The Hadiths of Locational Miqats (Stated Places) for Hajj and Umrah: A Hadith-Based Objective Study

Abstract

Every Muslim (male and female) should know the Hadi (the way of doing things) of the Prophet PBUH in his arguments; in compliance with his saying "take your rituals from me", before he or she intends to make pilgrimage to the House of Allah.  Allah assured the greatness and honor of this house, and also Allah made a bastion for his house is Mecca, and made it protected, and also set the boundaries of this Haram. During this research, I have defined the term “Mawaqeet” linguistically and in terminology.  I also identified the wisdom behind it and I have also identified their most recent locations and names.  I have also collected 10 “Hadeeths” regarding this subject and studied the strange ones, outlined the narrators, identified the correct ones from the strange ones, studied it jurisprudence and wisdom, and came up with the following results:

Declaration of the sanctity of these locations was set for great wisdom and thus were not haphazardly identified. Henceforth, whoever make Ihraam for Hajj before Hajj months will not be considered as an intention for Hajj, but for a mere Umra. The majority of scholars agreed that one who intends for Hajj or Umra should not bypass the intended “Mawaqeet” with Ihraam. However, there was a difference in opinion for Mecca people for their Ihram for Hajj and Umra.  As for Hajj, their Ihram is from Mecca itself, but for Umra, they have to go to the closest Ihram boundaries (AlHel).  The masses of the predecessor and successor scholars agreed and approved this context. Another contemporary issue for investigation is whether Jeddah can be considered as a Meqaat and our reply to those who claimed so. It was declared that Jeddah cannot be considered as a Meqaat as there is no alignment with the other Mawaqeet, and the fact that people coming for Hajj and Umra perform their Ihram before then.