In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

Dear questioner, we appreciate your forwarding this question to us. We hope our efforts, exerted purely for Allah’s sake, come up to your expectations.

You should know that a pilgrim has three options regarding ihram for Hajj, based on the different types of Hajj. In ifrad, the first type of Hajj, he enters into ihram for Hajj and then takes it off after finishing. In tamattu`, the second type of Hajj, he can enter into ihram for `Umrah, then go out of ihram when he finishes the rituals of `Umrah and enjoy everything that was prohibited to him during ihram. Then he enters into ihram again for Hajj and takes it off when he finishes it. In qiran, the third type of Hajj, a pilgrim can enter ihram for both Hajj and `Umrah and remain in that state until he completes the rituals of both `Umrah and Hajj.

For more elaboration, we cite the following fatwa issued by the late prominent Muslim scholar, Dr. Ahmad Ash-Sharbasi, professor of `Aqeedah and Philosophy at Al-Azhar University:

There are three types of Hajj: ifrad, qiran and tamattu`. Ifrad means entering into ihram from the miqat (the fixed place for ihram) with the intention of performing Hajj alone, declaring the intention to perform Hajj and chanting Labbayk: “Labbayka Allahumma Hajjan.” In this case a pilgrim remains in a state of ihram till the end of the Hajj rituals; then he takes off his ihram and may undertake all that he was forbidden to do during ihram.

Qiran means entering into ihram from the miqat with the intention of performing Hajj and `Umrah, declaring the intention to perform Hajj and chanting Labbayk: “Labbayka Allahumma Hajjan wa `Umrah.” Then he remains in a state of ihram till the end of the Hajj rituals. In this type of Hajj, a pilgrim has to stay in a state of ihram till he finishes the rituals of both Hajj and `Umrah. It is sufficient for a pilgrim in this case to perform Tawaf and Sa`y once each for both Hajj and `Umrah, exactly like the first type.

The third type of Hajj is tamattu`. Here one has the privilege of performing both Hajj and `Umrah separately in the months of Hajj. Hence, a pilgrim enters into ihram, declaring intention to perform `Umrah alone and chanting Labbayk: “Labbayka Allahumma `Umrah.” Then he takes off ihram and enjoys everything that was prohibited to him during ihram. On the eighth day of Dhul-Hijjah, the pilgrim enters into ihram again with the intention to perform Hajj and performs Hajj. In this case, a pilgrim slaughters a sacrificial animal.