Mut'ah of Hajj


The "mut'ah of Hajj" is the relaxation of the ihram between the Umrah and Hajj, including its dress code and various prohibitions.

History

When planning a pilgrimage, the participant is expected to announce their intention to do so at the start of the journey. If the pilgrimage begins with only the intention of it being a minor one and the pilgrim decides after starting it that it will be a major one, they need to go a certain distance away from Mecca, and then start a new pilgrimage, intending to do the greater one.
Muhammad decreed that Umrah and Hajj can be combined, i.e.: starting a pilgrimage with the intention of participating in both events.

Overview

There exist two forms of pilgrimage, the "minor pilgrimage " and the "major pilgrimage". The major one contains more rules, and is obligatory upon all Muslims to perform once per life. While doing a pilgrimage, whether minor or major, the Muslim needs to adhere to some very strict dress codes that also includes some other rules.
In pre-Islamic Arabia, if one would go to the minor pilgrimage a short period before the major one would commence, he was forbidden to go out of the dress code if he intended to follow it up with a Major pilgrimage.
This rule was abrogated by Muhammad, who said it was permissible to leave the state of Ihram if one intended to attend Hajj. and this relaxation became known as "joy" or more distinctly, the "joy of pilgrimage", Mut'ah of Hajj or in Arabic :Hajj al-Tamattu. This is not mentioned in the Qur'an, rather it is a part of the Sunnah.

External sources