The Prohibitions of Ihram and Dam

The prohibitions, in five groups

The course groups the prohibitions of ihram into five categories: clothing, perfume, grooming, the natural environment, and relations between the sexes.

1. Clothing

1. Men: wearing stitched or fitted clothing that encloses the body or a limb, shirts, trousers, underwear, socks.
2. Men: covering the head, or part of it, with anything that touches it, a cap, a turban, a towel.
3. Women: covering the face.
4. Men and women: wearing gloves.

2. Perfume

1. Using perfume on the body, on clothing, in food or drink, or deliberately sniffing it, men and women. Avoid scented soap, scented wet wipes, perfumed creams and scented tissues while in ihram.

3. Grooming

1. Oiling the hair of the head or beard: and any facial hair other than what grows on the cheeks and forehead, men and women.
2. Removing hair from any part of the body, by cutting, shaving, plucking or pulling, men and women.
3. Cutting or breaking off nails: men and women.

4. The natural environment

1. Cutting, felling or uprooting trees and plants in the Haram (Makkah, Mina and Muzdalifah). This applies to everyone in the Haram, whether in ihram or not. Cutting plants on tanah halal such as Arafah does not incur dam.
2. Hunting or harming wild game that is lawful to eat, for someone in ihram, both inside and outside the Haram; and for anyone, in ihram or not, inside the Haram. Even a locust counts as game.

5. Relations between the sexes

1. Foreplay: touching with desire, kissing, embracing.
2. Sexual intercourse.
3. Marriage: getting married, marrying someone off, or acting as a representative in a marriage contract.

The course adds detail from the national Hajj council (Muzakarah Haji): deliberate skin-to-skin contact between a man and a woman with desire during ihram is sinful and incurs dam for the man, whether or not there is ejaculation; contact through a barrier with desire is sinful but carries no dam; and the same applies to contact with desire between two people of the same sex.

What is still allowed

• Bathing and washing, gently, without trying to remove hair.
• Changing and washing your ihram sheets.
• Wearing a watch, glasses, a ring, a belt or money pouch, and a shoulder bag.
• Shade from an umbrella, a tent or a vehicle roof.
• Wearing sandals that leave the toes and heel uncovered (men).
• Killing harmful creatures such as scorpions, snakes, rats and mosquitoes.
• Taking medicines, injections and eye drops (unperfumed).
• Using unscented soap and unscented toiletries.

Two kinds of violation: taraffuh and itlaf

This distinction explains why some mistakes carry a penalty even when made by accident.

So if you forgot you were in ihram and covered your head, simply uncover it as soon as you remember. But if you trimmed your nails out of habit, a dam is still due, because something has been destroyed.

What dam means

Dam literally means "blood". In the shariah it is a compensation made by slaughtering a sheep, goat, cow or camel in the Haram, or a substitute of food for the poor of the Haram, or fasting, required of a pilgrim for specific reasons. A dam is due for:

• doing something forbidden in ihram;
• leaving an obligation (wajib) of Hajj or Umrah;
• performing Tamattu' or Qiran (on their conditions);
• missing the wuquf at Arafah after entering ihram;
• leaving Tawaf al-Wada' without a valid excuse;
• being prevented from completing Hajj or Umrah after entering ihram (ihsar);
• breaking a vow (nazar) made in connection with Hajj.

In the course, food is measured in cupak (one mudd, roughly a double handful of the local staple). Your Hajj body will tell you the current price of a dam and of a cupak; pay through the official channel.

The kinds of dam

1. Dam in order and fixed in amount (tartib dan taqdir)

When it is due: Tamattu'; Qiran; passing the miqat without ihram; missing wuquf; missing the stoning; missing the nights in Mina or at Muzdalifah (without excuse); leaving Tawaf al-Wada'; breaking a Hajj-related vow.

What to pay, in order, you move to the next only if you cannot do the one before:

1. Slaughter a sheep or goat, or a seventh share of a cow or camel.
2. If you cannot, fast ten days: three during the Hajj (while still in ihram for Hajj) and seven after returning home.

If a person dies before completing the fast, ten cupak of food are paid from their estate in place of it.

2. Dam with a choice, fixed in amount (takhyir dan taqdir)

When it is due: removing three or more hairs; cutting nails (three or more); men wearing fitted clothing; covering the head (men) or face (women); wearing gloves; using perfume; oiling the hair or beard; and, with the dam on the man only, foreplay, intercourse after the first tahallul but before the second, and a second act of intercourse after one that spoiled the Hajj.

What to pay, choose one:

• slaughter a sheep or goat; or
• give three gantang (twelve cupak) of food to six poor people of the Haram, two cupak each; or
• fast three days.

For one hair or one nail the penalty is one cupak of food; for two, two cupak.

3. Dam in order, with a valuation (tartib dan ta'dil): intercourse that spoils the Hajj

Intercourse before the first tahallul in Hajj, or before completing Umrah, spoils it. The pilgrim must still complete the spoiled Hajj or Umrah, make it up (qada') in a later year, and pay, the husband only, in this order:

1. a camel; if not possible,
2. a cow; if not possible,
3. seven sheep or goats; if not possible,
4. food to the value of a camel, given to the poor of the Haram; if not possible,
5. fast one day for every cupak of food that the value of a camel would buy.

4. Dam with a choice and a valuation (takhyir dan ta'dil): game and plants

For hunting or killing game, choose one:

• slaughter an animal similar to the game killed (for example a cow for a deer, a goat for a gazelle); or
• buy food to the value of that animal and give it to the poor of Makkah; or
• fast one day for every cupak that value would buy.

For cutting, felling or uprooting a tree in the Haram of Makkah (except a dead tree) the same applies: a cow for a large tree, a goat for a small one, or their value in food or fasting.

5. Dam of ihsar: when you are prevented from finishing

Ihsar is when a pilgrim in ihram is prevented from completing the pillars of Hajj or Umrah, blocked by an enemy, besieged, or held back by serious illness. To leave ihram:

1. Slaughter a sheep or goat and shave or cut the hair, with the intention of tahallul;
2. if not possible, buy food to the value of a goat for the poor where the tahallul is made, and shave or cut;
3. if not possible, fast one day for every cupak that value would buy, and shave or cut. The tahallul takes effect with the shaving, even before the fasting is finished.

The course gives two common modern cases: a woman whose period has not ended and who must fly home before Tawaf al-Ifadah or the tawaf of Umrah, and a seriously ill pilgrim sent home for treatment before finishing. They perform the tahallul of ihsar after they have travelled two marhalah (about 91 km) from Makkah, or once home.

Practical tips

• Before your intention, finish cutting nails and trimming hair.
• Pack unscented soap, shampoo, deodorant and wet wipes.
• Do not scratch your head hard, comb your hair or rub your beard, loose hairs may fall. If a hair falls by itself without your action, there is nothing on you.
• Keep a spare ihram sheet in your bag.
• If you are unsure whether you owe a dam, ask your group's religious guide before you leave Makkah. Pay through Tabung Haji or your official Hajj body, never to unofficial collectors.