Umrah - A minor pilgrimage

While Haj is the pilgrimage to Makkah which is performed during a specified period of the year, Umrah is a similar pilgrimage which can be undertaken during any time of the year.

Due to no fixed timeline, Umrah is often referred as the 'minor pilgrimage' or 'lesser pilgrimage', while the Haj is called the 'major' pilgrimage. While Umrah is not considered to be compulsory in Islamic traditions, still it is recommended.

The pilgrims who decide to observe Umrah have to follow a set of rituals which symbolically are much on the lines of real life events from the lives of the prophet Abraham (Ibrahim) and his wife Hagar (Hajarah). An Umrah pilgrim has to perform a tawaf, which consists of circling the Kaaba four times at a hurried pace, followed by three times at a leisurely pace, in a counter-clockwise direction. A pilgrim observing Umrah also has to perform a sa'y, which means rapidly walking seven times back and forth between the hills of Safa and Marwah. This is a re-enactment of Hagar's frantic search for water, before the Zam Zam Well was revealed to her by Allah. This is followed by undertaking either a halq (complete shaving of the head) or taqsir (simply hair cut). These rituals finally complete the Umrah. Though it is not mandatory, but most of the Umrah pilgrims also prefer to drink water from the Well of Zam Zam.

The Umrah can be completed in one hour during the off-peak pilgrimage season. The peak times of Umrah pilgrimage are the days immediately before or after the Haj.

But Umrah does not necessarily mean that it has to be performed always separately from Haj. It can be also performed simultaneously. Umrah pilgrimage is basically of two types: Al-Umraht al-mufradah al-mustaqillah 'an al-Hajj (al-Umraht al mufradah) and al-Umraht al-mundammah ila al-Hajj (Umraht al-tammatu).

While Al-Umraht al mufradah refers to Umrah that is performed independently of Haj, Umraht al-tammatu can be performed simultaneously with Haj. Under the second type of Umrah, the rituals of the Umrah are performed first and then the Haj rituals are performed.