He entered ihram some distance after passing the miqaat; does he have to do anything?
Question

                When can it be said that someone passed the miqaat, and what is the distance after which one may be said to have passed the miqaat? If I went 50 or 80 metres past the mosque of the miqaat, am I regarded as having passed the miqaat or not? I set out from Riyadh to Makkah, and I did ghusl before reaching the miqaat; in my heart I intended to do ‘umrah, and my trip from Riyadh was basically for the purpose of ‘umrah, but I did not utter the words “Labbayk Allahumma ‘umratan (Here I am, O Allah, for ‘umrah)” until I had gone approximately 50 metres past the minaret of the miqaat mosque. Do I have to do anything?
Praise be to Allah.Firstly:
If someone intends to do Hajj or ‘umrah, it is not permissible for him to pass the miqaat without entering ihraam. What is meant by entering ihraam is forming the intention to begin the rituals (of Hajj or ‘umrah).
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
What is meant by the words “the intention to begin the rituals (of Hajj or ‘umrah)” is the intention to embark upon the rituals, not the intention to do ‘umrah or Hajj. There is a difference between the two. For example, if a man wants to do Hajj this year, do we say that by virtue of this intention he has entered ihram?
The answer is no, because he has not yet intended to embark upon the rituals.
Similarly, if we want to pray ‘Isha’, have we embarked upon the prayer by virtue of this intention, and have the things that are forbidden for one who is praying become forbidden to us?
The answer is no. Therefore the intention to do something does not have any impact; rather the intention to embark upon it is what matters. The intention to embark upon the rituals (of Hajj or ‘umrah) is called ihram, because when he intends to embark upon the rituals, he forbids (harrama) to himself things that were permissible before entering ihraam. For example, he forbids to himself sexual relations, perfume, shaving the head, hunting, and so on.
His intention of doing the rituals – i.e., embarking upon the rituals – is a condition, so it is essential that he form the intention to embark upon the rituals. If he recites the Talbiyah without forming the intention of embarking upon the rituals, then he does not enter into a state of ihram simply by reciting the Talbiyah. If he puts on the ihraam garments without having the intention of embarking upon the rituals, then he does not enter into a state of ihraam simply by putting on those garments.
End quote from ash-Sharh al-Mumti‘ (7/60-69).
Based on that, whoever intends to do ‘umrah or recites the Talbiyah without forming the intention to embark upon the rituals is not regarded as being in a state of ihraam.
Secondly:
There is no report from the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) to suggest that he defined a particular boundary for each miqaat, in the sense that whoever goes beyond that boundary must go back [and enter ihraam], otherwise he must offer a compensatory sacrifice. Rather he mentioned the names of well-known places from which a person should enter ihraam. Al-Bukhaari (1530) and Muslim (1181) narrated from Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) defined the miqaat of the people of Madinah as Dhu’l-Hulayfah; that of the people of Shaam (Syria) as al-Juhfah; that of the people of Najd as Qarn al-Manaazil; and that of the people of Yemen as Yalamlam.
Shaykh Muhammad ibn Ibraaheem Aal ash-Shaykh (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
These names of these places are the names of places that are very well known to those who reside there or in the vicinity, and others, but those who reside there or in the vicinity have more precise knowledge of them that others do not have. Therefore the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) did not specify the distance between them and the Haram, whether in terms of miles and the like or stages, just as he (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) did not define a boundary or give a description for any one of them; rather he simply mentioned their names.
Once this is understood, we may note that there is no difference of opinion among the scholars, with regard to the interpretation of the hadith, that Qarn al-Manaazil – or simply Qarn, without the extra word –  is the miqaat for people coming from Najd, at-Taa’if and so on…
The fact concerning which there is no doubt is that “Qarn al-Manaazil” is the name of the entire wadi, the lower part, the upper part and the middle part, which includes the village mentioned and its environs.
End quote from Fataawa wa Rasaa’il ash-Shaykh Muhammad ibn Ibraaheem (5/209).
The scholars stated that all of the miqaats are large wadis.
Shaykh ‘Abdullah al-Bassaam (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
All the miqaats for entering ihram are large wadis.
End quote from Tayseer al-‘Allaam Sharh ‘Umdat al-Ahkaam (p. 362).
It is permissible for the pilgrim to enter ihraam from any spot in the miqaat, even if he enters ihram from the side that is closest to Makkah.
Ibn Qaasim (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his commentary on ar-Rawd al-Murbi‘ (3/529): If he enters ihraam from the side that is closest (to Makkah) that is acceptable, because the spot where he enters ihram is part of the miqaat, and what matters is that the spot where he enters ihram should be part of the miqaat. End quote.
Based on the above, what matters is not the mosque that was built in that miqaat; rather what matters is the place that may correctly be called by the name of that miqaat. Undoubtedly that distance from the mosque (50 metres) does not affect anything, and it cannot be said of the one who crossed that distance that he went beyond the miqaat, because after the mosque the wadi goes on for a greater distance than that.
And Allah knows best.