All you need to know about Hajj and Umrah - Editions Tawbah

It's easy to travel to Mecca and back, but it's far more difficult to perform the pilgrimage properly.

A successful pilgrimage and omra

This is because the Prophet (SallaLah wa 3layihi wa salam) said: "Deeds are only as good as their intentions, and each person is only as good as he or she has willed." Therefore, one only obtains from one's pilgrimage what one has sought there.

The Prophet said, "He who performs the pilgrimage for Allah without having any carnal intercourse and without committing any disobedience (to Allah) returns from it as on the day his mother gave birth to him."

But it is clear that the apparent performance of the rites, even if correct, is very far from sufficient and is not what is really required. This is why the rewards of pilgrimage are so great: it demands a considerable amount of effort, physical indeed, but above all spiritual.

Pilgrimage is above all a journey of the heart, of the soul, of which the body is but the mount. This is the main difficulty of the pilgrimage as it is performed today, for if we are not careful, and if we do not remain attentive at every moment, we very quickly fall into simple travel, or even tourism; may Allah preserve us from it.

This book is therefore intended as a practical guide, setting out in simple terms the rites, theihram, the rules, the prohibitions, the permissions, the derogations, while also giving access to the wisdoms and origins of the rites, and showing things as they are today, so that the pilgrim can take full advantage of his pilgrimage. This is because there is a difference between theory and practice, what is set out in books and what can be experienced, so that the pilgrim can become disorientated and miss the essential.

Excerpt from the book:

"THE SACRED PLACES OF PILGRIMAGE AND UMRA

Allah has therefore established spatial and temporal landmarks.

Concerning the temporal landmarks of the pilgrimage, they are mentioned in the Word of Allah:

(The pilgrimage takes place in known months. For the one who imposes it on himself during this period [en se sacralisant], no carnal relations, no disobedience [à Allah], no quarrels during the pilgrimage)

These months are: shawwâl, dhû-l-qi'dah, and the first ten days of the month of dhû-l-hijjah. It is therefore possible to make oneself sacred for the pilgrimage throughout this period. As for those who make themselves sacred for the pilgrimage before that, during the month of Ramadan or Rajah for example, their sacralization will not be valid for the pilgrimage.

As for the umra, it can be performed throughout the year, and one can put oneself in a state of sacralization to perform it whenever one wishes.

The reward of umra performed during the month of Ramadan is granted to those who make themselves holy during the month. Thus, one who enters a state of sacralization in the last hours of the month of Sha'ban, then sees the sun set, thus entering the month of Ramadan, and then performs his'umra, will not obtain the reward of umra during the month of Ramadan, as he became sacralized before the month entered.'

As for the spatial landmarks, there are five of them, and they were set by the Prophet (PBUH), as reported by Ibn Oc 'Abbâs (may Allah be pleased with him) "The Prophet (PBUH) determinedDhû-l-Hulayfah for the people of Medina, AI- Juhfah for those of the Shâm, Qarn Al-Manâzil for those of the Najd, and Yalamlam for those of the Yemen, as places of sacralization. These places are for them and all those who pass through them, among those who wish to perform the pilgrimage and umra. Those who live below [de ces lieux] will begin at the place where they are, so the inhabitants of Mecca begin from Mecca." And in the hadith of Jâbir, it says: "The Prophet (Peace and Salvation upon Him) determined as the place of sacralization for the people of Iraq Dhât'Irq."

It is not a condition to be sacralized precisely in these places, but one can be sacralized in these places or all the surrounding places.

Anyone who passes these places in the direction of Mecca, with the intention of performing the pilgrimage or the umra, must be in a state of sacralization, whether one passes there by land or by air. "

"SHAVING OR CUTTING HAIR FOR THE UMRA

After completing the last circuit of the sa'y at Mount Marwa, we act as follows:

Shave your head or cut your hair. Shaving is better, except if the time for completing the pilgrimage is near, in which case cutting the hair is better, in order to shave for the pilgrimage. This is how the Companions acted during the Farewell Pilgrimage, at the behest of the Prophet (PBUH)

It is necessary to cut the hair on the whole head, and cutting just one part is not sufficient, nor is shaving just one part.

It is only lawful for a woman to cut her hair, so she cuts one phalanx or less from each braid [ou en rassemblant ses cheveux], but no more.

When the pilgrim has performed what has been mentioned, he has completed his umra, and is again permitted everything that the state of sacralization forbade him, unless he has brought with him a beast to sacrifice, in which case he remains in the state of sacralization, until he desacralizes himself jointly for the pilgrimage and the umra."