Huzoor, when Muslims go to Mecca for Umrah and they are staying at a hotel or at someone’s house, in other words they are not residents of Mecca, they have to go out of Mecca to put on their Ihram and then come back into Mecca to do their Umrah. I want to know why is this? Why do they have to go out and then come back in? Because with Ihram you have certain responsibilities and certain restrictions imposed on you.
So those who dwell in the area of Ihram, if they are supposed to be in Ihram all the time, the life would be extremely difficult for them. So they are supposed to be within that area and yet not in the position of Ihram. So this is an allowance given to them from Allah. So if they have to go into the state of Ihram, naturally they will have to go out and start their Ihram and enter that region as a mahram from then on. You know, let’s say this is a circle in which the people live. If everybody who lives in that circle automatically is considered to be in a state of Ihram, then the life for these people who are living there would be made very difficult because those living in Ihram have great restrictions imposed on them.
There is a certain type of clothing, I mean no sewn cloth can be worn by them and the whole attitude to life is so difficult. You can live that sort of life for a few days but not all the time. So despite the fact that they live in a physical area which is known as the area of Ihram, they are permitted not to live as if they have taken Ihram. So when they want to become a mahram in that sense, they want to adopt Ihram, naturally they will have to go out and behave as if they are coming there for that short period from elsewhere.
They enter that region and the moment then with that intention they take one step into the region, all the responsibilities fall on their shoulders like others. Can I extend the question? Why doesn’t that rule then apply to the residents of Mecca? Because this is what I am telling you, the physical state, the geographical state by itself does not impose anything. It is the will of Allah which imposes things upon people. By itself what is important in that region? Nothing. It is just a geographical tract as other world’s tracts are. This is the beauty of Islamic injunctions.
All the sanctity that is given to a certain state is only given through Allah’s orders, not directly. Any place made of earth and bricks doesn’t become sanctified, doesn’t become noble by itself. Only if Allah considers it noble and sanctified then it becomes noble and sanctified. So that region in itself has nothing. Only it is turned into sacred, a sacred place when Allah declares it to be sacred. So when Allah has permitted them to live in the area of Ihram, without Ihram, this is, they have every right to live their life without Ihram. Because the area in itself doesn’t automatically make a people mahram.
It’s not like a piece of magnet turning every piece of iron which comes into contact with it into a magnet. I mean it’s not a scientific phenomenon like that which has a direct bearing. So that region in itself has no quality of turning people into mahrams, that is sending them into a state of Ihram. For that it is only Allah’s orders and Allah has told you the way you should do it. Only by adopting that way you can become a mahram, not otherwise.
