Book of Hajj: Farewell Tawaf, Muhassab and Departure from Makkah

1. Farewell tawaf before leaving Makkah

After completing the rites of Mina on the 12th or, if remaining longer, the 13th of Dhu al-Hijjah, a pilgrim returns toward Makkah. The text now discusses Tawaf al-Sadr, the farewell circumambulation.

Keep three subjects distinct: stopping at Muhassab, making seven circuits around the Ka'bah, and the binding nature and exception of this farewell tawaf. The text also explicitly excludes ramal during it.

2. Departure from Mina toward Makkah

فَإِذَا نَفَرَ إِلَى مَكَّةَ
Translation: When he departs for Makkah.

Nafara means to set off or depart. In this context, it is the journey back toward Makkah after completing the rites at Mina.

It is not the original departure from the miqat and does not restart ihram. The pilgrim has already performed the visitation tawaf; this passage introduces a different tawaf at the end of the Hajj journey.

3. Where farewell tawaf fits into the journey

First: visitation tawaf, followed by Mina's stoning and stay on the days of Tashriq.
Next: departure toward Makkah and the recommended stop mentioned at Muhassab.
Finally: Tawaf al-Sadr and the return home.

The passage presents the legal sequence of rites, not a requirement that every pilgrim use the same physical route or travel itinerary.

4. Stopping at Muhassab

نَزَلَ بِالْمُحَصَّبِ
Translation: He alights at Muhassab.

Muhassab is an area also referred to as al-Abtah near Makkah. It is a place on the return, not another name for a miqat, a Jamarah, or Arafat.

Alighting at this place is mentioned separately from circumambulating the Ka'bah. Therefore, the stop at Muhassab and the farewell tawaf must not be treated as one inseparable ritual.

5. Muhassab: distinguishing recommendation from obligation

Later Hanafi commentary, including Radd al-Muhtar, describes stopping at Muhassab as a Sunnah practice, even if the stop is brief. This is not the same legal classification as the following obligatory farewell tawaf.

Failure to make a stop at this site does not, by itself, mean the farewell circumambulation was omitted. Al-Quduri describes the actual tawaf in the next clause.

6. Language and syntax: bi-l-Muhassab

Nazala is a past verb from n-z-l, here meaning 'to alight'. Its implied subject is huwa, the pilgrim.

In bi-l-Muhassab, bi is a preposition and al-Muhassab is genitive. This phrase is linked to nazala, specifying the place of alighting. Muhassab is a place-name, not the name of a tawaf or a prayer.

7. Seven circuits around the House

ثُمَّ طَافَ بِالْبَيْتِ سَبْعَةَ أَشْوَاطٍ
Translation: Then he circumambulates the House seven circuits.

Thumma[ marks the next act. Al-bayt[ is the Ka'bah, while sabʿata ashwat specifically refers to seven complete circuits.

The seven circuits of this tawaf are counted separately from the seven pebbles at the Aqabah Jamarah and from the seven circuits of Tawaf al-Ziyarah. Similar numbers do not make separate rites interchangeable.

8. Counting the seven circuits correctly

One shawt is one complete circuit around the Ka'bah. Seven ashwat means seven full circuits, not seven short stretches between arbitrary points.

For example, completing six circuits and only part of the seventh is not the same as completing all seven. Consequences of an incomplete tawaf are treated separately in the law of pilgrimage violations; this lesson is establishing the prescribed count.

9. Distinguish the three Hajj tawafs

Tawaf al-Qudum: arrival tawaf; Al-Quduri calls it Sunnah and exempts Makkah residents.
Tawaf al-Ziyarah: the essential Hajj tawaf, covered earlier among the rites of Sacrifice Day.
Tawaf al-Sadr: the obligatory departure-related tawaf, with the exception stated for Makkah residents.

All are seven-circuit tawafs, but their timing, purpose and legal status differ.

10. Grammar: sabʿata ashwat

Tafa is a past verb from t-w-f, with an implied pilgrim as subject. Bi-l-bayt is the prepositional phrase defining the object of circling.

Sabʿata is the numeral in the accusative. Ashwatin is the genitive plural counted noun after a numeral in the 3–10 range. Its singular is shawt, a circuit.

11. No ramal in the farewell tawaf

لَا يَرْمُلُ فِيهَا
Translation: He does not perform ramal in these circuits.

Ramal is a particular brisk, short-stepped manner of walking for men during certain tawafs; it is not just the ordinary act of walking.

Al-Quduri explicitly says that the farewell tawaf has no ramal. The ramal previously taught for the opening three circuits of some other tawafs should not be transferred automatically to Tawaf al-Sadr.

12. Ramal is a manner, not the tawaf itself

Tawaf is the circuit around the Ka'bah. Ramal is a particular walking style in selected tawafs. Saying “no ramal” therefore does not mean “no tawaf.”

In the farewell tawaf, completing all seven circuits by ordinary walking preserves both the specified number and the prescribed manner. The absence of ramal does not reduce the number of circuits.

13. Grammar: the pronoun fiha

La negates the imperfect verb yarmulu. The attached pronoun in fiha refers to the preceding ashwat, the circuits.

Since ashwat is a nonhuman plural, Arabic can refer back to it with a feminine singular pronoun, ha. Thus the clause means “he does not perform ramal in those circuits.”

14. The name Tawaf al-Sadr

وَهَذَا طَوَافُ الصَّدَرِ
Translation: And this is Tawaf al-Sadr.

Hadha points back to the seven-circuit tawaf just described. Tawaf al-Sadr names the tawaf associated with leaving and going back home.

It is also widely called Tawaf al-Wadaʿ, the farewell tawaf. These are not two separate seven-circuit obligations; they are two names for this departure-related tawaf.

15. Why the two names refer to one rite

Sadr highlights returning or going away, while wadaʿ highlights bidding farewell. Both terms designate the same tawaf near the end of the Hajj journey.

For instance, a non-Makkan pilgrim makes one seven-circuit farewell tawaf before departing. Calling it either Tawaf al-Sadr or Tawaf al-Wadaʿ does not create another set of seven circuits.

16. Grammar: hadha tawafu al-sadr

Hadha is a demonstrative functioning as the topic. Tawafu is the nominative predicate and first element of an idafa; al-sadri is the genitive second element.

This is a nominal sentence that identifies the rite. The following sentence states its legal rank. The name of an act and its legal status are separate pieces of information.

17. Obligation and the exception for Makkah residents

هُوَ وَاجِبٌ إِلَّا عَلَى أَهْلِ مَكَّةَ
Translation: It is obligatory, except for the people of Makkah.

Wajib has a distinct technical meaning in Hanafi jurisprudence. Tawaf al-Sadr is not identical in rank to the essential Tawaf al-Ziyarah, but it is not merely an optional act either.

The phrase illa ʿala ahl Makkah exempts the people of Makkah from this obligation. Specific other legal excuses are discussed later in the text; this is the exception expressly stated here.

18. Wajib is not interchangeable with fard

In Hanafi terminology, fard and wajib are distinct categories. Tawaf al-Ziyarah is fard, while the cited passage calls Tawaf al-Sadr wajib.

Omitting a wajib is not inconsequential; its remedies are treated under separate pilgrimage-law rules. But saying that an omitted farewell tawaf automatically nullifies the entire Hajj would erase the explicit legal distinction.

19. Makkah residents and visiting pilgrims

Example 1: A visiting pilgrim from outside Makkah completes Hajj and prepares to return to their home city. Under the general rule, Tawaf al-Sadr is wajib.

Example 2: A pilgrim is one of the people of Makkah. The obligation described in this clause does not apply in the same way. Complex residence statuses and other specific excuses require fuller juristic assessment.

20. Grammar: illa ʿala ahl Makkah

Huwa is the independent-pronoun topic, and wajibun its nominative predicate. Illa introduces an exception to the rule just given.

ʿAla is a preposition, ahli its genitive complement and the first member of an idafa, and Makkata the second member. Makkah is diptote, so in this construction it is genitive with fatḥah rather than kasrah.

21. Read exceptions without losing the general rule

A complete reading must retain the general rule alongside the named exception: the farewell tawaf is binding for a visiting pilgrim, while the people of Makkah are excluded in this clause.

Al-Quduri later discusses additional excused situations involving women and the legal consequences of omitted tawaf. Those cases cannot safely be decided from this one sentence alone and belong to their own topics.

22. Returning home after the tawaf

ثُمَّ يَعُودُ إِلَى أَهْلِهِ
Translation: Then he returns to his family.

Yaʿudu means “he returns,” and ahlihi means his household or family.

The clause closes this sequence of Hajj actions: after Mina and the farewell circumambulation, the pilgrim heads home. Tawaf al-Sadr is not just another name for Tawaf al-Ziyarah already completed earlier.

23. Grammar: yaʿudu ila ahlihi

Thumma connects the next act in sequence. Yaʿudu is an imperfect third-person masculine singular verb from ʿ-w-d, with an implied subject “he.”

Ila is a preposition, and ahlihi is its genitive complement. Ahl is the construct noun, and the attached -hi is the genitive possessive pronoun referring to the pilgrim.

24. Two worked cases

Case one: A visiting pilgrim completes Mina's rites and returns to Makkah. Passing or stopping at Muhassab does not substitute for the farewell tawaf. Before going home, the pilgrim makes seven full circuits without ramal.

Case two: A pilgrim belongs to the people of Makkah. The cited text exempts this pilgrim from the farewell-tawaf obligation. That exception does not change the separate essential status of Tawaf al-Ziyarah.

25. Integrated source-based review

Sequence: return toward Makkah from Mina, a stop at Muhassab, circumambulation of the House, then the return home.
Count: seven complete circuits.
Manner: no ramal in these circuits.
Name: Tawaf al-Sadr, also known as Tawaf al-Wadaʿ.
Legal rank: wajib, except for the people of Makkah as specified here.

The next source section turns to other questions, including omission of arrival tawaf and the timing of standing at Arafat.