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Fatwa CenterDoubt after performing an act of worship is meaningless
Question
What is the religious ruling concerning a woman who performed Hajj and intended to combine tawaf al-ifadhah (circumbulation for Hajj) and tawaaf al-Wadaa‘ (circumambulation before leaving Mecca) in one tawaf (circumambulation), but now she doubts that, when she was in Mecca, she held the intention of performing tawaf al-wadaa‘ only? What should she do?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and messenger.
There is nothing wrong with delaying the performance of tawaf al-ifaadhah until it is performed with tawaf al-wadaa‘, combining them in one tawaf only, while holding the intention for both.
Therefore, as long as the questioner had intended to combine the intentions of performing tawaf al-ifaadhah and the tawaf al-wadaa’ together and did not doubt her intention before performing tawaf, her Hajj is valid, Allah Willing. This is because scholars underlined that doubts regarding acts of worship that arise after having performed them do not affect their validity.
Moreover, some Shaafi‘i scholars held that tawaf al-wadaa’ substitutes for tawaf al-ifaadhah even if the pilgrim does not hold such an intention.
Imam An-Nawawi 
wrote in Al-Majmoo’, "The Shaafi‘i scholars held that if the pilgrim performed tawaf al-wadaa’ without having performed tawaf al-ifaadhah, this would clear his liability as it is a valid substitution for tawaf al-ifaadhah."
Thus, we advise the sister who sent the question to discard those devilish whisperings by means of which the devil attempts to spoil the worshipper's acts of worship and sadden him. Hence, you should hold on to the focal point and fundamental article of faith, i.e. worshipping Allah, the Exalted, alone, with no partners, holding fast to that belief. Adding to that, you should seek forgiveness from Allah, the Exalted, and remember Him more often as this helps one to avoid such devilish whisperings and escape his slopes and temptations.
Allah Knows best.
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