How ladies should perform Umrah?

Posted by ady william on July 3rd, 2019

Umrah is a ritual where all the believers in Islam assemble at the holy city of Makkah as the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) for the purpose of declaring obedience and submission to Allah Almighty. As it an unexpectedly great assembly of Muslims from all over the world, the rituals of Umrah like Tawwaf and Sayee are to be performed collectively by both male and female Muslims, so there is a need for the ladies to realize that the need to take care of their respect and Haya along with the prayers and rituals of Umrah.

The dress code for men is a two piece white clothing to be worn by men, however, it is not compulsory for women too so. They can wear any clothes preferably an abaya that covers their elbows, collarbone, feet, and head properly. Although covering of face i.e veiling is not allowed, still they need to take care of proper hijab and the loose dressing that does not reveal the structure of their body. Unlike men, they can wear black abaya as well, but, the majority of Muslim women prefer white color to maintain the uniformity of the ritual. However, due to heat and humidity due to a large gathering during various rituals of Umrah especially Tawwaf and Sayee, it can result in excessive sweating which can cause body parts to become prominent in white color. So the should wear some form of extra clothing under their abaya as well to avoid this condition.

Apart from taking care of their dressing, there is a misconception among Muslim women that they must need to kiss the Black Stone while Tawwaf. This is a beautiful Sunnah of Prophet (PBUH), however, this is not a compulsory ritual of Umrah. So if a Muslim women find the Black Stone crowded particularly by male pilgrims, they should avoid this ritual in such case. No doubt, Umrah is a beautiful supererogatory prayer which is an enriching spiritual experience for both men and women, however, to take care of avoiding to mingle with unknown (Na-mehram) men should also be taken into consideration by the female pilgrims.

As Umrah is a form of prayer which needs to performed by assuming the holy state of Ihram and in proper wudu and cleanliness, women should particularly take care of their cleanliness while performing this prayer. Most women have the misconception of considering their head cap as their Ihram and they do put it off to perform wudu during prayers, however, it is a totally wrong misinterpretation. Ihram is a state of pure intention with clean clothing that covers your body from unknown men. As they do not take off their head cap, their wudu is not performed properly which may displease Allah making their prayers invalid. Another, important thing to be kept in mind is that women should avoid scheduling their Umrah in certain days to maintain the sanctity of this prayer to be performed with cleanliness and taking care of all standards of physical as well as mental purity.