The hajj, or Greater Pilgrimage, to Mecca has been established as a religious duty in the Glorious Qur’an, and the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) has described it as one of the ‘pillars’ of Islam and an ‘atonement for all of one’s past sins’.  Muslims are moreover enjoined to make the umrah, or Lesser Pilgrimage, to Mecca and to visit the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) and his mosque in Medina. The present work is a comprehensive manual on how to perform these pilgrimages, in terms of both the letter and spirit of the law, according to the four Sunni schools of law—Ḥanafī, Mālikī, Shāfiʿī and Ḥanbalī—showing us the great flexibility that is characteristic of the Sacred Law of Islam.

Shaykh Nūr al-Dīn ʿItr (1937–2020), from Aleppo, Syria, was one of the leading authorities on Qur’anic and Hadith sciences. After initial studies in Syria, he undertook higher learning at Azhar University in Cairo, from which he received his BA, MA and PhD in Qur’anic and Hadith studies. For many years he served as the head of the Faculty for Qur’anic and Hadith Sciences and as a professor at the University of Damascus and other Islamic institutes both in Syria and in other Arab countries, as well as authoring and editing numerous scholarly works and journals.

The book comes together with a comprehensive Hajj dua handbook, titled ‘The Pilgrim’s Companion’, as shrink-wrapped pack.