Umrah Guide

What is Umrah?

Umrah is a visit to the Ka'bah in Makkah to worship Allah. It is sometimes called the lesser pilgrimage. Unlike Hajj, it can be done at any time of the year, and it only takes a few hours.

It has four parts: entering ihram, tawaf around the Ka'bah, sa'i between Safa and Marwah, and shaving or shortening the hair. This guide walks you through each one in order.

"(The performance of) Umrah is an expiation for the sins committed between it and the previous one."

Sahih al-Bukhari 1773

Get your heart ready

• Make your intention only for Allah, not for photos or to be seen.
• Make tawbah, and ask forgiveness from anyone you have wronged.
• Pay back any debts you can, or write them down and tell your family.
• Learn the steps before you travel, so you can focus on worship when you are there.
• Write a list of the duas you want to make, for yourself and for the people who asked you.

Practical things

• Check the current visa and permit rules for your country before booking. They change often.
• Download the Nusuk app. It is used to book a visit to the Rawdah in Madinah and for some permits.
• Women: ask a scholar you trust about travelling with a mahram, as the rules for your situation matter.
• Agree on a meeting point with your group inside each masjid, such as a gate number, in case you get separated.
• Keep your hotel's name and address card on you at all times.

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The miqat

A miqat is a boundary point around Makkah. If you are coming for Umrah, you must enter ihram before you pass it. The Prophet ﷺ set these points for the people coming from each direction.

• Dhul-Hulayfah (Abyar Ali): for people coming from Madinah
• Al-Juhfah (people use Rabigh today): for people coming from the direction of Syria, Egypt and the west
• Qarn al-Manazil (as-Sayl al-Kabir): for people coming from Najd and the east
• Yalamlam: for people coming from Yemen and the south
• Dhat 'Irq: for people coming from Iraq

Sahih al-Bukhari 1524 and 1531

If you are flying

Planes pass over the miqat before they land in Jeddah, so you cannot wait until you arrive. Get ready at home or at the airport, wear your ihram clothes on the plane, and make your intention when the crew announces the miqat or a little before it.

If you are flying to Madinah first, you do not need ihram on the plane. You enter ihram at Dhul-Hulayfah when you travel from Madinah to Makkah.

If you are already in Makkah, for example for a second Umrah, go outside the boundary of the Haram to enter ihram. Most people go to Masjid Aisha at at-Tan'im, as the Prophet ﷺ sent Aisha there.

Sahih al-Bukhari 1784

Get ready

• Trim your nails and remove unwanted hair before ihram, as you cannot do this once you are in ihram.
• Have a ghusl (a full bath). The Prophet ﷺ had a ghusl for ihram (Jami at-Tirmidhi 830).
• Men may put perfume on the body, not on the ihram clothes. Aisha perfumed the Prophet ﷺ before his ihram (Sahih al-Bukhari 1539).
• Women on their period, or after giving birth, still have a ghusl and enter ihram. The Prophet ﷺ told Asma bint Umays to do this (Sahih Muslim 1209).

What to wear

Men wear two plain sheets, usually white: one wrapped around the waist (the izar) and one over the shoulders (the rida). No stitched clothes shaped to the body, like shirts or trousers, no head covering, and sandals that leave the top of the foot open.

Women wear their normal modest clothes in any colour. There is no special ihram outfit for women. They must not wear a niqab or gloves while in ihram.

Sahih al-Bukhari 1542 and 1838

The intention

The Prophet ﷺ entered ihram after a prayer (Sahih Muslim 1243). If it is time for a fard prayer, enter ihram after you pray it. Scholars differ on praying two extra rak'ah just for ihram.

Then make the intention in your heart for Umrah and say:

If you are worried that something like illness may stop you finishing, you can add this condition. Then if you are stopped, you can leave ihram without anything due:

The talbiyah

From now on, say the talbiyah often. Men say it aloud and women say it quietly. Keep saying it until you begin tawaf.

Not allowed in ihram

• Men: clothes stitched to the shape of the body, and covering the head.
• Women: a niqab or gloves.
• Everyone: perfume, cutting hair or nails, hunting, getting married or arranging a marriage, and intimacy between husband and wife.
• Arguing, swearing and sin, which are always wrong but even more so now (al-Baqarah 2:197).

If you do one of these by mistake or because you did not know, there is no sin. If it was on purpose, there may be something to pay or do, so ask a scholar. Showering, changing into clean ihram clothes, a money belt, glasses and a watch are fine according to most scholars.

Sahih al-Bukhari 1542 and 1838, Sahih Muslim 1409

Entering the masjid

Rest and drop your bags at the hotel first if you need to. Make wudu, as you need it for tawaf. Keep your shoes in a small bag with you. Enter the masjid with your right foot and say:

When you see the Ka'bah

Take a moment. There is no fixed dua for seeing the Ka'bah in the authentic hadith, so ask Allah for whatever is in your heart, in your own words.

You do not need to pray two rak'ah to greet the masjid before an Umrah tawaf, because the tawaf takes its place. If the iqamah is called, join the prayer first.

Before you start

• Make sure you have wudu.
• Stop saying the talbiyah.
• Men: uncover the right shoulder by passing the top sheet under the right arm and over the left shoulder. This is called idtiba', and it is only for this tawaf (Sunan Abi Dawud 1883).

Start at the Black Stone

Go to the corner with the Black Stone (al-Hajar al-Aswad). A green light on the wall of the masjid opposite marks the line. Face the stone, and if it is easy, touch it with your right hand and kiss it. If it is crowded, which it usually is, just point at it with your right hand from where you are and say:

Never push or hurt anyone to reach the stone. Touching it is sunnah, but harming people is haram.

Go around seven times

Walk with the Ka'bah on your left. Each round goes from the Black Stone all the way round and back to it. Point and say Allahu akbar every time you pass it.

Men walk quickly with short steps (raml) in the first three rounds if they can, and walk normally in the last four (Sahih Muslim 1218).

Go around the outside of the low curved wall (Hijr Isma'il), as it is part of the Ka'bah (Sahih Muslim 1333).

The Yemeni corner

The corner just before the Black Stone is the Yemeni corner (ar-Rukn al-Yamani). Touch it with your right hand if it is easy, but do not kiss it. If you cannot reach it, just carry on without pointing (Sahih al-Bukhari 1609). Between it and the Black Stone, say:

What to say in tawaf

Apart from the takbir and the dua above, there are no fixed duas for each round. Make dua in your own language, say dhikr, or recite Qur'an. This is your time with Allah, so ask for everything you need.

• Lost count? Go with the number you are sure of, which is the lower one.
• If the iqamah is called, pray with everyone, then carry on from where you stopped.
• Men: after the seventh round, cover your right shoulder again.

Pray behind Maqam Ibrahim

Walk towards Maqam Ibrahim, the small gold and glass structure near the Ka'bah, and recite:

Pray two short rak'ah behind it if there is space. Recite Surah al-Kafirun in the first and Surah al-Ikhlas in the second, as the Prophet ﷺ did (Sahih Muslim 1218). If it is crowded, pray anywhere in the masjid. Do not pray in the path of people doing tawaf.

Drink Zamzam

Drink Zamzam water and make dua. It is found all over the masjid in coolers. The Prophet ﷺ said about it: "It is blessed, and it is food that satisfies." (Sahih Muslim 2473)

If it is easy, go back and touch the Black Stone before heading to Safa, as the Prophet ﷺ did (Sahih Muslim 1218). If not, go straight to Safa.

Begin at Safa

Follow the signs to Safa. As you get close to it at the start of your first lap, recite:

You only say these two at the start of the first lap, not every time.

On Safa

Go up Safa until you can see the Ka'bah if possible, face it, raise your hands and say Allahu akbar, then:

Say this three times, and make your own dua in between.

Walk to Marwah and back

Walk towards Marwah. Between the two green lights, men run at a steady pace and women walk normally (Sahih Muslim 1218). When you reach Marwah, go up, face the Ka'bah and do what you did on Safa.

Safa to Marwah is one lap. Marwah back to Safa is the second. You finish the seventh lap at Marwah.

• There are no fixed duas for each lap. Make dua, dhikr and read Qur'an.
• Wudu is best for sa'i, but it is not a condition.
• You can use the upper floors, or a wheelchair or a cart if you need to.

Men

Shave the whole head, which is best, or shorten the hair from all over the head. The Prophet ﷺ made dua for those who shave three times, and then for those who shorten (Sahih al-Bukhari 1727). There are many barbers just outside the masjid.

"...with your heads shaved and hair shortened, not fearing..."

Al-Fath 48:27

Women

Women do not shave. Gather your hair and cut about a fingertip's length from the ends. Do this in private, at the hotel, or with another woman or your mahram helping you.

Sunan Abi Dawud 1984

Your Umrah is complete

Alhamdulillah. You are out of ihram, and everything that was not allowed is allowed again. Thank Allah, make lots of dua, and ask Him to accept it from you.

Periods

A woman on her period can still enter ihram and do everything except tawaf. She waits until her period ends, has a ghusl, and then does her tawaf and the rest of the Umrah. The Prophet ﷺ told Aisha: "Do everything the pilgrims do, except tawaf around the House until you are pure." (Sahih al-Bukhari 305)

If her period starts after she has finished tawaf, she can carry on with sa'i and finish her Umrah.

Other things

• Wear any modest clothes, in any colour.
• No niqab or gloves while in ihram.
• Say the talbiyah quietly.
• Walk normally in tawaf and between the green lights in sa'i.
• Cut a fingertip's length of hair to finish.

Masjid an-Nabawi

Travel with the intention of praying in the Prophet's ﷺ masjid. He said a prayer there is better than a thousand prayers anywhere else, except Masjid al-Haram (Sahih al-Bukhari 1190).

Go to his grave and say salam to him: "Assalamu 'alayka ya Rasulallah." Then say salam to Abu Bakr and Umar, who are buried next to him. Make dua facing the qiblah, not the grave.

The Rawdah

The area between his house and his minbar is the Rawdah. He said: "Between my house and my minbar is a garden from the gardens of Paradise." (Sahih al-Bukhari 1196) You need to book a time in the Nusuk app to pray there.

Masjid Quba

The first masjid built in Islam. The Prophet ﷺ used to visit it every Saturday, walking or riding, and pray two rak'ah there (Sahih al-Bukhari 1193). Make wudu at your hotel and go to pray there.

Mistakes people often make

• Passing the miqat without entering ihram. If this happens, go back to the miqat, or ask a scholar what is due.
• Thinking the ihram clothes themselves are ihram. Ihram is the intention. The clothes come before it.
• Leaving the right shoulder uncovered the whole time. It is only uncovered during the first tawaf.
• Reading special duas from a little book for each round of tawaf or lap of sa'i. There are no fixed duas for each one, so speak to Allah in your own words.
• Pushing and hurting people to touch or kiss the Black Stone.
• Walking through Hijr Isma'il during tawaf. It is part of the Ka'bah, so go around it.
• Starting tawaf before the Black Stone line, or sa'i at Marwah instead of Safa.
• Praying two rak'ah right behind Maqam Ibrahim when it is packed, in the way of people doing tawaf.
• Men cutting just a few hairs instead of shortening from all over the head.
• Spending the trip on the phone and taking photos, instead of worshipping.

A note on differences

The four schools of thought agree on most of Umrah, but differ on some details. This guide follows the Qur'an and authentic hadith. If you follow a madhab or have a question about your situation, ask a scholar you trust before you travel.