Jami' at-Tirmidhi
Jami` at-Tirmidhi 931
حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عَبْدِ الأَعْلَى الصَّنْعَانِيُّ، حَدَّثَنَا عُمَرُ بْنُ عَلِيٍّ، عَنِ الْحَجَّاجِ، عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ الْمُنْكَدِرِ، عَنْ جَابِرٍ، أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم سُئِلَ عَنِ الْعُمْرَةِ أَوَاجِبَةٌ هِيَ قَالَ " لاَ وَأَنْ تَعْتَمِرُوا هُوَ أَفْضَلُ " . قَالَ أَبُو عِيسَى هَذَا حَدِيثٌ حَسَنٌ صَحِيحٌ . وَهُوَ قَوْلُ بَعْضِ أَهْلِ الْعِلْمِ قَالُوا الْعُمْرَةُ لَيْسَتْ بِوَاجِبَةٍ . وَكَانَ يُقَالُ هُمَا حَجَّانِ الْحَجُّ الأَكْبَرُ يَوْمَ النَّحْرِ وَالْحَجُّ الأَصْغَرُ الْعُمْرَةُ . وَقَالَ الشَّافِعِيُّ الْعُمْرَةُ سُنَّةٌ لاَ نَعْلَمُ أَحَدًا رَخَّصَ فِي تَرْكِهَا وَلَيْسَ فِيهَا شَيْءٌ ثَابِتٌ بِأَنَّهَا تَطَوُّعٌ وَقَدْ رُوِيَ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم بِإِسْنَادٍ وَهُوَ ضَعِيفٌ لاَ تَقُومُ بِمِثْلِهِ الْحُجَّةُ وَقَدْ بَلَغَنَا عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ أَنَّهُ كَانَ يُوجِبُهَا . قَالَ أَبُو عِيسَى كُلُّهُ كَلاَمُ الشَّافِعِيِّ .
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Muhammad ibn Abd al-A'la al-San'ani narrated to us: Umar ibn Ali narrated to us, from al-Hajjaj, from Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir, from Jabir, that the Prophet was asked, ‘Is Umrah obligatory?’ He replied, ‘No, but performing Umrah is better.’
Abu Isa said: This is a hasan sahih hadith. This is the view of some scholars, who said that Umrah is not obligatory. It was also said that there are two pilgrimages: the greater pilgrimage is on the Day of Sacrifice, and the lesser pilgrimage is Umrah. Al-Shafi'i said: ‘Umrah is a sunnah. We know of no one who permitted leaving it, and there is no sound report establishing that it is merely voluntary. A report from the Prophet has been narrated with a chain, but it is weak and cannot serve as proof. We have been told that Ibn Abbas considered it obligatory.’ Abu Isa said: All of this is al-Shafi'i's statement.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The report records different scholarly views on whether Umrah is obligatory; al-Shafi'i's quoted view calls it sunnah and rejects treating it as simply optional.