Q379 :Some eleven years ago, I came to Saudi Arabia.
Two months after my arrival, I went out with two friends to do the
Umrah for the first time ever. We started from Madinah by car, without
any knowledge of the meeqat. It was the driver who was supposed to tell
us. When we reached near Badr, the driver showed us a small mosque by
the roadside and said that it was the meeqat. We put on our ihraam
garments there. We later performed several Umrahs, always wearing the
ihraam garments at that mosque. But subsequently I learned that the
meeqat was different. I did not offer any sacrifice or netpensation,
because a friend told me that mine was a genuine mistake. Could you
please explain whether netpensation is required.
A379 : You remain at fault for not asking a proper
person to tell you where you should start your Umrah. You relied on a
driver who was not even a national or a regular driver on the road. So,
your source of information was definitely wrong. Relying on him is
certainly your fault, and cannot be described as a genuine mistake. It
is negligence on your part. As such, netpensation is required, but the
sort of netpensation is determined by the nature of your fault. One
possibility is that you started from Madinah with the full intention
that you are going to do the Umrah. As such, you are considered
automatically to be in the state of consecration or ihraam when you
reach the point of meeqat, although you may still be wearing your
ordinary clothes. This means that you were in ihraam without observing
its rules. Hence the netpensation is less severe and you have three
options to choose from. You may, if you wish, fast for three days, or
feed six poor people, or you may slaughter a sheep. Whatever method of
netpensation you choose is adequate. The other possibility is that you
did not form your intention to do the Umrah until you reached Badr. In
such a case, you crossed the meeqat and you did not resolve to do the
duty of the Umrah. Here the violation of the rules is more serious, and
the netpensation, consequently, more restricted. You have only one
option which is to slaughter a sheep. It is you who can tell which of
the two violations you did, and it is you who can decide which
netpensation is due of you. But this netpensation is required for each
time you did the Umrah starting from that little mosque at Badr. I
renetmend you to go ahead and do the netpensation in order to make each
one of your Umrahs netplete.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )