RITUALS AND STAGES OF PERFORMING UMRAH

Umrah (the minor or lesser pilgrimage) is derived from word “Al Îtimar” that means “a visit”. A person, who wants to perform Umrah, enters in the state of Ihram since the Meeqat, perform Tawaf (circumambulation), and perform Saaee that is the running between mountains of Safa and Marwa and in the end the pilgrim puts off his Ihram by shaving or cutting his or her hairs. The Meeqaat is a place from where the pilgrims change their clothing and wear the garments of Ihram.
An Umrah can be done in a time of 2 till 3 hours. In the meantime, the Pilgrim wears his Ihram at Dhoû Houlayfa, a place which is 12 kilometres away from Medina.

Following are important and necessary things for performing umrah.

Ihraam:

Umrah starts when a person enters into the state of Ihram, even before entering in the sacred city Mecca. First of all, for all men it is advisable to wear two pieces of fabric for Ihram called the Izaar and the Ridaa, should be clean and preferably new, perfume his head and beard but not use perfume on his Ihram garments, this clothing of Ihram only concerns to men.  Not any other clothing is allowed to be worn in addition to this; no underwear, no shirt, no pants, no hat, no turban, etc. are to be worn. There are no specific garments or clothing designated for women, except that they are completely prohibited from wearing the Naqaab (face-veil) and hand gloves.

When arriving at the sacred mosque (Al-Masjid Al-Haraam), in Mecca a pilgrim should enter with his or her right foot in a manner expressing gratitude and humility to the blessings ALLAH Almighty, conferred upon us. If it is the time of an obligatory a person should have to pray it and if not than shall begin with Tawaf (circumambulation) of Kaaba (7 rounds around the Kaaba); a person starts from the black stone (Hajr-e-Aswad), If a pilgrim is close to Hajr-e-Aswad than he or she should kiss it and if just touch it.

TAWAAF (CIRCUMUMBULATION):

                 Tawaaf is one of the Islamic rituals of performing pilgrimage, Hajj and umrah. During the Umrah and Hajj, Muslims do tawaaf or circumambulation around the House of ALLAH that is Holy Kaaba (most sacred place in Islam) seven times, in a counter clockwise direction. The circling or tawaaf is believed to show the unity of the believers in the worship of the One ALLAH, as they all move in harmony together around the Holy Kaaba, while supplicating to ALLAH.

ZAMZAM WATER:

       After completing the Tawaf, pilgrim approaches at Maqaam Ibraaheem and there they pray two rakat nafil namaz. Then go for zamzam well to drink as much as we possible.

Saaee:

Saaee is running between the mountains of Al-Safa and Al-Marwa.

cutting or Shaving or the hairs:

Once saaee is accomplished, men can cut or shave their hairs and women should cut their hairs too in centimetres.