Hajj and umra

The capability for hajj: four elements

Hajj is only obligatory upon whoever is capable. The scholars detail four elements of this capability: provision for the journey and a mount (today the means of transport), bodily health, road safety and the real possibility of setting out. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), asked about Allah's word "whoever can make his way to it" (Coran 3:97), answered: "Provision and a mount" (reported by ad-Daruqutni 2/218, a weak hadith but giving the sense the fuqaha retained). For the majority, the mere ability to walk does not suffice, for hajj is a worship tied to a long distance, like military expedition.

Provision, transport and expenses of hajj

The majority (Hanafis, Shafi'is, Hanbalis, and Sahnun and Ibn Habib among the Malikis) requires provision of food, drink and clothing at a moderate standard, without luxury or stinginess, a means of transport bought or hired for the round trip, and the journey's expenses. The resident of Mecca and its surroundings need not own a mount, since no extra hardship reaches them (al-Hidaya). The Malikis look only at the ability to arrive: whoever can walk without great hardship, in safety, needs no mount. Ibn Qudama specifies: the mount is required of one living far away; the near one who can walk dispenses with it; and whoever cannot walk at all is like the far one. If one finds neither provision nor a way to earn it, hajj is not imposed.

Moreover, according to the majority, one must have what supports those in one's charge during the round trip, and one's lodging, a servant if needed, one's weapons and clothes at the moderate standard: "It is enough sin for a man to ruin the one he feeds" (Abu Dawud 1692, hasan hadith). The Malikis go further: he sells the saleable goods of a bankrupt man (house, livestock, mount, weapons, a Quran copy, books) even if he needs them, so long as enough remains to bring him; and Ibn Abd al-Barr notes that the uncertain future is entrusted to Allah. Ibn Abidin warns: offering gifts to relatives, a modern custom, is not part of the essential needs and does not excuse neglecting hajj. And Ibn al-Qasim reports from Malik: celibacy is no excuse: whoever has acquired wealth performs hajj before marrying.

Bodily health for hajj

Soundness of the body from illnesses and disabilities that prevent hajj is a condition of the obligation: one with a disease or infirmity whose end is not hoped for, or who can stay on his mount only with unbearable hardship, like the dying old man, need not perform the hajj of his person by agreement. If he has the means to pay, the Shafi'is, the Hanbalis and the two Hanafi companions require him to send someone in his place; Abu Hanifa, in his aṣl concerning the blind man, judges that hajj does not fall upon his person, but upon his wealth if he has any: for the blind man does not find his way on the road nor manage mounting and dismounting alone, and his capability depends on another. Abu Hanifa draws from this a rule: the Prophet's interpretation (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) by provision and mount does not restrict capability to these two means: every way of reaching Mecca counts, as shown by the case of the sea or an enemy barring the road.

Road safety and the possibility of departing for hajj

Safety of the way concerns the person and the wealth, at the time of the people's departure for hajj. The Malikis, the Shafi'is, Abu Hanifa (in Ibn Shuja''s narration, the soundest among the Hanafis) and Ahmad (in one narration) make it a condition of the obligation itself; the Hanbalis (in the madhhab) and Abu Hanifa (in another narration) a condition of performance only. Likewise real possibility of departing: Hanafis, Malikis (soundest view), Shafi'is and Hanbalis (in a view called the madhhab's soundest) make it a condition of the obligation: time must remain, from when provision and transport are ready, for the usual journey; if each day would need more than two stages, hajj is not imposed. The Malikis (opposite view) and Ahmad (in the second narration, followed by most of his companions) make it only a condition of performance.

Practical consequence of this divergence: whoever deems safety and the possibility of departing conditions of the obligation will not bequeath the command of hajj if he dies without them; whoever sees them as conditions of performance will bequeath if he fears dying before the road is safe. Once safety is obtained, the bequest is obligatory by agreement.

Hajj permits today

Contemporary fuqaha raise the case of one with physical and financial ability who does not obtain the hajj permit, places being limited by quotas and draws. The answer held in the mawsua: the possibility of travelling and obtaining the visa and permit belong to the conditions of the obligation: whoever dies without them owes no bequest of hajj; whoever dies after obtaining them does, by agreement.

Practical note on hajj capability

Capability is judged on the round trip and on dependants, not on modern luxury. Whoever gathers these conditions, safety and permit included, must hasten his hajj; whoever lacks them is dispensed until they come about.

The obligation of hajj

And it is a duty towards Allah upon the people to make the pilgrimage to the House, for whoever is able to find a way.sura Al Imran 97

The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Islam is built upon five pillars... and the pilgrimage to the House for whoever finds a way" (al-Bukhari 8, Muslim 16). Hajj is obligatory once in a lifetime; its repetition is voluntary. The Prophet said: "Whoever makes pilgrimage without uttering obscenity nor committing disobedience returns as on the day his mother bore him" (al-Bukhari 1521, Muslim 1350).

The gravity of neglecting hajj

Whoever dies without having performed hajj while it was forced upon him with constraint, let him die Jew or Christian.at-Tirmidhi 812

The majority of scholars understand this saying as a severe warning and a declaration of great disobedience.

The umra

Umra is obligatory once in a lifetime per Shafi'is and Hanbalis; recommended, or obligatory once, per Hanafis and Malikis (preferred view). It is valid all year long and consists of ihram, tawaf, sa'i, then shaving or shortening the hair.

The three forms of pilgrimage

• Tamattu': ihram of umra in the months of hajj, then full enjoyment until hajj, with a mandatory offering (Quran 2:196, al-Bukhari 1561).
• Qiran: ihram of hajj and umra together, with an offering.
• Ifrad: ihram of hajj alone, without mandatory offering.
• The Prophet said of tamattu': "it is the most complete of deeds" (Muslim 1218, Abu Dawud 1987); Malikis and Hanafis prefer hajj alone.