Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about how Al-Umrah works, what it can and cannot do, and how to get the most out of it.
Questions and answers
Is this a fatwa service?
No. Al-Umrah is an informational guidance tool, not a fatwa service. Every answer is AI-generated and cites its sources — classical fiqh texts and hadith collections for religious questions, official and medical references for practical ones — so you can verify it yourself. Answers are not binding rulings and do not replace the opinion of a qualified mufti or Islamic scholar.
When a question is classified as uncertain or high-risk — for example, questions about specific personal circumstances, penalty rulings (dam), or contested edge cases — the system automatically flags it for scholar review through an escalation pathway. That escalation is a best-effort safety feature; it does not create a scholar-client relationship or produce a binding fatwa.
For anything that matters to your practice or your specific situation, consult a qualified mufti directly.
Can I trust AI for religious questions?
With appropriate caution, yes — for well-established rulings where the answer is unambiguous in the classical sources. Al-Umrah answers only from a curated corpus — classical fiqh texts and the canonical hadith collections for religious questions, plus vetted official and medical references for practical ones. Every answer includes a citation, so you can open the source and read what it actually says.
The system is designed not to guess or extrapolate. When confidence is low or the question touches on contested matters, it is flagged for scholar review rather than answered with false certainty. See Our Sources for the full list of texts in the corpus.
You should not use this tool as a substitute for a qualified scholar on questions that are sensitive to your specific circumstances.
Which madhhab does Al-Umrah follow?
Al-Umrah is Hanafi-first. The primary corpus draws on Hanafi classical texts — al-Hidayah, Radd al-Muhtar, Bada'i al-Sana'i, al-Bahr al-Ra'iq — and Hanafi-focused manasik guides.
For the specific rituals of Hajj and Umrah, the corpus also includes the Kitab al-Hajj chapters from the major works of the Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali schools (al-Mudawwana, Bidayat al-Mujtahid, al-Majmu', al-Mughni, al-Umm). This coverage exists so pilgrims who follow other madhabs can see how their school addresses the same question.
By default, answers reflect the Hanafi position. Where a question falls outside Hanafi consensus or touches on disagreement between schools, the answer will note that.
What sources does Al-Umrah use?
The corpus includes classical Hanafi fiqh texts, the six canonical Sunni hadith collections (Kutub al-Sittah) plus Muwatta Malik, and multi-school Kitab al-Hajj chapters for comparative coverage. It also includes curated synthesis documents, the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah's official FAQ, and CDC Hajj health guidance.
Each source is assigned a reliability rank (5 = primary authority, 4 = trusted secondary, 3 = baseline practical reference). The retrieval system weights answers toward higher-ranked sources.
What happens when the AI isn't sure?
Before answering, every question is classified for risk level and topic. Questions that are classified as uncertain, high-risk, or outside the scope of the available corpus are escalated — the system flags them for human scholar review rather than producing a potentially misleading answer. You will see a clear indication in the response when escalation has occurred. The escalation pathway is not instant; review times depend on scholar availability.
How much does it cost?
Guest users (no account required) can ask 3 questions for free. Creating a free account gives you 5 messages per rolling 30-day window. A Premium subscription ($4.99/month) gives you 100 messages per rolling 24-hour window — enough to walk through a complete Hajj or Umrah with follow-up questions.
Do I need an account?
No. You can ask up to 3 questions as a guest without signing in. Creating a free account unlocks 5 messages per 30-day window and preserves your conversation history so you can pick up where you left off. Sign-up takes under a minute via Clerk; you can use an email address or a social login.
What happens to my questions?
Your questions and the answers generated are stored so the service can provide conversation memory within and across sessions. The text of your question is also sent to a third-party LLM inference provider to generate the answer. We do not include your name or email address in LLM prompts — only the question text and relevant conversation context.
Still have a question?
Email us or ask directly in the chat. For fiqh questions, the chat is a faster path to an answer than email.