Raml and Idtiba' in Tawaf (brisk stepping in the first three circuits, and baring the right shoulder)
Al-Raml wa al-Idtiba' fi al-Tawaf
Overview
These are two sunnahs for men in the tawaf that is followed by sa'i: raml, walking briskly with short, quick steps in the first three circuits, and idtiba', baring the right shoulder by passing the ihram cloth under the right arm.
Qur'an
No ayah of the Qur'an is cited for this act — the evidence for it is from the Sunnah. See the Hadith below.
Hadith
- •قَدِمَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم وَأَصْحَابُهُ فَقَالَ الْمُشْرِكُونَ إِنَّهُ يَقْدَمُ عَلَيْكُمْ قَوْمٌ قَدْ وَهَنَتْهُمْ حُمَّى يَثْرِبَ فَأَمَرَهُمُ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم أَنْ يَرْمُلُوا الأَشْوَاطَ الثَّلاَثَةَ وَأَنْ يَمْشُوا مَا بَيْنَ الرُّكْنَيْنِThe Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and his Companions arrived [in Makkah for the 'Umrah of al-Qada'], and the idolaters said: 'A people are coming to you whom the fever of Yathrib has weakened.' So the Prophet (ﷺ) ordered them to walk briskly (raml) in three circuits and to walk [normally] between the two corners — he did not order raml in all the circuits, out of consideration for them.Reference · Sahih al-Bukhari 1602Grade · Sahih — muttafaq 'alayh (in al-Bukhari, also in Muslim); the reason-report for raml.
- •أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم طَافَ بِالْبَيْتِ مُضْطَبِعًا بِبُرْدٍ أَخْضَرَThe Prophet (ﷺ) circumambulated the House performing idtiba', wearing a green Yemeni mantle [under his right armpit with the ends over his left shoulder].Reference · Sunan Abi Dawud 1883Grade · Sahih li-ghayrihi — the idtiba' hadith of Ya'la ibn Umayyah (RA); al-Albani: sahih, at-Tirmidhi: hasan sahih (also Ibn Majah, Ahmad). A minority discuss the chain.
- •أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم كَانَ إِذَا طَافَ بِالْبَيْتِ الطَّوَافَ الأَوَّلَ خَبَّ ثَلاَثًا وَمَشَى أَرْبَعًاWhen the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) performed the first tawaf of the House he moved swiftly (khabb, i.e. raml) in three circuits and walked in four — establishing that raml belongs to the first tawaf a pilgrim performs, the one followed by sa'i.Reference · Sahih Muslim 1264Grade · Sahih (Sahih Muslim) — raml three, walk four.
Applies to
'Umrah — in tawaf al-'Umrah, for men, which is where most pilgrims will meet these two acts. In Hajj: a Mufrid or Qarin performs them in Tawaf al-Qudum; a Mutamatti' performs them in the tawaf of his 'Umrah (which serves as his arrival tawaf), not again in Tawaf al-Ifadah. A pilgrim who performs no sa'i after his arrival tawaf may carry raml and idtiba' instead to the later tawaf that does precede his sa'i.
If missed
No penalty on any school — the tawaf is fully valid without either act, and no dam, fidyah or repetition is due. Missing raml in one circuit is not made up by doing it in a later one. The only consequence is a lost merit. Idtiba' held outside its place — during the sa'i, or while in ihram generally when not performing that tawaf — is contrary to the sunnah rather than sinful, and is corrected by simply re-covering the shoulder. Holding it through the two rak'ahs of tawaf is the one case where more than a lost sunnah is at stake, and the schools differ on it. A man's 'awrah is from the navel to the knee, so the shoulders are not part of it: on that basis the majority (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i) read the Prophet's (ﷺ) words 'None of you should pray in a single garment with nothing on his shoulders' (Sahih al-Bukhari 359, Sahih Muslim 516) as a recommendation — the prayer is valid, though praying with a shoulder bare is disliked. The Hanbali school reads the same hadith as a requirement of the obligatory prayer, which is not valid without it, while permitting a bare shoulder in a voluntary prayer (Ibn Qudamah, al-Mughni). So the agreed course is to end idtiba' before the two rak'ahs and pray with both shoulders covered: the sunnah on every school, and on the Hanbali reading a requirement wherever the prayer is an obligatory one.
Related conditions & rulings
Timing & place
Not clock-bound. Both acts belong to a single tawaf: the first tawaf the pilgrim performs on arriving, i.e. the one that will be followed by sa'i. Raml occupies the first three circuits only; idtiba' runs for that whole tawaf and is ended before the two rak'ahs of tawaf. Neither is performed in Tawaf al-Ifadah by a pilgrim who already performed them in an earlier tawaf, nor in Tawaf al-Wada'.
Masjid al-Haram, within the tawaf around the Ka'bah. Raml covers each circuit from the Black Stone round to the Yemeni corner and on to the Black Stone again; the phrase 'and walk between the two corners' in the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas (RA) refers to the stretch between the Yemeni corner and the Black Stone, where the Companions walked normally in the year of al-Hudaybiyah because the idolaters could not see them there — a detail of that occasion, not a standing exception, since the Prophet (ﷺ) later performed raml through the whole circuit in the Farewell Hajj.
Raml vs Sa'i jogging
Raml and the sa'i jog are two different sunnahs in two different rites, and pilgrims often mix them up. Raml is in the tawaf, around the Ka'bah: men take short, quick, brisk steps — chest out, shoulders moving — in the first three of the seven circuits only, walking normally for the last four. The sa'i jog (harwalah) is in the sa'i, between al-Safa and al-Marwah: men break into a light jog only within the green-lit stretch, on each of the seven trips, walking normally before and after it. Both are for men only; women keep a calm, normal pace throughout both rites.
Common mistakes
- •Performing raml in all seven circuits instead of the first three.
- •Running rather than stepping briskly — raml is quick short steps, not a jog, and running endangers others in a crowd.
- •Holding idtiba' outside its tawaf: during the two rak'ahs behind Maqam Ibrahim, during the sa'i, or throughout the whole stay in ihram. Idtiba' is for the tawaf that carries it, and the shoulder is re-covered for prayer.
- •Performing either act in Tawaf al-Ifadah or Tawaf al-Wada' when they were already performed in the arrival tawaf.
- •Women performing them.
- •Forcing raml through dense crowds and pushing others — the excuse of crowding is recognised, and harming a Muslim to catch a sunnah inverts the priority.
- •Believing an omission requires a dam; it requires nothing.
Across the madhabs
Point of divergence: All four schools recommend raml. Idtiba' is agreed by three; a Maliki position is reported not to treat it as recommended. The schools also differ slightly on which tawaf carries them and whether a missed raml is made up. The consequential agreement is negative: on no school is either act obligatory, and on no school does omitting them require anything. Crowding is a recognised excuse — a man unable to perform raml because of the density of people simply walks, and the sunnah is not held against him.
- •Hanafi: Both are sunnah for men, in the tawaf followed by sa'i. Omitting raml is disliked but carries no dam. Raml is not performed in a tawaf with no sa'i after it.
- •Maliki: Raml is sunnah for men in the first three circuits of the arrival tawaf. Idtiba' is reported not to be regarded as a recommended act in this school.
- •Shafi'i: Both are sunnah for men. Idtiba' is held for the whole tawaf, not only the first three circuits, and is dropped for the two rak'ahs of tawaf (the shoulder is re-covered for prayer). Raml is not made up if missed.
- •Hanbali: Both are sunnah for men, in the tawaf followed by sa'i. If raml is missed in a circuit it is not repeated in the remaining ones.
Notes
'Umar ibn al-Khattab (RA) is reported to have said of raml, 'Why should we walk briskly now? Allah has established Islam and driven out disbelief' — and then added that he would not abandon anything the Prophet (ﷺ) did. That is the classical reasoning for why an act whose original cause has passed is still performed.