Umrah

The ʿUmrah or () is a pilgrimage to Mecca performed by Muslims that can be undertaken at any time of the year. In Arabic Umrah means “to visit a populated place”. As a technical term used in the Shari’ah,
Umrah means to perform Tawaf of Kaabah and Sa'i between Al-Safa and Al-Marwah, after assuming Ihram, either from a Miqat or a place in Hill. It is sometimes called the 'minor pilgrimage' or 'lesser pilgrimage', the Hajj being the 'major' pilgrimage and which is compulsory for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it. The Umrah is not compulsory but highly recommended. 
==Umrah rituals==
The pilgrim (mu'tamir), sometimes referred to as a 'Haji', performs a series of ritual acts symbolic of the lives of the prophet Abraham (Ibrahim) and his wife Hagar (Hajra), and of solidarity with Muslims worldwide. These acts of faith are:
* Get into a state of Ihram and make niyyah for going to one of the places known as Meeqat. 
* Perform a tawaf, which consists of circling the Kaaba seven times in a counter-clockwise direction. Men are encouraged to do this three times at a hurried pace, which is called ramal, followed by four times, more closely, at a leisurely pace.
* Perform a sa'i, which means rapidly walking seven times back and forth between the hills of Safa and Marwah. This is a re-enactment of Hagar's frantic search for water, before the Zamzam Well was revealed to her by Allah.
*Perform a halq or taqsir, meaning a cutting of the hair. A taqsir is a partial shortening of the hair, whereas a halq is a complete shave of the head, except for women, as they cut a little amount of hair instead.
These rituals complete the Umrah, and the pilgrim can choose to go out of ihram. Although not a part of the ritual, most pilgrims drink water from the Well of Zamzam. Various sects of Islam fiqah perform these rituals with slightly different methods. A step by step guide on how to perform umrah can be found here. 
The Umrah can be completed in one hour during the off-peak pilgrimage season. The peak times of pilgrimage are the days before, during and after the Hajj and during the last ten days of Ramadan.
==Types of Umrah==
 
There are two types of Umrah, depending on whether one wishes to combine the Umrah with Hajj: al-Umrat al-mufradah al-mustaqillah 'an al-Hajj (al-Umrat al mufradah) and al-Umrat al-mundammah ila al-Hajj (Umrat al-tammatu).
al-Umrat al mufradah refers to Umrah that is performed independently of Hajj. 
Umrat al-tammatu refers to Umrah that is performed in conjunction with Hajj. More precisely, the rituals of the Umrah are performed first and then the Hajj rituals are performed.
==See also==
*Hajj
==Notes==
==References==
* The Hajj According to the Five Schools of Islamic Fiqh (Part 1), by 'Allamah Muhammad Jawad Mughniyyah (translated from Arabic by Ali Quri Qara'i), al-Tawhid, Vol. II, No.4,