The requirement of abdest for tavaf is one of the most discussed issues in Hac fiqh, with significant practical implications, especially during the intense crowding of Hac season when maintaining ablution can be extremely difficult. The three schools — Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali (in the well-known position) — hold that ritual purity (taharah) is a condition (shart) for the validity of tavaf, meaning tavaf performed without abdest would need to be repeated. Their primary evidence is the hadith narrated by Ibn Abbas that 'Tavaf around the House is like namaz, except that you may speak during it,' and Hz. Peygamber's own consistent practice of performing abdest before tavaf.
The Hanafi school takes a notable middle position: abdest for tavaf is wajib (farz) but not a condition of validity (shart). This means that if someone performs tavaf without abdest, the tavaf itself is valid, but the person must pay a penalty (dam — sacrificing a sheep) for omitting the wajib act. If abdest was lost during tavaf, the haci may perform abdest and resume from where they left off. This position provides practical relief for hacilar who struggle to maintain ablution in the extreme crowds.
A third scholarly position, advocated by the great Hanbali jurist Ibn Taymiyyah and supported by some contemporary scholars, holds that abdest for tavaf is strongly sunnet (mustahabb) but not farz. Ibn Taymiyyah argued that the hadith comparing tavaf to namaz is not authentically traceable to Hz. Peygamber as a statement (marfu') but is rather a statement of Ibn Abbas himself (mawquf), and that Kur'an-i Kerim does not stipulate purity for tavaf. This position, while a minority view, is significant and has been adopted by some fatwa bodies for cases of genuine hardship.