How to perform Umrah, step by step

Umrah in five steps

1. Ihram. Enter it at the miqat with the intention, and begin the talbiyah.
2. Tawaf. Seven circuits of the Kaaba, each beginning and ending at the Black Stone.
3. Two rak’ahs behind Maqam Ibrahim, then Zamzam.
4. Sa’i. Seven laps between Safa and Marwah, beginning at Safa and ending at Marwah.
5. The hair. Shave the head or cut the hair. Ihram ends and the Umrah is complete.

Throughout this guide a filled mark shows what Umrah depends on, and an open mark shows what is sunnah.

Three pillars: the intention of ihram, tawaf, and sa’i. Without any one of them there is no Umrah.

Two obligations: entering ihram at the miqat, and shaving or cutting the hair. One left out is made good with a sacrifice.

Everything else is sunnah. Nothing is owed for leaving it.

Ihram and the miqat

The miqat is the boundary that no one intending Umrah may cross without being in ihram. Arriving by air, you cross it before you land, so be dressed and ready on the plane. Jeddah is a miqat only for the people who live there.

Before the miqat

Wash the whole body, and trim nails and hair that need it. This holds for a woman during her period too.

A man perfumes his head and beard, not the cloth. No perfume once ihram begins.

A man wears two plain wraps, one round the waist and one over the shoulders, with nothing tailored and nothing on the head. White, clean cloth and sandals are sunnah.

A woman wears her ordinary modest clothes, without a face veil or gloves.

Pray the prayer that is due. If none is due, pray two rak’ahs.

The intention (niyyah) for Umrah

Intend Umrah in your heart. With that, you are in ihram.

Say it:

By air, make the intention a little before the miqat, to be safe. If you fear illness or being stopped, add a condition as you make it: that if you are held back, you leave ihram at that place. Should it happen, you leave ihram and owe nothing.

The talbiyah

From the intention onward, say the talbiyah often. Men say it aloud. Women lower their voices when men who are not mahram are near. It ends when you reach the Kaaba and begin tawaf.

Entering al‑Masjid al‑Haram

Enter with the right foot first, with the words of entering a mosque:

Then go straight to the Kaaba. The first thing done in the mosque is tawaf.

Tawaf: seven circuits of the Kaaba

Where it begins

The Black Stone is in the corner to the left of the Kaaba’s door, set in silver. Facing it across the floor, a green light marks the same line on the mosque. Every circuit begins and ends level with the Stone.

Be in wudu.

Seven circuits, the Kaaba on your left, always outside the Hijr, the low curved wall.

A man bares his right shoulder for the whole of tawaf: the wrap passes under the right arm, with both ends over the left.

At the Black Stone

Reach the Stone only if you can without pushing. Touch it with your right hand and kiss it, or touch it and kiss your hand.

Otherwise face it from where you stand and raise your right hand toward it. That is complete, and the hand is not kissed.

As you begin, say:

On every later pass, to the end of the seventh circuit:

During the circuits

A man walks briskly, with short steps, in the first three circuits where there is room, and at a walking pace in the other four.

At the Yemeni Corner, the last corner before the Black Stone, touch it with your right hand if you can reach it, saying Bismillah, Allahu akbar. Do not kiss it. If you cannot reach it, walk on without pointing.

Between the Yemeni Corner and the Black Stone:

Everywhere else, use your own words in your own language. No du’a is set for any one circuit.

The two rak’ahs and Zamzam

A man covers both shoulders again.

On the way to Maqam Ibrahim:

Pray two rak’ahs with the Maqam between you and the Kaaba. In a crowd, pray anywhere in the mosque, clear of those making tawaf.

After al‑Fatihah, recite al‑Kafirun in the first rak’ah and al‑Ikhlas in the second.

Then drink Zamzam, if it is easy.

Sa’i: seven laps between Safa and Marwah

Sa’i begins on Safa and ends on Marwah. Safa to Marwah is one lap and Marwah back to Safa is another, so laps 1, 3, 5 and 7 end at Marwah.

As you come near Safa, this once:

Then:

On Safa, and on Marwah

Go up if you can. Face the Kaaba and raise your hands.

Say Allahu akbar three times, then these words three times, with your own du’a in between:

Between the two hills

A man runs between the two green lights. A woman walks the whole way.

As you walk, remember Allah and ask for whatever you wish. Reaching the foot of each hill is enough: covering the whole way between them is what counts.

Shaving or cutting the hair

A man shaves his head, or cuts his hair short all over. A few hairs snipped here and there do not count.

Shaving is better, unless Hajj is only days away: then cut, and keep the shaving for Hajj.

A woman gathers her hair and cuts a fingertip’s length from the ends. She does not shave.

With this the Umrah is complete, and everything ihram forbade is permitted again.

What differs for women

• She enters ihram in her ordinary modest clothes, without a face veil or gloves. Among men who are not mahram she draws her head covering across her face.
• She washes and enters ihram even during her period, and does everything except prayer and tawaf. When it ends she washes, then makes tawaf and sa’i. If it begins after her tawaf, she goes on: sa’i does not require purity.
• She lowers her voice in the talbiyah when men who are not mahram are near.
• She does not bare a shoulder, walk briskly in tawaf, or run between the green lights.
• She cuts a fingertip’s length from her hair, and does not shave.

What ihram forbids

For everyone: cutting hair or nails, perfume, gloves, proposing or contracting a marriage, intercourse and what leads to it, and hunting.

For men: clothes tailored to the body, anything worn on the head, and closed shoes or socks.

For women: the face veil.

Done from forgetting, not knowing, or being forced, there is no sin and nothing is owed. Otherwise something may be owed: ask a scholar about your own case.

Common difficulties

I cannot get near the Black Stone

You do not need to. Touching and kissing it are sunnah. From wherever you are on the line, face it, raise your right hand toward it, say Allahu akbar and walk on. Do not push or hurt anyone to reach it.

I cannot tell where the line is

Find the green light on the mosque. When you, the light and the Black Stone corner stand in one line, you are on it. Begin a few steps before it and end a few steps past it, so that nothing is missed.

I have lost count of my circuits or laps

If you are unsure between two numbers, take the lower and go on. In sa’i the hill ahead of you narrows it: laps 1, 3, 5 and 7 end at Marwah, and laps 2, 4 and 6 end at Safa.

The prayer starts while I am in tawaf or sa’i

Pray with the people where you are. Afterwards go on from the place where you stopped. What you have done still counts, and you need not return to the Black Stone.

I have lost my wudu

In tawaf: leave, renew it, and return. The safer course is to begin the seven again. In sa’i: go on. Sa’i does not require it.

I need to rest

Step out of the flow and rest a short while, then go on from where you stopped. After a long break in tawaf, begin the seven again.

I passed through the Hijr

That circuit does not count: most of the Hijr is part of the Kaaba. Walk it again, outside the low curved wall.

I cannot run, or cannot climb the hill

Walk. Running between the green lights is sunnah, only if it is easy and troubles no one. Going up Safa and Marwah is sunnah too.

My ihram cloth is in the hold

Keep your trousers on. Take off your upper garment and wrap it over your shoulders and chest, then make the intention. Change into the two wraps when you land.

I passed the miqat without ihram

Go back and enter ihram there. If you enter it where you are instead, most scholars say a sheep is owed, slaughtered in Makkah for the poor of the sanctuary.

About this guide

Made by Abu Ibraheem and Abu Abdulaziz, graduates of the Islamic University of Madinah.

The wording here follows the descriptions of Umrah given by Shaykh Ibn Baz and Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymin, and the booklet Sifat al‑‘Umrah of the Presidency of Religious Affairs at the Two Holy Mosques. The Arabic is taken from Sahih al‑Bukhari, Sahih Muslim and Sunan Abi Dawud, and from those descriptions.

It is general guidance, not a fatwa. For your own case, ask a scholar you trust.

This site counts visits without cookies. Your place and your counts stay on your own phone and are never sent anywhere.

Last updated 10 November 2026.

Print or save as PDF Back to the top