The busiest day of Hajj. Its acts are four: stoning, then sacrifice, then shaving or shortening, then tawaf and sa‘i. Doing them in this order is sunnah.
The steps
- Stone Jamrat al-‘Aqabah alone with seven pebbles one after another, saying takbir with each. Stop the talbiyah when you begin stoning.
- Slaughter the sacrifice (hady) for tamattu‘ and qiran; you may appoint an agent through the official bodies.
- For men, shaving is better and shortening is sufficient; women cut a fingertip’s length.
- The first release from ihram (a point of fiqh detail): for the Shafi‘is and Hanbalis it comes by doing two of three things: stoning, shaving or shortening, and Tawaf al-Ifadah; then everything becomes permitted except marital relations. For the Malikis it comes by stoning Jamrat al-‘Aqabah, and for the Hanafis by shaving.
- Tawaf al-Ifadah, then sa‘i for the pilgrim doing tamattu‘, and for those doing qiran or ifrad if they did not do sa‘i after the arrival tawaf. With this comes the full release from ihram.
The evidence
Whenever the Prophet ﷺ was asked on the Day of Sacrifice about something done earlier or later, he said: “Do it, and there is no harm” (al-Bukhari 83, Muslim 1306, narrated by Abdullah ibn Amr).
Tawaf al-Ifadah may be delayed to the days of Tashriq or later. If it is delayed until the time of departure, many scholars hold that it also counts for the farewell tawaf.