How to perform Umrah step by step

Before you travel

The Nusuk permit

Add every family member when you book. Only one active Umrah permit is allowed per person at a time, so a second Umrah needs a new permit once the first one has expired (Ministry of Hajj and Umrah FAQ). Check in the app whether your youngest children need a permit of their own before you set a slot. Our Nusuk app guide has the steps.

We don't issue visas and can't promise one. The Saudi authorities decide. We make the hotel and transport bookings the application needs and help you through it.

Get ready at home

Learn the talbiyah, "Allahu akbar" for the Black Stone and Rabbana atina. Tawaf and sa'i add up to several kilometres, so walk a little more each day for a few weeks. The packing list is in ihram rules.

Step 1: Ihram and the miqat

From the intention until the haircut, perfume, removing hair, cutting nails and marital relations are forbidden, and for men, fitted clothes and covering the head (IslamQA 11356). The full list is on ihram rules.

Getting ready

1. Take a bath (ghusl), clip your nails and remove unwanted hair. The SeekersGuidance (Hanafi) answer on ihram lists these as recommended.
2. Men may put perfume on the body before the intention. Aisha said she used to perfume the Prophet ﷺ for his ihram (Sahih al-Bukhari 1539).
3. Men put on the two sheets: one around the waist (izar), one over the shoulders (rida). Women wear any modest clothes, with no niqab or gloves (Sahih al-Bukhari 1838).
4. Pray two rak'ahs if it is not a disliked time. The SeekersGuidance answer counts these among the Sunnahs of ihram.

The miqat

The miqat is the boundary you must not cross on your way to Makkah without being in ihram (Sahih al-Bukhari 1524). Flying to Jeddah, you cross it in the air, so you enter ihram before you board or on the plane. Flying to Madinah first, you enter it when you leave Madinah for Makkah. Routes, announcements and the Jeddah question are in our miqat on flights guide.

Step 2: The intention and the talbiyah

Before the miqat, make the intention for Umrah in your heart. IslamQA (answer 109179) gives the words people say as "Labbayka 'umratan (here I am for 'Umrah)". Then begin the talbiyah:

Labbayk-Allāhumma labbayk, labbayka lā sharīka laka labbayk, inna ‘l-ḥamda, wanni`mata, laka wa ‘l-mulk, lā sharīka lak. (Hisn al-Muslim 233; Sahih al-Bukhari 1549; Sahih Muslim 1184.)

In the Hanafi school the talbiyah, said with the intention, is what puts you in ihram (SeekersGuidance). Men say it aloud; IslamQA (answer 36619) says women say it quietly. Keep repeating it on the way to Makkah and stop when you begin tawaf (Jami' at-Tirmidhi 919).

Step 3: Arriving in Makkah and entering the Haram

Most families check in, rest and eat first. The cost is a longer time in ihram, and a slot booked for the night you land may pass while you sleep. If you land in the small hours with young children, a next-morning slot is usually kinder than tawaf at 3 am. Our Jeddah airport to Makkah guide covers the drive.

Make wudu at the hotel. In the Hanafi school wudu is wajib for tawaf, so a tawaf without it counts but must be repeated or a dam is due (Darul Ifta Birmingham). Malik, al-Shafi'i and Ahmad hold that it is a condition, so tawaf without it does not count (IslamQA 34695). Either way, have wudu.

Enter with your right foot and say "Allāhummaftaḥ lī 'abwāba raḥmatik" (O Allah, open before me the doors of Your mercy), from Sahih Muslim 713 and Hisn al-Muslim 20.

Agree a meeting point before you go in, such as a numbered outer gate you can all find again, and don't change it during the trip. Children should carry a card with your phone number and hotel name.

Which floor for tawaf

On 10/03/2026 the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah said the ground floor of the mataf, the open area around the Kaaba, is for people performing Umrah only, with tawaf also allowed on the upper floors within capacity.

Step 4: Tawaf, seven rounds around the Kaaba

Before the first round (men only)

Men uncover the right shoulder by passing the upper sheet under the right arm and over the left shoulder. This is idtiba: the Prophet ﷺ went round the House with his mantle under his right armpit and its end over his left shoulder (Sunan Abi Dawud 1883, hasan per al-Albani). IslamQA (answer 154979) describes it for the duration of the tawaf.

Start at the Black Stone

1. Stand in line with the Black Stone corner and make the intention for tawaf in your heart.
2. Raise your right hand towards it and say "Allahu akbar" (Sahih al-Bukhari 1613). Touch or kiss it only if you can without pushing anyone; pointing is enough.
3. Turn so the Kaaba is on your left and start walking (IslamQA 154979).

During the rounds

• Walk outside the low curved wall, the Hijr Ismail (Hatim). It is part of the House (Sahih al-Bukhari 1584). The Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali schools say a round walked inside it does not count (IslamQA 46597); a Hanafi answer says the tawaf must be repeated or a dam is due.
• Men walk briskly in the first three rounds (raml) and normally in the last four (Sahih Muslim 1218). Women don't trot (IslamQA 109286). Skip raml if the crowd makes it impossible.
• At the Yemeni Corner, the corner before the Black Stone, touch it if you can reach it easily (IslamQA 154979); otherwise walk on.
• From the Yemeni Corner to the Black Stone, recite Rabbana atina (Qur'an 2:201; Sunan Abi Dawud 1892).
• Each time you reach the Black Stone, raise your hand and say "Allahu akbar". That ends a round.
• For the rest, make any dua or dhikr you like. No dua is fixed for each round (IslamQA 109246).

Counting, and stopping

A tasbeeh counter helps. IslamQA (answer 171308) reports that if you are unsure during tawaf whether you did six or seven, you go by the number you are sure of, the lower one, and do one more. Doubt that comes after you have finished doesn't count.

If the prayer starts, join it where you are. Ibn Uthaymeen held that you then carry on from where you stopped, though the well-known view in his school is to restart that round (IslamQA 143261). If you lose wudu, the Hanafis and Shafi'is say go out, renew it and carry on, while the Malikis and Hanbalis say start the tawaf again (IslamQA 145246). Follow your own school, or ask a scholar you trust.

Step 5: Two rak'ahs after tawaf

Cover your right shoulder. Walk towards Maqam Ibrahim; the Prophet ﷺ recited "And take, [O believers], from the standing place of Abraham a place of prayer" (Qur'an 2:125) as he went (Sahih Muslim 1218). Pray two rak'ahs behind the Maqam if there is room, or anywhere in the mosque when it is crowded, never in the path of people doing tawaf. He recited Surah al-Kafirun and Surah al-Ikhlas in them (Sahih Muslim 1218).

Step 6: Drink Zamzam

Zamzam coolers stand all through the mosque. Drink with an intention and make your own dua (Sunan Ibn Majah 3062). In the same account of his Hajj, the Prophet ﷺ went back to the Black Stone corner and touched it before going out to Safa (Sahih Muslim 1218). Skip that when it is crowded.

Step 7: Sa'i between Safa and Marwah

The sa'i area (al-Mas'a) has several floors. Sa'i does not require wudu according to all four schools, though it is better to have it (IslamQA 34695).

1. As you approach Safa the first time, recite "Innaṣ-Ṣafā wa 'l-Marwata min sha`ā'irillāh" (Qur'an 2:158) and say "Abda'u bimā bada'allāhu bih" (I begin by that which Allah began), as in Hisn al-Muslim 236.
2. Go up Safa until you can see the Kaaba if the crowd allows, face it, and say the words of tahlil and takbir from Sahih Muslim 1218 three times, with your own dua in between.
3. Walk to Marwah. Between the two green-lit markers, men walk briskly; women walk at a normal pace (IslamQA 147282).
4. On Marwah, face the Kaaba and do what you did on Safa. That is one lap.
5. Walking back to Safa is lap two. Lap seven ends at Marwah (IslamQA 154979).

Step 8: Shave or shorten your hair

This ends your Umrah and your ihram (IslamQA 95860). Allah mentions both shaving and shortening in Qur'an 48:27.

Men

Shaving the whole head is better. The Prophet ﷺ prayed for those who shave before he prayed for those who shorten (Sahih al-Bukhari 1727). If you shorten, the schools differ on how much (IslamQA 82077):

Some men bring a clean razor and shave at the hotel, which also spares an elderly father a queue.

Women

Women never shave: the Prophet ﷺ said shaving is not a duty laid on women, only clipping the hair (Sunan Abi Dawud 1984). IslamQA (answer 154979) says a woman cuts a fingertip's length from all her hair; the Hanafi answer on SeekersGuidance says from at least a quarter of the head. Many women gather the ends and cut them together. Do it in private at the hotel, yourself or with your husband, a mahram or another woman.

Once the hair is cut, you are out of ihram and your Umrah is complete. Everything that ihram forbade is allowed again.

What is different for women

• Ordinary modest clothes in any colour, with no niqab or gloves; the face-cover detail is on ihram rules.
• No trotting in tawaf or sa'i (IslamQA 109286), and the talbiyah is said quietly (IslamQA 36619).
• A woman whose period starts can enter ihram and do everything except tawaf until she is clean. Aisha was told to do all that a pilgrim does except tawaf (Sahih al-Bukhari 305). If your dates are close, talk to your scholar before you book, because a short trip may not leave enough days.

What is different for children

• Umrah is not compulsory for children. For Hajj, the Prophet ﷺ said a child's pilgrimage counts and the parent who brings them is rewarded (Sahih Muslim 1336). For a child too young to understand, IslamQA (answer 104345) says the guardian forms the intention for them and may carry them in tawaf and sa'i.
• Carry small children on the upper floors rather than in the ground-floor crowd. Prams were barred from the ground-floor mataf in 2024, so check the current rule before you take one.
• If a child tires, rest and carry on later; note the round number.

More in Umrah with kids.

What is different for elderly parents and wheelchair users

If your mother or father can't walk far, plan the wheelchair before the day, not at the gate.

• Someone who cannot walk may do tawaf and sa'i in a wheelchair or cart. The Prophet ﷺ did tawaf riding a camel (Sahih al-Bukhari 1613), and IslamQA (answer 245736) reports scholars agreeing that riding is allowed for anyone with an excuse such as illness or old age, while walking is better for those who can.
• Gulf News has reported free wheelchairs as well as paid rentals at the Grand Mosque. Paid golf carts are booked online in advance; check the current price when you book.
• Most jurists say sa'i doesn't have to follow tawaf straight away, and Imam Ahmad allowed a rest in between (IslamQA 150288), so you can split them into two sessions.

More in Umrah with elderly parents.

Quieter times

The General Authority for the Care of the Two Holy Mosques (reported by AJEL, August 2026) lists 5 pm to 9 pm as the peak and 10 pm to 4 am and 9 am to 4 pm as lighter. Nobody can promise an empty mataf on a Friday or in Ramadan. See the best time for Umrah.

After Umrah

You can now pray and do extra tawaf as often as you like, with no sa'i or haircut. If something went wrong, read Umrah mistakes and penalties and ask a scholar before you leave Makkah, because some mistakes can only be put right while you are still there.

How Maqam e Haram helps

Our team in Makkah and Madinah helps first-time families with the right gate, the right floor and a wheelchair if needed, and stays on WhatsApp in case anyone gets separated. Tell us when you land and who is travelling, and we plan your first Umrah around your family's energy and your permit slot. Our first-time Umrah packages and family packages put the hotels, transport and on-ground support into one plan.

Message us on WhatsApp or call +92 309 9022120, or email info@maqameharam.com.

Questions and answers

Related pages

• Nusuk app guideBooking your permit.
• How long does Umrah take
• Umrah with kidsAnd Umrah with elderly parents.
• First-time Umrah packagesOur plan for first-time families.