Three Days in Jeddah Before Hajj: Can I Still Enter Ihram?

31 July, 2019
Q Some people say to those who come to Jeddah for Hajj or Umrah that they should stay in Jeddah for three days, then enter ihram from there. Many people do this. Is this action valid?

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:

1- Those who come to Jeddah to perform Hajj or Umrah should enter ihram from the miqat (place at which one must enter iharm).

2- If they pass it without entering ihram, then they have to go back to it and enter ihram from there.

3- If they do not do that and they enter ihram from Jeddah, then they have to slaughter a sheep and distribute its meat to the poor in Makkah.


In this regard, Sheikh Abdul-`Aziz ibn Baz, the late Mufti of Saudi Arabia, stated: 

They have to go back to their miqat if they were coming for Hajj or Umrah. It is not permissible for them to pass the miqat without entering ihram, because when the Prophet (peace  be upon him) defined the miqat for the people of Madinah, Syria, Najd, and Yemen, etc., he said, “…These are for them [their people] and for anyone who is not of their people who come to them, wanting to do Hajj or Umrah.” (Al-Bukhari)

If they pass the miqat and do not go back, and enter ihram after that, then they have to offer a sacrifice. Similarly if they are unable to go back, they should enter ihram from the place they are in and they have to slaughter an animal that meets the conditions of sacrifice and distribute its meat among the poor in Makkah.

Almighty Allah knows best.

Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.

Source: Excerpted with modifications from: www.islamqa.info.