Tawaf al-'Umrah (the circumambulation of 'Umrah)
Tawaf al-'Umrah
Overview
Tawaf al-'Umrah is circling the Ka'bah seven times after entering ihram for 'Umrah. It is the first main act of 'Umrah, performed before the sa'i between Safa and Marwah.
Du'a
At the Black Stone (start of each circuit)
اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ
Allahu akbar
Allah is the greatest.
Facing or pointing to the Black Stone at the start of each of the seven circuits (touch or kiss it only if you can without harming others).
Source · Sahih al-Bukhari 1613
Grade · Sahih (Sahih al-Bukhari).
Between the Yemeni Corner and the Black Stone
رَبَّنَا آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ
Rabbana atina fi-d-dunya hasanah wa fi-l-akhirati hasanah wa qina 'adhab an-nar
Our Lord, give us good in this world and good in the Hereafter, and protect us from the punishment of the Fire.
Recited in the stretch between the Yemeni Corner and the Black Stone on each circuit. No other fixed per-circuit du'a is established — otherwise supplicate freely with any du'a.
Source · Qur'an 2:201; Sunan Abi Dawud 1892
Grade · The words are Qur'an 2:201; the report that the Prophet (ﷺ) recited them between the two corners (Sunan Abi Dawud 1892) is graded Hasan by al-Albani.
Qur'an
ثُمَّ لْيَقْضُوا۟ تَفَثَهُمْ وَلْيُوفُوا۟ نُذُورَهُمْ وَلْيَطَّوَّفُوا۟ بِٱلْبَيْتِ ٱلْعَتِيقِ'Then let them end their untidiness, fulfil their vows, and circumambulate the Ancient House.'
ثُمَّ لْيَقْضُوا۟ تَفَثَهُمْ وَلْيُوفُوا۟ نُذُورَهُمْ وَلْيَطَّوَّفُوا۟ بِٱلْبَيْتِ ٱلْعَتِيقِReferences · Qur'an 22:29 · Qur'an 2:196
Hadith
- •أَنَّ أَوَّلَ شَىْءٍ بَدَأَ بِهِ حِينَ قَدِمَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم أَنَّهُ تَوَضَّأَ ثُمَّ طَافَ بِالْبَيْتِThe first thing the Prophet (ﷺ) began with when he arrived [in Makkah] was that he performed wudu, then he circumambulated the House.Reference · Sahih al-Bukhari 1614Grade · Sahih (Sahih al-Bukhari).
- •لِتَأْخُذُوا مَنَاسِكَكُمْ'Take your rites from me' — the general instruction under which the Prophet's (ﷺ) own performance of tawaf, in both his 'Umrahs and his Hajj, is binding practice.Reference · Sahih Muslim 1297Grade · Sahih (Sahih Muslim) — 'Take your rites from me'.
- •طَافَتْ بِالْكَعْبَةِ وَالصَّفَا وَالْمَرْوَةِ ثُمَّ قَالَ قَدْ حَلَلْتِ مِنْ حَجِّكِ وَعُمْرَتِكِ جَمِيعًا'[After her menses ended] she circumambulated the Ka'bah and [ran] between al-Safa and al-Marwah; then he said: You are now released from both your Hajj and your 'Umrah.' — from the long Farewell-Hajj narration of 'Aishah (RA), which also records the Prophet (ﷺ) sending her with her brother 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr (RA) to al-Tan'im to enter ihram for a separate 'Umrah. It makes tawaf and sa'i the operative acts of an 'Umrah.Reference · Sahih Muslim 1213aGrade · Sahih — muttafaq 'alayh (al-Bukhari and Muslim); the 'Aishah (RA) Farewell-Hajj narration.
How to perform the tawaf
7 circuits · counter-clockwise
Ka'bah on your left. Hijr Isma'il — circle outside it.
Between the Yemeni Corner and the Black Stone, say 'Rabbana atina fi-d-dunya hasanah...'. The brisk pace (raml) of the first three circuits is for men, in the tawaf that is followed by sa'i.
Applies to
'Umrah — its central pillar; every 'Umrah turns on it, performed once after entering ihram for 'Umrah and before the sa'i. A pilgrim performing Hajj al-Tamattu' performs it too, as the tawaf of the separate 'Umrah he completes before his Hajj — which is why Tawaf al-Qudum does not apply to him. A Qarin, on the majority view, performs a single tawaf that counts for both his 'Umrah and his Hajj. It has no place in Hajj al-Ifrad, which involves no 'Umrah.
If missed
The 'Umrah is not valid or complete without it, and it cannot be compensated by any sacrifice (the Hanafi four-circuit nuance aside). The pilgrim remains in ihram — with every ihram prohibition still binding, including marital relations — until the tawaf is performed. There is no time limit forcing it: a person prevented from completing it (e.g. a woman whose menses began before she could perform tawaf) does not lose the 'Umrah, but remains muhrim until she performs it, or is treated under the rules of ihsar (prevention) in Q 2:196.
Related conditions & rulings
Timing & place
Not clock-bound and not season-bound: 'Umrah, and therefore its tawaf, is valid at any time of year (see 'Timing of 'Umrah'), unlike Tawaf al-Ifadah which cannot precede the standing at 'Arafah. It must come after entering ihram for the 'Umrah and before the sa'i — sa'i performed before tawaf does not count. Once performed it does not expire.
Al-Masjid al-Haram, Makkah — seven circuits around the Ka'bah, each beginning and ending at the corner of the Black Stone (al-Hajar al-Aswad), travelling anticlockwise with the Ka'bah on the pilgrim's left, and passing outside the Hijr (Hijr Isma'il), which counts as part of the House. Valid anywhere within the mosque, at any level, however far from the Ka'bah.
Common mistakes
- •Starting a circuit from somewhere other than the Black Stone line, or not completing the seventh circuit back to it.
- •Walking through the Hijr Isma'il, which voids that circuit because the Hijr is part of the House.
- •Believing one must touch or kiss the Black Stone for the tawaf to count — pointing towards it with the right hand and saying 'Allahu akbar' is sufficient, and crowding/harming others to reach it is blameworthy.
- •Reciting a fixed 'du'a for each circuit' from a booklet as though it were prescribed — no specific du'a per circuit is authentically established; only 'Rabbana atina fi'l-dunya hasanah...' between the Yemeni corner and the Black Stone is established.
- •Performing sa'i before tawaf.
- •Assuming the tawaf is invalid if wudu breaks late in it and abandoning the whole thing rather than renewing wudu and resuming per the relevant school's rules.
- •Men performing raml or idtiba' in all seven circuits rather than raml in the first three only, and idtiba' during the tawaf only (not during the prayer or sa'i).
Across the madhabs
Point of divergence: No school disputes that tawaf is a pillar of 'Umrah. The divergence is over how much of the seven circuits carries rukn status, and over the classification of the surrounding acts. The practical upshot of the Hanafi position is narrow: a pilgrim who completed four or more circuits has performed the rukn, so the 'Umrah stands and the shortfall is repaired by a dam; for the other three schools an incomplete tawaf means the 'Umrah is simply not done. All four agree the pilgrim stays in ihram until a valid tawaf (and what follows it) is completed.
- •Hanafi: Tawaf is the sole rukn of 'Umrah (ihram being a shart/precondition rather than a rukn, as in Hajj). Within the tawaf, the rukn is the greater part — four of the seven circuits (aktharu al-ashwat); the remaining three circuits are wajib, and omitting them is repaired by a dam rather than invalidating the 'Umrah. Sa'i and halq/taqsir are wajib, not arkan.
- •Maliki: Rukn. The arkan of 'Umrah are three — ihram, tawaf, and sa'i — with all seven circuits required; muwalat (continuity) between the circuits is stipulated. Halq/taqsir is wajib.
- •Shafi'i: Rukn. The arkan of 'Umrah are five — ihram, tawaf, sa'i, halq/taqsir, and tartib (performing them in order). All seven circuits are rukn; none can be made up by a dam.
- •Hanbali: Rukn. The arkan of 'Umrah are three — ihram, tawaf, and sa'i — all seven circuits required; muwalat is stipulated. Halq/taqsir is wajib.
Notes
Tawaf al-Ifadah is the pillar of Hajj, Tawaf al-Qudum the arrival tawaf of a Mufrid/Qarin, and Tawaf al-Wada' the farewell tawaf of Hajj. None of them is the tawaf of 'Umrah. Note also that the farewell tawaf is not required of one leaving Makkah after 'Umrah — the majority hold Tawaf al-Wada' obligatory only for Hajj; performing it after 'Umrah is meritorious but carries no penalty if omitted. The full conditions of validity, the sunnahs performed within the tawaf (istilam, raml and idtiba', the du'a between the two corners), and the two rak'ahs behind Maqam Ibrahim are all recorded as their own entries and apply here unchanged.