Determining the Status of Zat-e-Erq Miqat Legitimacy from Sunnite Perspective: Text or Ijtihad

Zat-e-Erq is one of the five miqats (Ihram stations) for Hajj and Umrah, which belongs to Iraqis and the Easterners to enter into the state of Ihram. The question is whether this miqat obtained legitimacy based on the Text (Prophet Muhammad’s Hadiths) or on the Ijtihad of the caliphs or companions. There are two camps among Sunnis on this issue: one believes in the Textual status of the legitimacy (by the Prophet (PBUH)), and the other, in its Ijtihadi-based status (those of the Second Caliph, Umar). The present study, describing and analyzing the propositions and Sunnite references via a library research methodology, embarked on providing an answer to this question and concluded that the Prophet (PBUH) gave legitimacy to Zat-e-Erq Miqat; a conclusion that has been confirmed and attested by a plethora of thorough, authentic traditions (narratives). In answer to those believing in the Ijtihadi-based status of Zat-e-Erq, it can be said that the Second Caliph was not aware that the Prophet (PBUH) had announced this location as a miqat, as obtains for a number of other religious edicts, and therefore, he designated this place as a miqat according to his own Ijtihad. Considering that Ijtihad lose legitimacy before the Text, the Second Caliph’s Ijtihad loses legitimacy, too. In other words, the miqat status of Zat-e-Erq for Iraqis and the Easterners and its legitimacy were not determined by Umar’s Ijtihad. In addition, had Umar passed this Ijtihad for the first time, it should be noted that, there is a disagreement on the authority of the words and Ijtihad of companions among Sunnis, and a number of Sunnite sects de not recognize its legitimacy.