Praise be to Allah.
The meeqaat for the people of Ethiopia and Somalia: if they come from the south, when they are parallel with Yalamlam, which the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) decreed as the meeqaat for the people of Yemen, they should enter ihraam when they are parallel with it. If they come from the north of Jeddah, their meeqaat is al-Juhfah which the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) decreed was the meeqaat for the people of Syria. The people substituted Raabigh for it because it fell into ruin. If they are coming from between those points, heading for Jeddah, then their meeqaat is Jeddah, because they are reaching Jeddah before they come in line with either of the two meeqaats mentioned above.
Similarly if the people of Sudan are coming to Jeddah, then their meeqaat is Jeddah. If they are coming from the north, their meeqaat is when they come in line with al-Juhfah or Raabigh. If they are coming from the south then their meeqaat is when they come in line with Yalamlam. So the meeqaat of the people of these countries varies according to the route by which they are coming. This applies if they are coming for ‘Umrah or for Hajj.
But if a person is coming for work and he has already done the obligatory ‘Umrah and Hajj, then he does not have to enter ihraam, because Hajj and ‘Umrah are only obligatory once in a lifetime. If a person has already done them, they are not obligatory a second time, except in the case of a vow.
If a person comes for Hajj or ‘Umrah and does not enter ihram until after he passed the two meeqaats or one of them, then the scholars say that his ihraam is valid, but he has to offer a sacrifice, to be slaughtered in Makkah and distributed to the poor, because he has omitted one of the obligatory duties of ihraam, which is entering ihraam from the meeqaat. If this happens to a person, he has to offer a sacrifice to be slaughtered in Makkah and distributed to the poor if he is rich; if he is poor, he does not have to do anything, because Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“So keep your duty to Allaah and fear Him as much as you can”
[al-Taghaabun 64:16]
See Fataawa Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, 21/283, 284
Shaykh Ibn Baaz (may Allaah have mercy on him) was asked about the meeqaat for the people of Sudan. He replied:
It depends on the route taken. If their route takes them past the meeqaat of al-Juhfah, they have to enter ihraam when they come in line with it. If their route does not take them past any meeqaat until they reach Jeddah, then they should enter ihraam from Jeddah, if they want to perform Hajj and ‘Umrah. End quote.
Fataawa Ibn Baaz, 17/35.
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