I did Hajj this year, and because of my ignorance and misunderstanding, I thought that women could not exit ihram until after doing tawaaf al-ifaadah, and I delayed tawaaf al-ifaadah and did it with the farewell tawaaf (tawaaf al-wadaa‘). Thus I remained in ihram for all the days of my Hajj – but I did not do any of the things that are prohibited when in ihram. Do I have to do anything?
Praise
be to Allah
Exiting ihram is done in two stages:
1.
The first or lesser exiting of ihram. This is attained by
doing two out of three things: stoning the Jamaraat, shaving the head (or
cutting the hair), and tawaaf. If a person stones the Jamaraat and shaves
his head, then he has completed the first stage of exiting ihram and
everything becomes permissible to him except intimacy with his wife.
2.
The greater exiting of ihram, which is attained by doing
all three actions: stoning the Jamaraat, shaving the head, and tawaaf, and
by doing sa‘i for one who still has to do sa‘i.
Based on that, if you had stoned the Jamaraat and cut your
hair, then you had completed the first stage of exiting ihram, and you could
use perfume, cut your nails and other things that were prohibited whilst in
ihram – apart from intimacy with your husband – but if you refrained from
these temporarily prohibited actions because you thought that exiting ihram
could only be after doing tawaaf, then you do not have to do anything. The
most that can be said is that you did not do that which was permissible for
you.
And Allah knows best.
