Fathwa - She is going to go to Jeddah and she does nothave any firm intention ...

Question:
I am currently living in Canada for the purpose of study, but my
permanent place of residence is between Jeddah and Amman. When I
stayed in Ammanduring the summer break, I decided to go toJeddah to
deal with some official papers, andI intended to do 'umrah if Allah
made that possible for me and if I had a mahram and enough time to do
'umrah. I intended to do 'umrah from Jeddah because my mahram would be
there. But because I was not certain that I would be able to do
'umrah, on the day I travelled by plane I did not do ghusl, because I
was menstruating and I had not yet decided to do 'umrah. When I got
there on the second day I did ghusl and formed the intention to do
'umrah from Jeddah, and I did it.
My questions are:
Is my ihram from the miqaat of Jeddah considered valid or not? Because
of my family circumstances, we are always moving back andforth between
Jeddah and Amman, and we always enter ihram fromour house in Jeddah,
even if we are on our way back from a trip to Amman and after
stayingin Jeddah for several days. We do not remember how many times
we have done 'umrah in this manner.
What is required of us if we should have entered ihram from the miqaat
for the people of ash-Shaam (Greater Syria)? After I did 'umrahI was
uncertain as to whether I was completely clean following my period. If
I think it most likely that I was still menstruating whilst I was
doing 'umrah, what is the ruling on my 'umrah andwhat expiation do I
haveto offer?.
Answer:
Praise be to Allah.
Firstly:
If a person passes the miqaat intending to do Hajj or 'umrah, it is
not permissible for him to pass it without entering ihram, because of
the report narrated by Ibn 'Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with him) who
said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) defined the meeqaat of the people of Madeenah as Dhu'l-Hulayfah;
that of the people of Shaam (Syria) as al-Juhfah; that of the people
of Najd as Qarn al-Manaazil; and that of the people of Yemen as
Yalamlam. And he said: "And these miqaats are for the people at those
very places, and besides them for those who come through those places,
and are not residents thereof, with the intention of performing Hajj
and 'Umrah; and whoever is living within these boundaries can enter
ihraam from the place where he lives, and the people of Makkah can
start from Makkah."
Narrated by al-Bukhaari,1526; Muslim, 1181
An-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:ash-Shaafa'i and our
companions said: If the one who has come from far away comes to the
miqaat intending to perform Hajj or 'Umrah or qiraan (i.e., both), it
isharaam for him to pass itwithout entering ihram, according to
scholarly consensus.
End quote from al-Majmoo', 7/214
But if he passed the miqaat without intending to do Hajj or 'umrah, or
he was not sure and had not yet made up his mind, then he decided to
do 'umrahafter passing the miqaat,he should enter ihram from the place
where hedecided to do 'umrah, unless he is in Makkah, in which case he
should go outside of the Haram zone then enter ihram for 'umrah from
there.
Al-Haafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) said, commenting on
the hadeeth of Ibn 'Abbaas quoted above:
From this we understandthat if a person travels without the intention
of doing Hajj or 'umrah and he passes the miqaat, then after that he
decides to do Hajj or 'umrah, he should enter ihram from the place
where he decided to do Hajj or 'umrah, and he does not have to go back
to the miqaat, because the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) said: "from the place he sets out".
End quote from Fath al-Baari
Shaykh Muhammad al-Mukhtaar ash-Shanqeeti (may Allah preserve him) said:
The second scenario: if he went to Jeddah and was hesitant, thinking:
I do not know if I will have enough time or not, then in such cases it
is permissible for him not to enter ihram at themiqaat of Madinah.
For example: there is a person who has some business to do in Jeddah
and he does not know whether he will have enough time to do 'umrah or
not. If he is not sure about the time, it is permissible for him to go
to Jeddah without ihram, and do what he needs to in Jeddah, then enter
ihram from Jeddahif he decides to go to 'umrah from there, because the
Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: "and whoever
is living within these boundaries can enter ihraam from the place he
decides (to do 'umrah)."
This applies to the one who does not have the clear intention of
performing 'umrah fromMadinah, so he is uncertain and hesitant; he
does not have to enter ihram until he is certain that he is going to
do 'umrah.
End quote from Sharh Zaad al-Mustaqni'.
Shaykh 'Abd al-'Azeez ibn 'Abdullah ibn Aal ash-Shaykh (may Allah
preserve him) was asked:
My colleagues and I were sent to Jeddah to do work for Hajj for two
months. Some of us put our ihram in our cars or suitcases, then when
we found some free time we intended to do 'Umrah and entered ihram
from Jeddah. Is this permissible, or do we have to go to the miqaat of
as-Sayl and enter ihram from there?
He replied: If you had decided to do 'umrah before travelling, and
from the time you started your journey to Jeddah your intention was to
do 'umrah, then what you have to do is enter ihram from the miqaat,
because the intention to do 'umrah had already been formed. But if the
decision to do 'umrah was not made until afteryou had settled in
Jeddah, then you should enter ihram from Jeddah.
But if your intention wasnot fixed, in the sense that you were not
sure, then this uncertainty means that you had not firmly decided to
do 'umrah. Based on that, if you made your mind up when you were
closer (to Makkah) than the miqaat, you can enter ihram from the place
where you formed your intention. And Allah knows best.
End quote from Majallat al-Buhooth al-Islamiyyah, 60/95
Secondly:
If a person passes the miqaat, intending to do Hajj or 'umrah, then he
does not enter ihram from the miqaat, he has to go back to the
miqaatthat he passed and enterihram from there. If he does not go
back, he hasto offer a sacrifice for each time that he passedit.
Shaykh Ibn Baaz (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked about a person
who was obligedto offer a sacrifice because he entered ihram from
Jeddah after passing the miqaat, and he has made this mistake several
times – what does he have to do? Should he offer one sacrifice and
will that be sufficient, or is the answer something otherthan that?
He replied: He has to offer a sacrifice for each occasion, to be
slaughtered in Makkah for the poor, if he passed the miqaat intending
to do Hajj or 'umrah, then he entered ihram from Jeddah. One seventh
of a camel or one seventh of a cow is acceptable as a sacrifice for
that. He also has to repent to Allah, may He be glorified, from that,
because it is not permissible for a Muslim to pass the miqaat,
intending to do Hajj or 'Umrah, without entering ihraam, because the
Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: "And these
miqaats are for the people at those very places, and besides them for
those who come through those places, and are not residents thereof,
with the intention of performing Hajj and 'Umrah"; and because Ibn
'Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Whoever omits a ritual
(of Hajj or 'umrah) or forgets it, let him offer a sacrifice.
End quote from Majmoo'al-Fataawa, 17/12
He has to try hard to remember how many times he has to offer
sacrifices for, until he thinks it most likely that he has discharged
his duty.
Thirdly:
If a woman sees the tuhr(signal of the end of menses) that she usually
sees at the end of her period, whether that is complete dryness or the
white discharge, whatever usually signals the end of her period, and
she purifies herself and does tawaaf (circumambulation of the Ka'bah)
and sa'i (going between as-Safa and al-Marwah), or praysand fasts,
then after thatshe becomes uncertain about the state of purity on
which she based those acts of worship, she should not pay any
attention to that uncertainty and she does not have to do anything,
because uncertainty after completing an act of worship does not have
any impact, so long as she started it when she was certain about her
situation, on the basis ofwhat she usually sees at the end of her
menses.
But if she was hasty and was not sure whether her menses had ended
before she started 'umrah, and she did not sees what she usually sees
every time her period ends, then after that she began to doubt whether
her menses hadended, as is the case in this question, then her 'umrah
is not complete, because the basic principle is that she was still
menstruating and she did not know whether her period has ended. So she
has to avoid all the things that are prohibited during ihram, the most
important of which is intercourse with her husband, because she is
still in a state of ihram until she goes back to Makkah, does tawaaf
and saa'i, and cuts her hair, then exits her ihram.
If she did any of the actions that are prohibited during ihrambefore
that, she is excused for them because she thought that her 'umrah had
ended.
Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said: With regard
to what she has done of the things that are prohibited (during ihram),
let us assume that her husband had intercourse with her, and
intercourse during ihram is the most seriousof the prohibited actions;
however there is no blame on her because she was unaware of the
ruling. Ifa person does one of theactions that are prohibited during
ihramout of ignorance or because he forgot or was forced to do it,
there is no blame on him.
End quote from Majmoo'al-Fataawa, 21/351
And Allah knows best.