Ihraam of a person who wants to visit Madeenah before going to Makkah

30-7-2010 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalam o alaikum. i am going for umrah but first i will go to Madinah, do i need to have ihram on, or go to Madinah then when coming to Makkah put on my ihram.

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

If a person comes from his country in order to perform Hajj or ‘Umrah but he will first go to Madeenah before going to Makkah, then he is not obligated to assume the state of Ihraam in the plane, rather it is permissible for him to delay assuming the state of Ihraam until he assumes it at the Meeqaat of the people of Madeenah (Thul-Hulayfah), which is called now "Abyaar ‘Ali".

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen said: “If a person comes from his country while intending to go to Madeenah first and he reaches Jeddah, and then he travels from Jeddah to Madeenah and then he comes back from Madeenah while having assumed the state of Ihraam from the Meeqaat of the people of Madeenah, then this is acceptable.”

However, if someone was to travel from Madeenah by plane to Jeddah, he is obligated to assume the state of Ihraam in the plane when he reaches the Meeqaat because assuming the state of Ihraam from the Meeqaat is one of the obligations of Hajj and ‘Umrah, and he is obligated to wear the clothes of Ihraam before boarding the plane if he knows that he cannot do this in time in the plane before the Meeqaat as the distance between the airport of Madeenah and the Meeqaat is very close especially that the plane flies at a very high speed, and it might be that it would pass the Meeqaat just few minutes after taking off.

Allaah Knows best.