What Is Umrah ?
Performing Tawaf coupled with Sayee or Sayi separately or as a part of Hajj is called Umrah. Wearing Ihram is a must for Umrah. Ihram must be worn at Miqat or the boundary line which is different for people coming from different parts of the world. Those who want to perform Umrah could be differentiated into three types namely foreigners, residents of Makkah and the residents of the place between Haram and the Miqat border at Hillu. The foreigners should wear Ihram at their designated Miqat while the other two types could wear Ihram at their own places.
Umrah is based on four important deeds namely Ihram, Tawaf, Sayi and clipping the hair. Those who are performing Hajj e Tamattu, clip their hair after Ihram and those who perform Hajj e Qiran and Hajj e Ifrah would not clip their hair. Let us see how to perform Umrah in detail.
As soon as the Haji reaches Makkah, he may take bath and proceed to Haram. At Masjid Al Haram, he starts doing Tawaf. Before doing Tawaf, he stops reciting Talbiya as saying Labbaik ends here. He starts his Tawaf with Isthilam and continues until he completes his seventh round and prays there near Makame Ibrahim. All about Tawaf are explained here in detail.
Safa was a small hillock in olden times and now there is only some remnants of it and the other parts are floored well with marbles for the facility of Hajis. Marwa is located approximately half a kilometer from Safa and Marwa is also a comparatively smaller hillock. Both Safa and Marwa are located within the complex of Masjid Al Haram.
Hajis should start their Umrah at Safa and end at Safa. There is separate pathways for going and coming back and separate pathway for wheel chairs. So Sayi could be done without congestion. Standing at Safa, the pilgrim should recite Taqbir three times and then start his Sayi. He must walk his way to Marwa. On the way, there is a green light signal for a short distance. When crossing that place only men should run a little fast. Ladies need not run. After crossing the signal, they should start walking as usual.
Once the pilgrim reaches Marwa, he again turns to walk towards Safa and again from Safa to Marwa. This continues seven times and ends with Safa. By the time the pilgrim completes his Sayi, he would have walked approximately 3.5 km in total excluding Tawaf.
After completing Sayi, men should shave completely or clip one fourth of their hair and women should cut one inch of her hair at the end. Here Umrah ends and they could then perform all regular tasks as usual removing the Ihram dress. However those who perform Hajj e Qiran and Hajj e Ifrad would not clip their hairs and would continue in the same Ihram until Hajj days and complete both Hajj and Umrah in the same Ihram.
Source By : www.whatishaj.com