I was listening a lecture of Javed Ahmed Ghamidi sahib about the “Massail of Hajj & Umrah Q & A”.
Javed sahib mentioned that Allah (swt) ideally like Muslims to make separate journeys for Hajj & Umrah but on the occasion of Hajj, the animal sacrifice for joining the Umrah with Hajj has been allowed but there can be no more then one Umrah on a Hajj journey although people do many.
The question is:
1) On Umrah journey alone, can people perform more then one Umrahs?
Javed sahib also mentioned that the animal sacrifice is optional for both Hajj and Umrah.
If it is true then
2) Why is it that on Hajj and Umrah both occasions we are not allowed to come out of the Ihram and shave head until the animal sacrifice is performed? It sounds like that animal sacrifice is more than just optional (Nafl as Javed sahib mentioned).
Please clarify.
Answer
The fact is that the Almighty desires that we perform just one Umrah in one journey. The prophet, alaihissalam, had the opportunity of doing it when he did his Hajj, but he didn’t do so.
The condition of shaving off head after sacrifice is in case if sacrifice is to be done. If in case sacrifice is not to be done, then of course there is no need for doing so and one can get one’s head shaved off without the condition of that sacrifice. The Quran clearly tells that those who can’t afford sacrifice should fast for ten days. That means that there could be some people who would do Hajj without animal sacrifice and therefore would have their heads shaved off without that condition.