Answer
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
The Prophet (peace be upon him) was in favor of the three types of hajj. All of them are virtuous and the person will be given great reward of Hajj mabrur once he purifies his intention and dedicates it for the Sake of Allah.
In response to your question, Dr. Rif`at Fawzi, professor of Shari`ah at Cairo University, states:
Hajj is obligatory once in a lifetime. If a person has the means to offer Hajj, he should carry it out as soon as possible. One is advised to not delay offering Hajj under any pretext, keeping in mind the fact that Hajj is one of the pillars of Islam.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Islam is built upon five pillars: testifying that there is no true god except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, performing Prayer, paying the Zakah, making the pilgrimage to the Sacred House (Hajj), and fasting the month of Ramadan.” (Al-Bukhari)
The types of Hajj are as follows:
Tamattu: At or before reaching the miqat, the person enters into Ihram for Umrah only. He performs Umrah first, then goes out of Ihram until 8 Dhul-Hijjah, when he enters into Ihram again for Hajj. This is the most common type for people from outside of Saudi Arabia.
Qiran: The person enters into Ihram for both Umrah and Hajj, and does not go out of Ihram until the Day of Sacrifice (Eid al-Ad-ha) at Mina. In this type of Hajj, one has to stick to the restrictions of Ihram for a longer period of time.
Ifrad: The person enters into Ihram only for the Hajj and takes it off only on the Day of Sacrifice.
It should be noted that you have already performed the obligatory Umrah [other scholars view Umrah as non-obligatory], meaning that what is due on you now is only Hajj. If you do another Umrah with this Hajj, it will be a voluntary, not an obligatory one.
As for which is the best type of Hajj (Ifrad, Tamattu or Qiran), there is a difference of opinion among scholars in this regard. Some say that Tamattu and Qiran are better since they require more efforts than the Ifrad, while other scholars say that Ifrad is better since the person will be free to perform Hajj with concentration.
Nevertheless, since the Prophet (peace be upon him) was in favor of the three, all of them are virtuous and the person will be given great reward of Hajj mabrur, in sha’ Allah, once he purifies his intention and dedicates it for the Sake of Allah.
Almighty Allah knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.