat and walking:** summer temperatures can reach 50°C, and pilgrims may walk 35 to 40 miles (roughly 55 to 65 km) over the five days.[6](#src-6) Smartraveller advises a high degree of caution because of overcrowding and notes that people have gone missing during the pilgrimage.[51](#src-51)
- **After you return:** tell your doctor you have been to the Middle East, and seek care promptly for fever, cough or shortness of breath within 14 days.[57](#src-57)

Older pilgrims and anyone with heart or lung disease should see their doctor early. The CDC's guide notes that cardiovascular disease and heat illness are among the main causes of death among pilgrims, and the NSW fact sheet says the same.[6](#src-6)[57](#src-57)

## The Hajj in history

For most of its history the Hajj was a journey of months, by caravan or sea, and the numbers were small and uncounted. Some pilgrimages became famous in their own right. Mansa Mūsā, the ruler of Mali, made the pilgrimage in 1324 with a caravan Britannica puts at "some 60,000 people", and spent so much gold in Cairo on the way that it "affected Cairo's economy for at least 12 years afterward".[58](#src-58) Peters's history collects the travellers' accounts, the caravans from Cairo and Damascus, and the long Ottoman administration of the Holy Places.[16](#src-16)

The steamship changed everything. Andrea Stanton, a historian at the University of Denver, notes that the number of pilgrims each year "quadrupled" between the 1880s and the 1930s as sea travel became cheaper and safer, and rose "six or seven times" between 1950 and 1980 with air travel.[59](#src-59) The Saudi General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) counted 95,853,017 pilgrims over the fifty seasons from 1390 to 1439 AH (roughly 1970 to 2018), and more than two million in nineteen of them.[60](#src-60)

| Year (CE) | Pilgrims    | Note                                                                                                        |
| --------- | ----------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| 1970      | 1,079,760   | [61](#src-61)                                                                                               |
| 1980      | 1,949,634   |                                                                                                             |
| 1990      | 1,483,294   |                                                                                                             |
| 2000      | 1,839,154   |                                                                                                             |
| 2010      | 2,789,399   |                                                                                                             |
| 2012      | 3,161,573   | The highest in the series                                                                                   |
| 2013      | 1,980,249   | Foreign quotas cut by 20 per cent and domestic by half during the expansion works at the Ḥaram[62](#src-62) |
| 2019      | 2,489,406   | [63](#src-63)                                                                                               |
| 2020      | About 1,000 | COVID-19: only people already in Saudi Arabia[61](#src-61)                                                  |
| 2021      | 58,745      | Citizens and residents only                                                                                 |
| 2022      | 926,062     | First season with foreign pilgrims after the pandemic; the Motawif lottery[52](#src-52)                     |
| 2023      | 1,845,045   |                                                                                                             |
| 2024      | 1,833,164   | 1,611,310 from abroad; 1,301 heat deaths reported[64](#src-64)[55](#src-55)                                 |
| 2025      | 1,673,230   | 1,506,576 from abroad[65](#src-65)                                                                          |
| 2026      | 1,707,301   | 1,546,655 from abroad; 893,396 men and 813,905 women[66](#src-66)                                           |

Figures for 1970 to 2023 are from Saudipedia's timeline, which cites GASTAT and the Saudi Press Agency; 2019 and 2024 to 2026 are from GASTAT's own releases.[61](#src-61)

The crowds have brought disasters. The worst was the crush at Minā on 24 September 2015\. Saudi Arabia's official toll was 769; the Associated Press, counting reports from 36 countries, found at least 2,411 dead, which would make it the deadliest event in the pilgrimage's history.[67](#src-67) The huge investment in the Jamarat bridge, the Makka metro and the tent city, and the move to strict permits and quotas, are all responses to the problem of moving two million people through a few valleys on the same days. The 2024 heat showed how much still depends on the weather.[55](#src-55)

## Glossary

ʿArafa, ʿArafāt

The ninth of Dhū al-Ḥijja, and the plain east of Makka where pilgrims stand from noon to sunset that day. Missing it means missing the Hajj.

Dhū al-Ḥijja

"The month of the pilgrimage", the twelfth month of the Islamic year. The Hajj rites fall on its 8th to 13th days.

Hajj mabrūr

An "accepted" or "righteous" Hajj, performed properly and without sin, for which the reward promised is Paradise.

Ifrād, qirān, tamattuʿ

The three ways of performing the Hajj: Hajj alone; Hajj and ʿUmra joined in one iḥrām; ʿUmra first, then a break, then Hajj.

Iḥrām

The state of consecration a pilgrim enters for Hajj or ʿUmra, and, loosely, the two white sheets men wear in it.

Jamarāt

The three pillars (now walls) at Minā that pilgrims stone: the small, the middle, and Jamrat al-ʿAqaba, the largest.

Kaʿba

The cube-shaped House at the centre of the Sacred Mosque in Makka, towards which Muslims pray.

Maḥram

A husband, or a male relative a woman may not marry, who may accompany her on a journey.

Al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām

"The sacred place" at Muzdalifa where pilgrims remember God at dawn on the tenth.

Mīqāt

A boundary point at which pilgrims must enter iḥrām before going on to Makka.

Minā

The valley of tents a few kilometres east of Makka where pilgrims stay on the 8th and during the days of tashrīq.

Muzdalifa

The open ground between ʿArafāt and Minā where pilgrims spend the night of the tenth.

Nusuk

The Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah's platform; Nusuk Hajj is the only authorised booking route for pilgrims from Australia.

Ramal

The brisk walk with short steps on the first three circuits of the arrival ṭawāf, for men.

Saʿy

The seven lengths walked between the hills of Ṣafā and Marwa, retracing Hagar's search for water.

Talbiya

The pilgrim's call, "Labbayk Allāhumma labbayk": "I respond to Your call, O Allah."

Tashrīq

The 11th, 12th and 13th of Dhū al-Ḥijja, spent at Minā stoning the pillars; fasting is not allowed on them.

Ṭawāf

Seven anticlockwise circuits of the Kaʿba. The Hajj includes the ṭawāf al-ifāḍa and the farewell ṭawāf; Twelver Shia add the ṭawāf al-nisāʾ.

ʿUmra

The "lesser pilgrimage" (iḥrām, ṭawāf, saʿy, and shaving or shortening), which can be performed at any time of year.

Zamzam

The well in the Sacred Mosque that, in the hadith, sprang up for Hagar and Ishmael.

This is a research article, not a fatwa and not travel or medical advice. It reports what the Qur'an, the hadith and the schools say about the rites, and what official Australian and Saudi bodies publish about getting there. For your own rites ask a scholar you trust, and before you book or travel check the current requirements on Nusuk, Smartraveller and with your doctor.

**Spotted a mistake, or know a better source?** I check and correct these pages when readers point things out. Please email [mohammad.siddiqui@icloud.com](mailto:mohammad.siddiqui@icloud.com?subject=Correction%3A%20Hajj%20and%20%CA%BFUmra) with the passage, what you think is wrong, and your source (Qur'an reference, hadith with collection and number, or a book with page).

## Sources

These are the sources behind the numbered notes, in the order they are first cited. Qur'an references link to quran.com, and quotations follow Mustafa Khattab's translation there, with his bracketed words shown in square brackets. Hadith references link to sunnah.com: reports in al-Bukhārī's and Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ collections are accepted as authentic by Sunni scholarship and sunnah.com shows no separate grade for them; for other collections I give the grade shown on sunnah.com and who gave it. Twelver Shia rulings are from al-Sīstānī's *Hajj Rituals*. Travel, permit and health information was checked on the official Australian and Saudi pages in September 2026 and changes every season.

1. Qur'an 3:96–97 (the first House, at Bakka; "Pilgrimage to this House is an obligation by Allah upon whoever is able among the people"): [quran.com/3/96-97](https://quran.com/3/96-97?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Translation quoted: Mustafa Khattab, *The Clear Quran*, as shown on quran.com (his dash in 3:96 shown as a comma).
2. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1337: Abū Hurayra: "If I were to say yes, it would become obligatory" (ḥajj once in a lifetime). [sunnah.com/muslim:1337](https://sunnah.com/muslim:1337?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ.
3. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1521: Abū Hurayra: whoever performs ḥajj without intimacy or wrongdoing returns as on the day he was born. [sunnah.com/bukhari:1521](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1521?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
4. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1773: Abū Hurayra: ʿumra expiates what is between it and the one before; the reward of ḥajj mabrūr is nothing but Paradise. [sunnah.com/bukhari:1773](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1773?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
5. Qur'an 2:197 (the appointed months; no intimacy, foul language or arguing): [quran.com/2/197](https://quran.com/2/197?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Translation quoted: Mustafa Khattab, *The Clear Quran*, as shown on quran.com.
6. Salim Parker and Zayid K. Almayahi, "Saudi Arabia: Hajj and Umrah Pilgrimages", *CDC Yellow Book* (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), updated 2 April 2026 (about 9 km to Minā, 12.5 km to ʿArafāt, 10.5 km to Muzdalifa; temperatures to 50°C): [cdc.gov](https://www.cdc.gov/yellow-book/hcp/africa-middle-east/saudi-arabia-hajj-and-umrah-pilgrimages.html?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
7. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1862: Ibn ʿAbbās: a woman should not travel without a maḥram; "Go along with her". [sunnah.com/bukhari:1862](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1862?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
8. Qur'an 2:127–128 (Abraham and Ishmael raise the foundations and pray): [quran.com/2/127-128](https://quran.com/2/127-128?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Translation quoted: Mustafa Khattab, *The Clear Quran*, as shown on quran.com.
9. Qur'an 2:125 (the House a sanctuary; the standing-place of Abraham a place of prayer): [quran.com/2/125](https://quran.com/2/125?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Translation quoted: Mustafa Khattab, *The Clear Quran*, as shown on quran.com.
10. Qur'an 22:26–29 (the site of the House shown to Abraham; "Call ˹all˺ people to the pilgrimage"): [quran.com/22/26-29](https://quran.com/22/26-29?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Translation quoted: Mustafa Khattab, *The Clear Quran*, as shown on quran.com.
11. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3364: Ibn ʿAbbās: Abraham leaves Hagar and Ishmael at Makka; Hagar runs between Ṣafā and Marwa seven times ("that is the origin of the people's going between them"); Zamzam; the Jurhum settle. [sunnah.com/bukhari:3364](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:3364?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
12. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 4520: ʿĀʾisha: Quraysh (al-Ḥums) used to stop at Muzdalifa while others stood at ʿArafāt; Qur'an 2:199\. [sunnah.com/bukhari:4520](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:4520?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
13. Qur'an 2:198–199 (departing from ʿArafāt; remembering God at al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām): [quran.com/2/198-199](https://quran.com/2/198-199?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Translation quoted: Mustafa Khattab, *The Clear Quran*, as shown on quran.com.
14. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1643: ʿUrwa and ʿĀʾisha on 2:158 and the Anṣār who had assumed iḥrām for Manāt. [sunnah.com/bukhari:1643](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1643?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
15. Qur'an 2:158 (Ṣafā and Marwa among the symbols of Allah): [quran.com/2/158](https://quran.com/2/158?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Translation quoted: Mustafa Khattab, *The Clear Quran*, as shown on quran.com.
16. F. E. Peters, *The Hajj: The Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca and the Holy Places* (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994): review in *International Journal of Middle East Studies*: [cambridge.org](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-middle-east-studies/article/abs/f-e-peters-the-hajj-the-muslim-pilgrimage-to-mecca-and-the-holy-places-princeton-nj-princeton-university-press-1994-pp-423/0A9F50C64E0D80109E532D0D30B6148F?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
17. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1218a: Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh's long account of the Farewell Pilgrimage. [sunnah.com/muslim:1218a](https://sunnah.com/muslim:1218a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ.
18. Qur'an 5:3 ("Today I have perfected your faith for you"): [quran.com/5/3](https://quran.com/5/3?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Translation quoted: Mustafa Khattab, *The Clear Quran*, as shown on quran.com.
19. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 45: ʿUmar: Qur'an 5:3 was revealed on a Friday while the Prophet stood at ʿArafa (sunnah.com's English renders the verse "This day I have perfected your religion for you"; the body text quotes Khattab's wording from quran.com, "Today I have perfected your faith for you"). [sunnah.com/bukhari:45](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:45?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
20. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1736: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr: on the day of sacrifice, "Do it, and there is no harm" for rites done out of order. [sunnah.com/bukhari:1736](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1736?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
21. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1211a: ʿĀʾisha: in the Farewell Pilgrimage some entered iḥrām for ʿumra, some for ḥajj and ʿumra, some for ḥajj alone. [sunnah.com/muslim:1211a](https://sunnah.com/muslim:1211a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ.
22. Qur'an 2:196 (complete the ḥajj and ʿumra; tamattuʿ; three days of fasting and seven): [quran.com/2/196](https://quran.com/2/196?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Translation quoted: Mustafa Khattab, *The Clear Quran*, as shown on quran.com (his dash shown as a comma).
23. Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyya, fatwa 6382, "The meaning of hajj ifrad, qiran, and tamattu'" (Mālikīs and Shāfiʿīs prefer ifrād, Ḥanafīs qirān, Ḥanbalīs tamattuʿ; sacrifice required for qirān and tamattuʿ): [dar-alifta.org](https://www.dar-alifta.org/en/fatwa/details/6382/the-meaning-of-hajj-ifrad-qiran-and-tamattu?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
24. Tabraze Azam (checked by Faraz Rabbani), "What is the preferable type of Hajj in the Hanafi school: Tamattu' or Qiran?", SeekersGuidance, 16 September 2014: [seekersguidance.org](https://seekersguidance.org/answers/hanafi-fiqh/what-is-the-preferable-type-of-hajj-in-the-hanafi-school-tamattu-or-qiran/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
25. Sayyid ʿAlī al-Sīstānī, *Hajj Rituals*, "Types of Hajj" (tamattuʿ obligatory for those living more than 48 miles from Makka; ifrād and qirān for those nearer), Al-Islam.org: [al-islam.org](https://al-islam.org/hajj-rituals-sayyid-ali-hussaini-sistani/types-hajj?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
26. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1217a: Jābir, Ibn ʿAbbās and Ibn al-Zubayr on the mutʿa of ḥajj, and ʿUmar's later instruction. [sunnah.com/muslim:1217a](https://sunnah.com/muslim:1217a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ.
27. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1524: Ibn ʿAbbās: the mīqāts of Dhū al-Ḥulayfa, al-Juḥfa, Qarn al-Manāzil and Yalamlam. [sunnah.com/bukhari:1524](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1524?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
28. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1531: Ibn ʿUmar: ʿUmar fixes Dhāt ʿIrq, a point level with Qarn, for the people of Baṣra and Kūfa. [sunnah.com/bukhari:1531](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1531?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
29. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1542: Ibn ʿUmar: what the muḥrim may not wear. [sunnah.com/bukhari:1542](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1542?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
30. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1549: Ibn ʿUmar: the words of the talbiya. [sunnah.com/bukhari:1549](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1549?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
31. Office of Sayyid ʿAlī al-Sīstānī, *Hajj Rituals* (English), "Prohibitions during Ihram", rules 269–273 (shade overhead forbidden for men while travelling by day; covered buses at night; kaffāra of a sheep): [sistani.org/english/book/47/2093](https://www.sistani.org/english/book/47/2093/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
32. Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī 889: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yaʿmar: "The ḥajj is ʿArafa". [sunnah.com/tirmidhi:889](https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi:889?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Graded ṣaḥīḥ by Darussalam, as shown on sunnah.com.
33. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1348: ʿĀʾisha: there is no day on which God frees more people from the Fire than the day of ʿArafa. [sunnah.com/muslim:1348](https://sunnah.com/muslim:1348?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ.
34. Office of Sayyid ʿAlī al-Sīstānī, *Hajj Rituals* (English), "Wuquf at Arafat", rule 365 (from the beginning of noon on the ninth until sunset, as a precaution): [sistani.org/english/book/47/2105](https://www.sistani.org/english/book/47/2105/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
35. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1681: ʿĀʾisha: Sawda, "a slow woman", is allowed to leave Muzdalifa before the crowds. [sunnah.com/bukhari:1681](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1681?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
36. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1727: Ibn ʿUmar: "O Allah, be merciful to those who shave their heads", then those who shorten. [sunnah.com/bukhari:1727](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1727?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
37. Qur'an 48:27 (heads shaved or hair shortened): [quran.com/48/27](https://quran.com/48/27?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Translation quoted: Mustafa Khattab, *The Clear Quran*, as shown on quran.com.
38. Qur'an 22:37 ("Neither their meat nor blood reaches Allah"): [quran.com/22/37](https://quran.com/22/37?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Translation quoted: Mustafa Khattab, *The Clear Quran*, as shown on quran.com.
39. Qur'an 2:203 (the appointed days; leaving after two days is no sin): [quran.com/2/203](https://quran.com/2/203?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Translation quoted: Mustafa Khattab, *The Clear Quran*, as shown on quran.com.
40. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1141a: Nubaysha al-Hudhalī: "The days of tashrīq are days of eating and drinking". [sunnah.com/muslim:1141a](https://sunnah.com/muslim:1141a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ.
41. Office of Sayyid ʿAlī al-Sīstānī, *Hajj Rituals* (English), "Rami of Jamarat", rules 431 and 433 (order of the three pillars; stoning in daylight, at night only for those excused): [sistani.org/english/book/47/2112](https://www.sistani.org/english/book/47/2112/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
42. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1755: Ibn ʿAbbās: the farewell ṭawāf as the last act before leaving, lifted for women in menstruation. [sunnah.com/bukhari:1755](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1755?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
43. Office of Sayyid ʿAlī al-Sīstānī, *Hajj Rituals* (English), "Hajj-ut-Tamatu" (the five acts of the ʿumra and the thirteen acts of the ḥajj, including ṭawāf al-nisāʾ): [sistani.org/english/book/47/2089](https://www.sistani.org/english/book/47/2089/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
44. Office of Sayyid ʿAlī al-Sīstānī, *Hajj Rituals* (English), "Various kinds of Umrah" (ʿumra mufrada and ʿumrat al-tamattuʿ; ṭawāf al-nisāʾ in the former; shaving or trimming): [sistani.org/english/book/47/2086](https://www.sistani.org/english/book/47/2086/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
45. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1602: Ibn ʿAbbās: the origin of ramal, the brisk walk, in answer to the claim that the Muslims had been weakened by the fever of Yathrib. [sunnah.com/bukhari:1602](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1602?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
46. Sunan Ibn Mājah 3062: Jābir: "The water of Zamzam is for whatever it is drunk for". [sunnah.com/ibnmajah:3062](https://sunnah.com/ibnmajah:3062?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Graded ḥasan by Darussalam, as shown on sunnah.com.
47. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1782: Ibn ʿAbbās: "ʿUmra in Ramaḍān is equal to ḥajj". [sunnah.com/bukhari:1782](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1782?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
48. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1597: ʿUmar to the Black Stone: "I know that you are a stone and can neither benefit anyone nor harm anyone". [sunnah.com/bukhari:1597](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1597?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
49. "Pilgrims from Europe, Australia and America can book now for Hajj through Nusuk", *Saudi Gazette*, 13 March 2024: [saudigazette.com.sa](https://www.saudigazette.com.sa/article/641194?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
50. Nusuk Hajj, official platform of the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah for pilgrims from countries without official Hajj missions (registration, packages from authorised service providers; official links end in .sa; checked 1 October 2026): [hajj.nusuk.sa](https://hajj.nusuk.sa/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
51. Smartraveller (Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade), "Saudi Arabia" travel advice, Hajj and Umrah section (Nusuk "the only approved platform" for Hajj visas; permits for Hajj, Umrah and the Rawḍa; overcrowding and heat; minimum age 15), checked September 2026: [smartraveller.gov.au](https://www.smartraveller.gov.au/destinations/middle-east/saudi-arabia?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
52. ABC News, "Australian Muslims 'devastated' by Saudi Arabia's new Hajj pilgrimage lottery", 22 June 2022, updated 3 July 2022 (the Motawif portal; a four-day window; 2,000-odd places for Australia): [abc.net.au](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-22/hajj-lottery-saudi-arabia-upsets-muslim-australians-pilgrimage/101169798?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
53. "Saudi Arabia warns of fake Hajj ads, urges pilgrims to use official Nusuk platform only", *Gulf News*, 20 April 2025 (Ministry of Hajj and Umrah; arrests for fake campaigns): [gulfnews.com](https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/saudi/saudi-arabia-warns-of-fake-hajj-ads-urges-pilgrims-to-use-official-nusuk-platform-only-1.500099622?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
54. Saudi Press Agency, "Interior Ministry: Up to SAR20,000 fine for performing Hajj without permit", 12 May 2025 (1 Dhū al-Qaʿda to 14 Dhū al-Ḥijja; deportation and a ten-year entry ban): [spa.gov.sa](https://www.spa.gov.sa/en/N2316587?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
55. "Saudi Arabia says 1,301 Hajj pilgrims died in extreme heat", *Middle East Eye*, 23 June 2024 (83 per cent unregistered; 51.8°C in Makka): [middleeasteye.net](https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/saudi-arabia-1301-deaths-hajj-mostly-unregistered-pilgrims?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
56. Nusuk Hajj, "Health guidelines" (quadrivalent meningococcal vaccine at least ten days before arrival; polio and yellow fever for listed countries; COVID-19 doses; seasonal influenza recommended): [hajj.nusuk.sa](https://hajj.nusuk.sa/nusuk/health/guidelines?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
57. NSW Health, "Hajj travel advice" fact sheet, last updated 16 May 2025 (meningococcal ACWY proof needed for a visa; influenza and other vaccines advised; MERS and heat; see a doctor for fever or cough within 14 days of return): [health.nsw.gov.au](https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/factsheets/Pages/hajj-travel-advice.aspx?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
58. Encyclopaedia Britannica, "What happened on Mūsā I's pilgrimage?" (1324; "some 60,000 people"; the effect on Cairo's economy "for at least 12 years"): [britannica.com](https://www.britannica.com/question/What-happened-on-Musa-Is-pilgrimage?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
59. Andrea Stanton (University of Denver), "Technology remains at the heart of the hajj", *The Conversation*, June 2023, republished by Religion News Service, 5 July 2023 (pilgrim numbers "quadrupled" from the 1880s to the 1930s and rose "six or seven times" between 1950 and 1980): [theconversation.com](https://theconversation.com/technology-remains-at-the-heart-of-the-hajj-206267?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
60. General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT), "Over 95 million Hajj pilgrims hosted and served by KSA over the last 50 years", 8 July 2019 (95,853,017 pilgrims, 1390–1439 AH; more than 2 million in 19 seasons): [stats.gov.sa](https://www.stats.gov.sa/en/w/general-authority-for-statistics-over-95-million-hajj-pilgrims-hosted-and-served-by-ksa-over-the-last-50-years?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
61. Saudipedia (Saudi national encyclopaedia), "Timeline of the number of pilgrims from 1970 to 2025", citing the General Authority for Statistics and the Saudi Press Agency: [saudipedia.com](https://saudipedia.com/en/timeline-of-the-number-of-pilgrims-from-1970-to-2025?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
62. "20% cut in quota for foreign Hajis stays", *Arab News*, 13 January 2014 (foreign quotas cut by 20 per cent and domestic pilgrims by 50 per cent in 2013 because of the expansion works at the Grand Mosque and the holy sites): [arabnews.com/news/508311](https://www.arabnews.com/news/508311?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
63. GASTAT, "The total number of pilgrims for the 1440 AH Hajj season is 2,489,406": [stats.gov.sa](https://www.stats.gov.sa/en/w/gastat-the-total-number-of-pilgrims-for-the-1440-ah-hajj-season-is-2-489-406-an-increase-of-4.96-from-last-year-the-kingdom-has-provided-over-350-thousand-employees-to-serve-them?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
64. GASTAT, "Total number of pilgrims in 1445 H Hajj season is 1,833,164", 15 June 2024 (1,611,310 from abroad, 221,854 from inside the Kingdom): [stats.gov.sa](https://www.stats.gov.sa/en/w/gastat-total-number-of-pilgrims-in-1445-h-hajj-season-is-1-833-164?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
65. GASTAT, "Total number of pilgrims performing Hajj 1446H (2025) reaches (1,673,230)", 5 June 2025 (1,506,576 from abroad, 166,654 from inside): [stats.gov.sa](https://www.stats.gov.sa/en/w/news/49?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
66. GASTAT, "Total number of pilgrims for Hajj 2026 reaches (1,707,301)", 26 May 2026 (1,546,655 from abroad, 160,646 from inside; 893,396 men and 813,905 women): [stats.gov.sa](https://www.stats.gov.sa/en/w/news/194?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
67. "Saudi Arabia stifled true death count in hajj stampede: 2,411", Religion News Service, reporting the Associated Press count (Saudi official figure 769): [religionnews.com](https://religionnews.com/2015/12/10/saudi-arabia-stifled-true-death-count-hajj-stampede-2411/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
68. Shaykh Muhammad ibn Adam, "Can women travel without a Mahram?", Darul Iftaa (Leicester), on IslamQA.org (Ḥanafī and Ḥanbalī schools: a maḥram required even for the obligatory Hajj, citing Ibn ʿĀbidīn's Radd al-muḥtār, al-Kāsānī's Badāʾiʿ al-ṣanāʾiʿ, Ibn Qudāma's al-Mughnī and al-Buhūtī's Kashshāf al-qināʿ; Shāfiʿī and Mālikī schools: trustworthy women or safe company suffice, citing al-Nawawī's al-Majmūʿ and al-Dasūqī): [islamqa.org](https://islamqa.org/hanafi/daruliftaa/7865/can-women-travel-without-a-mahram/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
69. Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyya, fatwa 3035, "A woman traveling for hajj without a mahram" (the Mālikī and Shāfiʿī allowance of trustworthy company; permissible today where safety is ensured): [dar-alifta.org](https://www.dar-alifta.org/en/fatwa/details/3035/a-woman-traveling-for-hajj-without-a-mahram?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
70. Office of Sayyid ʿAlī al-Sīstānī, Hajj Rituals (English), "Conditions which make Hajjatul Islam obligatory", rule 60 (a maḥram is not a condition for a woman if her safety is secured; otherwise a trusted male companion, even for a fee): [sistani.org/english/book/47/2083](https://www.sistani.org/english/book/47/2083/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
71. "Saudi Arabia: Women can perform Hajj without Mahram, Hajj Ministry reaffirms", Gulf News, 13 February 2024 (minimum age 15, no maximum): [gulfnews.com](https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/saudi/saudi-arabia-women-can-perform-hajj-without-mahram-hajj-ministry-reaffirms-1.101022746?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
72. "Saudi Arabia imposes SAR20,000 fine, 10-year entry ban for performing Hajj without permit", The Peninsula (Doha), 2 May 2026, reporting the Saudi Ministry of Interior (penalties in force from 18 April to 31 May 2026): [thepeninsulaqatar.com](https://thepeninsulaqatar.com/article/02/05/2026/saudi-arabia-imposes-sar20000-fine-10-year-entry-ban-for-performing-hajj-without-permit?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
73. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Bāz, *al-Taḥqīq wa-l-īḍāḥ li-kathīr min masāʾil al-ḥajj wa-l-ʿumra wa-l-ziyāra*, in his *Majmūʿ fatāwā wa-maqālāt mutanawwiʿa*, ed. Muḥammad ibn Saʿd al-Shuwayʿir (Riʾāsat Idārat al-Buḥūth al-ʿIlmiyya wa-l-Iftāʾ), vol. 16: pp. 99–104, "Faṣl fī aḥkām al-ziyāra wa-ādābihā" (two rakʿas, preferably in the Rawḍa, then greeting the Prophet, Abū Bakr and ʿUmar; "wa-hādhihi al-ziyāra innamā tushraʿ fī ḥaqq al-rijāl khāṣṣa", while travelling to pray in the mosque is "mashrūʿ fī ḥaqq al-jamīʿ"; no touching, kissing or circling the chamber and no asking the Prophet for needs): [shamela.ws](https://shamela.ws/book/21537/8347?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com); p. 111 (visiting the grave neither obligatory nor a condition of the Hajj): [shamela.ws](https://shamela.ws/book/21537/8360?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com); p. 114 (Qubāʾ and al-Baqīʿ): [shamela.ws](https://shamela.ws/book/21537/8364?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) (all Arabic). An English guide by Ibn Bāz covering the same points, *A Guide to Hajj, Umrah and Visiting the Prophet's Mosque*, AbdurRahman.org, 23 January 2014: [abdurrahman.org](https://abdurrahman.org/2014/01/23/a-guide-to-hajj-umrah-and-visiting-the-prophets-masjid-imam-ibn-baaz/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
74. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1190: Abū Hurayra: "One prayer in my Mosque is better than one thousand prayers in any other mosque excepting Al-Masjid-Al-Haram". [sunnah.com/bukhari:1190](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1190?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
75. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1196: Abū Hurayra: "Between my house and my pulpit there is a garden of the gardens of Paradise". [sunnah.com/bukhari:1196](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1196?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
76. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1189: Abū Hurayra: "Do not set out on a journey except for three Mosques". [sunnah.com/bukhari:1189](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1189?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
77. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1397a: Abū Hurayra: the same saying on the three mosques. [sunnah.com/muslim:1397a](https://sunnah.com/muslim:1397a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ.
78. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 977a: Burayda: "I forbade you to visit graves, but you may now visit them". [sunnah.com/muslim:977a](https://sunnah.com/muslim:977a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ.
79. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 976b: Abū Hurayra: the Prophet weeps at his mother's grave; "visit the graves, for that makes you mindful of death". [sunnah.com/muslim:976b](https://sunnah.com/muslim:976b?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ.
80. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 974a: ʿĀʾisha: the Prophet at al-Baqīʿ at night: "Peace be upon you, abode of a people who are believers ... O Allah, grant forgiveness to the inhabitants of Baqiʿ al-Gharqad". [sunnah.com/muslim:974a](https://sunnah.com/muslim:974a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ.
81. Sunan Abī Dāwūd 2041: Abū Hurayra: "If any one of you greets me, Allah returns my soul to me and I respond to the greeting". [sunnah.com/abudawud:2041](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:2041?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Graded ḥasan by al-Albānī, as shown on sunnah.com.
82. Sunan Abī Dāwūd 2042: Abū Hurayra: "Do not make your houses graves, and do not make my grave a place of festivity". [sunnah.com/abudawud:2042](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:2042?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Graded ṣaḥīḥ by al-Albānī, as shown on sunnah.com.
83. Qur'an 33:56 (God and His angels bless the Prophet; "Invoke Allah's blessings upon him"): [quran.com/33/56](https://quran.com/33/56?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Translation quoted: Mustafa Khattab, *The Clear Quran*, as shown on quran.com.
84. Al-Durar al-Saniyya, hadith encyclopaedia, gradings of "Man zāra qabrī wajabat lahu shafāʿatī" (narrated from Ibn ʿUmar by al-Dāraquṭnī): al-Nawawī, *al-Majmūʿ*, "its chain is weak"; al-Dhahabī, *Mīzān al-iʿtidāl*, "munkar"; al-Albānī, *Irwāʾ al-ghalīl*, "munkar" (and "mawḍūʿ" in *Ḍaʿīf al-Jāmiʿ*): [dorar.net](https://dorar.net/hadith/search?q=%D9%85%D9%86+%D8%B2%D8%A7%D8%B1+%D9%82%D8%A8%D8%B1%D9%8A+%D9%88%D8%AC%D8%A8%D8%AA+%D9%84%D9%87+%D8%B4%D9%81%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%AA%D9%8A&ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) (Arabic). IslamQA answer 240640 also sets out the chain (al-Dāraquṭnī no. 2695): [islamqa.info](https://islamqa.info/ar/answers/240640?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
85. Al-Durar al-Saniyya, gradings of "Man ḥajja wa-lam yazurnī fa-qad jafānī": Ibn al-Jawzī places it in *al-Mawḍūʿāt*; Ibn Taymiyya, "a lie"; al-Dhahabī, fabricated; al-Albānī, *al-Silsila al-ḍaʿīfa*, "mawḍūʿ": [dorar.net](https://dorar.net/hadith/search?q=%D9%85%D9%86+%D8%AD%D8%AC+%D9%88%D9%84%D9%85+%D9%8A%D8%B2%D8%B1%D9%86%D9%8A+%D9%81%D9%82%D8%AF+%D8%AC%D9%81%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A&ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) (Arabic)
86. Ibn Qudāma, *al-Mughnī*, Kitāb al-Ḥajj, "Faṣl: ziyārat qabr al-Nabī", vol. 3, pp. 298–299 ("It is recommended to visit the grave of the Prophet"; cites the reports of al-Dāraquṭnī and Aḥmad; the greeting "al-salāmu ʿalayka ayyuhā al-nabī wa-raḥmat Allāh wa-barakātuh"), IslamWeb library: [islamweb.net](https://www.islamweb.net/ar/library/content/15/2224/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) (Arabic)
87. Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Hādī, *al-Ṣārim al-munkī fī al-radd ʿalā al-Subkī*, ed. ʿAqīl ibn Muḥammad al-Maqṭarī (Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Rayyān, 1424/2003): p. 13 (al-Subkī's book, written against Ibn Taymiyya "on the question of setting out on journeys to graves", first titled *Shann al-ghāra ʿalā man ankara safar al-ziyāra*, then *Shifāʾ al-siqām fī ziyārat khayr al-anām*): [shamela.ws](https://shamela.ws/book/8622/9?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com); p. 254 (al-Subkī's fourth chapter, on scholars' texts recommending the visit and its being agreed upon, quoting al-Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ; Ibn ʿAbd al-Hādī replies that Ibn Taymiyya affirms this consensus and that the dispute concerns travel solely to visit the grave): [shamela.ws](https://shamela.ws/book/8622/250?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com); chapter one (al-Subkī's claim that the "whoever visits my grave" hadith is at least ḥasan): [wikisource](https://ar.wikisource.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%85%5F%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%86%D9%83%D9%8A%5F%D9%81%D9%8A%5F%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%AF%5F%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89%5F%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%A8%D9%83%D9%8A/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%A8%5F%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%88%D9%84?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) (all Arabic)
88. Qur'an 4:64 ("If only those ˹hypocrites˺ came to you ... seeking Allah's forgiveness and the Messenger prayed for their forgiveness"): [quran.com/4/64](https://quran.com/4/64?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Translation quoted: Mustafa Khattab, *The Clear Quran*, as shown on quran.com (the translator's dashes shown as commas).
89. Ibn Kathīr, *Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿaẓīm*, ed. Sāmī al-Salāma (Riyadh: Dār Ṭayba, 2nd edn, 1420/1999), vol. 2, pp. 347–348, on 4:64 (Arabic): "a group, among them Shaykh Abū Naṣr ibn al-Ṣabbāgh in his book *al-Shāmil*, mentioned the well-known story from al-ʿUtbī": [quran.com](https://quran.com/4:64/tafsirs/ar-tafsir-ibn-kathir?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com); print pages: [shamela.ws](https://shamela.ws/book/8473/1129?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). (The abridged English translation on the same site omits the story.)
90. Al-Qurṭubī, *al-Jāmiʿ li-aḥkām al-Qurʾān*, ed. Aḥmad al-Bardūnī and Ibrāhīm Aṭfayyish (Cairo: Dār al-Kutub al-Miṣriyya, 2nd edn, 1384/1964), vol. 5, p. 265, on 4:64 (Arabic): Abū Ṣādiq from ʿAlī, a Bedouin arriving three days after the burial: [quran.com](https://quran.com/4:64/tafsirs/ar-tafseer-al-qurtubi?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com); print page: [shamela.ws](https://shamela.ws/book/20855/1935?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
91. Martin Kellner, "Visiting the Prophet at His Grave: Discussions about the Religious Topography of Madina", *Religions* 15, no. 5 (2024): 552, [doi.org/10.3390/rel15050552](https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15050552?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
92. IslamQA, answer 179363, "al-Jawāb ʿan qiṣṣat al-ʿUtbī al-marwiyya fī al-tawassul bi-l-Nabī" (quotes Ibn ʿAbd al-Hādī that the story has no sound chain, and al-Albānī; reads 4:64 as about his lifetime): [islamqa.info](https://islamqa.info/ar/answers/179363?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) (Arabic)
93. Qur'an 49:2–3 (not raising voices above the Prophet's; "those who lower their voices in the presence of Allah's Messenger"): [quran.com/49/2-3](https://quran.com/49/2-3?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Translation quoted: Mustafa Khattab, *The Clear Quran*, as shown on quran.com.
94. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 470: al-Sāʾib ibn Yazīd: ʿUmar and the two men from Ṭāʾif. [sunnah.com/bukhari:470](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:470?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
95. Ibn Kathīr, *Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿaẓīm*, on 49:2 (Arabic): "The scholars said: raising the voice at his grave is disliked, as it was disliked in his lifetime": [quran.com](https://quran.com/49:2/tafsirs/ar-tafsir-ibn-kathir?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
96. Ibn Taymiyya, *Majmūʿ al-fatāwā*, ed. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn Qāsim, 37 vols (Riyadh, 1381–1386/1961–1967), the standard referencing system; cited here from the King Fahd Complex reprint (Madina, 1425/2004) as on shamela.ws, which keeps the page numbers of the Riyadh edition (Jon Hoover, "Arabic texts", Taymiyyan Studies: [sites.google.com](https://sites.google.com/site/jhoover363/taymiyyan-studies/arabic-texts?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)), vol. 27: pp. 26–27 (travel to his mosque "mashrūʿ bi-ttifāq al-muslimīn"; on arriving one greets him and his two companions; travel for the grave without the mosque is disputed, and "the imams and most scholars" hold it "ghayr mashrūʿ wa-lā maʾmūr bih", citing the three-mosques hadith): [shamela.ws](https://shamela.ws/book/7289/13110?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com); p. 187 (travel to visit the graves of prophets and the righteous "bidʿa" that no Companion or Successor practised): [shamela.ws](https://shamela.ws/book/7289/13271?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com); p. 330 (no one forbade travelling to his mosque even when the traveller visits the grave, "bal hādhā min afḍal al-aʿmāl al-ṣāliḥa"): [shamela.ws](https://shamela.ws/book/7289/13414?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) (all Arabic)
97. Jon Hoover, "Ibn Taymiyya", *Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy*, first published 22 May 2024 (imprisoned in 1326 "for teaching against undertaking travel to graves to seek intercession through the dead"; died in prison in September 1328): [plato.stanford.edu](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ibn-taymiyya/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
98. Al-Nawawī, *al-Majmūʿ sharḥ al-Muhadhdhab*, Kitāb al-Ḥajj, "Ziyārat qabr Rasūl Allāh", vol. 8, p. 252 (among "the most important acts of nearness"), and the following section "Farʿ: lā yajūz an yuṭāf bi-qabrih" (no circumambulation; pressing one's back or belly to the wall disliked), IslamWeb library: [islamweb.net](https://www.islamweb.net/ar/library/content/14/4948/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com); [islamweb.net](https://www.islamweb.net/ar/library/content/14/4949/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) (Arabic)
99. Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyya, "What is the ruling of visiting graves and the grave of the Prophet in particular?" (consensus on permissibility; most scholars regard it as recommended; "according to the majority of scholars there is no dislike in women visiting the grave of the Prophet"): [dar-alifta.org](https://www.dar-alifta.org/en/article/details/146/what-is-the-ruling-of-visiting-graves-and-the-grave-of-the-prophet-in-particular?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
100. Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyya, "What is the law on traveling to visit the prophet's grave or the prophet's mosque? Is it an innovation?" (travelling for the visit "among the best deeds"; cites al-Subkī's *Shifāʾ al-siqām*): [dar-alifta.org](https://www.dar-alifta.org/en/article/details/463/what-is-the-law-on-traveling-to-visit-the-prophets-grave-or-the-prophets-mosque?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
101. IslamQA, answer 10011, "Is It Permissible to Travel to Visit the Prophet's Grave?" (drawing on Ibn Bāz: travel with the intention of the mosque; the visit to the grave follows from it): [islamqa.info](https://islamqa.info/en/answers/10011?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
102. IslamWeb fatwa centre, fatwa 124583, "Ḥukm al-safar ilā al-Madīna bi-niyyat ziyārat qabr al-Rasūl" (travel solely for the grave impermissible according to "most scholars"; quotes Ibn Taymiyya): [islamweb.net](https://www.islamweb.net/ar/fatwa/124583/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) (Arabic)
103. Muḥammad Jawād Mughniyya, *Hajj According to the Five Schools of Islamic Law*, "Ziyarah of the Greatest Prophet" (the visit a highly *mustaḥabb* act; visiting Fāṭima and the Imams buried in al-Baqīʿ), Al-Islam.org: [al-islam.org](https://al-islam.org/hajj-islamic-pilgrimage-according-five-schools-islamic-law-muhammad-jawad-mughniyya/ziyarah-greatest?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
104. Christopher S. Taylor, *In the Vicinity of the Righteous: Ziyāra and the Veneration of Muslim Saints in Late Medieval Egypt* (Leiden: Brill, 1999), reviewed in *International Journal of Middle East Studies*: [cambridge.org](https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/47ADBF57D15ABFEF465D80B6D39F23A9/S0020743800002750a.pdf?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com); publisher's description: [Google Books](https://books.google.com/books/about/In%5Fthe%5FVicinity%5Fof%5Fthe%5FRighteous.html?id=rLzWrQi6oIwC&ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
105. General Iftaa' Department (Jordan), fatwa 906, "Ruling on Women Visiting Graves", 9 August 2010 (women's visits to graves disliked in the Shāfiʿī school, but "visiting the grave of the leader of the Messengers ... is excluded from the above disagreement"): [aliftaa.jo](https://www.aliftaa.jo/research-fatwa-english/906/Ruling-on-Women-Visiting-Graves?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
106. "Saudi Arabia: Worshippers close to Prophet's Mosque can repeat visit to Al Rawda Al Sharifa", Gulf News, 8 January 2025 (permit issued every 365 days; repeat visits via the "Immediate Path" service): [gulfnews.com](https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/saudi/saudi-arabia-worshippers-close-to-prophets-mosque-can-repeat-visit-to-al-rawda-al-sharifa-1.500012438?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
107. "Saudi Arabia announces new timings, permit rules for Riyazul Jannah visits", Siasat Daily, 6 December 2025, reporting the General Authority for the Care of the Two Holy Mosques (women after Fajr until 11 am and after ʿIshāʾ until 2 am; Nusuk permit; 10–15 minutes per group): [siasat.com](https://www.siasat.com/saudi-arabia-announces-new-timings-permit-rules-for-riyazul-jannah-visits-3309025/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com); see also the authority's own account, The Holy Mosques, on X: [x.com/theholymosques](https://x.com/theholymosques/status/1863924681130287393?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
108. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Bāz, fatwa "Ziyārat al-masjid al-nabawī sunna" (the visit "sunna wa-laysat wājiba, wa-laysa lahā taʿalluq bi-l-ḥajj"; two rakʿas in the Rawḍa, then greeting the Prophet and his two companions; al-Baqīʿ and Qubāʾ), first published in *al-Daʿwa* no. 1246, 28/11/1410 AH; *Majmūʿ fatāwā wa-maqālāt mutanawwiʿa*, vol. 17, p. 413: [binbaz.org.sa](https://binbaz.org.sa/fatwas/16672/%D8%B2%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AC%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%A8%D9%88%D9%8A-%D8%B3%D9%86%D8%A9?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) (Arabic)
109. Ibn Taymiyya, *al-Ikhnāʾiyya, aw al-Radd ʿalā al-Ikhnāʾī*, ed. Aḥmad ibn Mūnis al-ʿAnazī (Jeddah: Dār al-Kharrāz, 1420/2000), p. 119 (travel to the mosque to pray in it "mashrūʿ bi-l-naṣṣ wa-l-ijmāʿ"; travel for the grave alone the point of dispute; travel for the mosque and the grave together "qaṣada mustaḥabban mashrūʿan bi-l-ijmāʿ"): [shamela.ws](https://shamela.ws/book/9277/27?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) (Arabic)
110. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Bāz, fatwa "Ḥukm ziyārat al-marʾa li-qabr al-Nabī ʿalayhi al-ṣalāt wa-l-salām wa-ṣāḥibayh" (a disputed question; the sounder view forbids women visiting graves, "lā li-qabr al-Nabī wa-ṣāḥibayh wa-lā li-l-qubūr al-ukhrā"; a woman may invoke blessings and greet him "fī al-bayt wa-fī al-ṭarīq wa-fī al-masjid"): [binbaz.org.sa](https://binbaz.org.sa/fatwas/7677/%D8%AD%D9%83%D9%85-%D8%B2%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A9-%D9%84%D9%82%D8%A8%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%A8%D9%8A-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%87-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%A9-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85-%D9%88%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%A8%D9%8A%D9%87?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) (Arabic)
111. Al-Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ, *al-Shifā bi-taʿrīf ḥuqūq al-Muṣṭafā* (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1399/1979), vol. 2, p. 83, "Faṣl fī ḥukm ziyārat qabrih" ("sunna min sunan al-muslimīn mujmaʿ ʿalayhā wa-faḍīla murghab fīhā"): [shamela.ws](https://shamela.ws/book/1753/466?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) (Arabic)
112. Taqī al-Dīn al-Subkī, *Shifāʾ al-siqām fī ziyārat khayr al-anām*, ed. Ḥusayn Muḥammad ʿAlī Shukrī (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1st edn, 2008), scan with printed page numbers on archive.org: pp. 100–102 (chapter 1, first hadith, "man zāra qabrī": within the ḥasan category, and weak routes together "yuwaṣṣiluhā ilā rutbat al-ḥasan"; "fa-kayfa wa-huwa ḥasan aw ṣaḥīḥ"): [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/Shifau%5FSigham/page/n102/mode/1up); p. 233 (chapter 5, "fī taqrīr kawn al-ziyāra qurba", opening with 4:64, "lā tanqaṭiʿ bi-mawtihi taʿẓīman lahu"): [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/Shifau%5FSigham/page/n233/mode/1up); p. 263 (chapter 6, "fī kawn al-safar ilayhā qurba", again citing 4:64): [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/Shifau%5FSigham/page/n263/mode/1up); pp. 287–291 (chapter 7, the first objection, the three-mosques hadith; journeys to ʿArafa, for knowledge, trade or visiting parents lawful by agreement, p. 290; "wa-ʿillatuhu taʿẓīm sākin al-buqʿa, lā al-buqʿa", p. 291): [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/Shifau%5FSigham/page/n287/mode/1up), [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/Shifau%5FSigham/page/n291/mode/1up) (Arabic)
113. Sunan Abī Dāwūd 1883: Yaʿlā: the Prophet went round the House with his green Yemeni mantle under his right armpit (iḍṭibāʿ). [sunnah.com/abudawud:1883](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:1883?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Graded ḥasan by al-Albānī, as shown on sunnah.com.
114. Sunan Abī Dāwūd 1892: ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Sāʾib: the supplication between the two corners in the ṭawāf. [sunnah.com/abudawud:1892](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:1892?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Graded ḥasan by al-Albānī, as shown on sunnah.com.
115. Sunan Abī Dāwūd 1985: Ibn ʿAbbās: shaving is not for women; they only shorten. [sunnah.com/abudawud:1985](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:1985?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Graded ṣaḥīḥ by al-Albānī, as shown on sunnah.com.
116. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1299b: Jābir: stoning on the day of sacrifice after sunrise, and on the later days after the sun had declined. [sunnah.com/muslim:1299b](https://sunnah.com/muslim:1299b?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ.
117. Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī 813: Ibn ʿUmar: asked what makes the Hajj obligatory, "the provisions and a means of conveyance". [sunnah.com/tirmidhi:813](https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi:813?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Graded ḍaʿīf by Darussalam, as shown on sunnah.com.
118. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1336: Ibn ʿAbbās: a woman at al-Rawḥāʾ lifts up a boy, "Would this child be credited with having performed the Hajj?" "Yes, and you will have a reward." [sunnah.com/muslim:1336](https://sunnah.com/muslim:1336?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ.
119. Dār al-Iftāʾ al-Miṣriyya, "Ḥukm ḥajj al-ṣabī wa-madā ijzāʾihi ʿan ḥajj al-farīḍa" (the ruling on a child's Hajj and whether it counts for the obligatory Hajj), fatwa 7476, Shawqi Allam, 3 February 2023 (valid and rewarded but voluntary; quotes al-Tirmidhī and Ibn al-Mundhir on the scholars' agreement that it does not count for the Hajj of Islam): [dar-alifta.org](https://www.dar-alifta.org/ar/fatwa/details/18688?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) (Arabic)
120. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1860, chapter "Hajj of women": ʿUmar, in his last Hajj, allowed the wives of the Prophet to perform Hajj and sent ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf with them. [sunnah.com/bukhari:1860](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1860?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
121. al-Mawsūʿa al-fiqhiyya (Dorar al-Saniyya fiqh encyclopaedia), on the ṭawāf al-ifāḍa as a pillar of the Hajj, quoting al-Nawawī, al-Majmūʿ 8/220, that the community agrees the Hajj is not valid without it: [dorar.net/feqhia/3078](https://dorar.net/feqhia/3078?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) (Arabic)
122. Ahmad Kutty, "Essentials of Hajj", IslamOnline, 25 June 2022 (the pillars: intention and iḥrām, ʿArafāt, ṭawāf al-ifāḍa, saʿy, shaving or trimming; the Ḥanafīs treat iḥrām as a condition and the saʿy and shaving as essentials repairable by a sacrifice; the others count the saʿy a pillar): [fiqh.islamonline.net](https://fiqh.islamonline.net/en/essentials-of-hajj/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)

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