Islamic Fiqh > Hajj and umra > What invalidates hajj and the compensations (fidya) > Hunting and sexual relations: compensations
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Updated on 24 September 2026 at 7:46 PM
When a pilgrim in the state of ihram commits an infringement such as hunting game or having intimate relations, his Hajj may be affected and a compensation may become due on him. This page presents the evidence for the prohibition of hunting during ihram, the permissibility of hunting at sea, and then the status of sexual intercourse according to its timing: before the standing at Arafah, after it and before the first release from ihram, or after that release. The positions of the schools are reported faithfully, with their arguments, their hadiths and the exact scale of the compensations.
The prohibition of hunting and killing game was established upon the muhrim by the Book, the Sunnah and consensus. As for the Book, it is the statement of Allah, the Most High:
"O you who believe, do not kill game while you are in the state of ihram"
Surah al-Ma'idah, 95
and His statement:
"The game of the land is forbidden to you as long as you are in the state of ihram"
Surah al-Ma'idah, 96
As for the Sunnah, it includes the hadith of Abu Qatadah, whose companions had entered ihram while he had not, and who saw a wild donkey. The hadith states:
I saddled my horse, took my spear and rode; my whip fell from me. I said to my companions, who were in ihram: Hand me the whip. They said: By Allah, we will not help you with it at all. So I dismounted, took it myself, then rode.Reported by Bukhari (1728) and Muslim (1196)
A narration reads:
They dismounted and ate of its meat, then said: Shall we eat the meat of game while we are in ihram? We carried what remained of the meat of the she-donkey. When they came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), they said: O Messenger of Allah, we were in ihram while Abu Qatadah was not; we saw wild donkeys, Abu Qatadah charged at them and killed a she-donkey; we dismounted and ate of its meat, then we said: Shall we eat the meat of game while we are in ihram? So we carried what remained of it. He said: Did anyone among you order him to charge at it or point to it? They said: No. He said: Then eat what remains of its meat.Reported by Bukhari (1728) and Muslim (1196)
This hadith shows that they held the very pointing to the game to be forbidden; and the question of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): Did anyone among you order him to charge at it or point to it? indicates that the prohibition would apply to that if it were found among them.
As for consensus, it was transmitted by Ibn Rushd, Ibn Qudamah, Ibn Hubayrah, al-Nawawi and others. Al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The ummah agreed on the prohibition of hunting in the state of ihram; its proofs are the text of the Book, the text of the Sunnah and the consensus of the ummah. Our companions say: every land game that is edible, or whose origin is edible, is forbidden to him, whether wild or of wild origin, and this is its criterion. As for what is not game, such as cattle, sheep, camels, horses and other domestic animals, it is not forbidden by consensus, because it is not game; the Law only forbade game (al-Majmu', 7/263; al-Mughni, 4/435; al-Ifsah, 1/477; Bidayat al-Mujtahid, 1/81, 83).
Likewise, they agreed on the obligation of the compensation (jaza'). Ibn Qudamah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The people of knowledge agreed on the obligation of the compensation upon the muhrim who kills game, and Allah, the Most High, stated it explicitly in His statement (al-Mughni, 5/140):
"O you who believe, do not kill game while you are in the state of ihram. Whoever among you kills it intentionally, the compensation is the like of what he killed of the livestock"
Surah al-Ma'idah, 95
Ibn Hubayrah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: They agreed that the killing of game by the muhrim, whether intentional or by mistake, is the same regarding the obligation of the compensation (al-Ifsah, 1/480; al-Qawanin al-fiqhiyyah, 1/93); for it is a liability for destruction in which intention and mistake are equal, like the property of a human being.
However, Ibn Qudamah reports a narration from Imam Ahmad that there is no expiation (kaffarah) in the case of a mistake; for Allah, the Most High, said: "whoever among you kills it intentionally", and His address indicates that there is no compensation for a mistake, since the default is that his liability is free, and nothing burdens it except with evidence; and because game is forbidden by ihram without invalidating it, one must differentiate between the mistake and the intention, as with the sewn garment and the perfume (al-Mughni, 5/141; Bidayat al-Mujtahid, 1/482). Whoever wants more on the compensation of game due from the muhrim may consult our book al-Jami' li-ahkam al-kafala wa-l-damanat (1/222, 241), in the issues of Hajj, where the discussion is laid out in detail.
As for hunting at sea, it is lawful for the one not in the state of ihram and for the muhrim alike, by the text and by consensus. As for the text, it is the statement of Allah, the Most High:
"Lawful to you is the hunting of the sea and its food as provision for you and for the travelers; but the game of the land is forbidden to you as long as you are in the state of ihram"
Surah al-Ma'idah, 96
Ibn Abbas said: its food (ta'amuhu) is what it casts out; and there is no difference between the animal of the salty sea and what is in the rivers and springs, for the name of the sea encompasses all of that, Allah, the Most High, having said:
"And the two seas are not alike: this one is fresh, sweet, pleasant to drink, and that one is salty and bitter; and from each you eat fresh meat"
Surah Fatir, 12
This section opens with the end of the hadith of the harmful beasts, whose conclusion is:
And there is nothing against the one who kills them: the crow, the kite, the rat, the scorpion and the vicious dog.Reported by Bukhari (1731, 1732) and Muslim (1198)
And apart from this hadith, it is likewise permitted to kill every creature of the same meaning.
Ibn al-Mundhir (may Allah have mercy on him) said: They agreed that if a predatory beast harms the muhrim and he kills it, there is nothing against him (al-Ijma', 161, 162; see al-Tamhid, 15/156; Bidayat al-Mujtahid, 1/488; Sharh Muslim, 1/113, 10/235; al-Majmu', 7/281, 231; al-Mughni, 4/474).
The ummah agreed on the prohibition of sexual intercourse in the state of ihram, whether the ihram is valid or corrupt. Ibn al-Mundhir (may Allah have mercy on him) said: They agreed that the muhrim is forbidden intercourse, and that whoever has it intentionally in his Hajj before the standing at Arafah owes a Hajj the following year along with a sacrificial offering (hady) (al-Ijma', 142, 145). The basis of this is the statement of Allah, the Most High:
"The Hajj is in well-known months; whoever undertakes the Hajj therein, let there be no rafath (sexual intercourse), no wickedness and no disputing during the Hajj"
Surah al-Baqarah, 197
Ibn Abd al-Barr (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The Muslim scholars agreed that intercourse with women is forbidden for the pilgrim from the moment he enters ihram until he performs the tawaf of ifadah, and this by the statement of Allah: "let there be no rafath"; rafath in this place is intercourse according to the majority of the people of knowledge versed in the interpretation of the Quran; other interpretations were given, and the correct one in their view is what I have mentioned to you in the interpretation of rafath in this verse.
They also agreed that whoever has intercourse before the standing at Arafah has corrupted his Hajj, and that whoever, among the performers of umrah, has it before the tawaf around the House and the sa'i between Safa and Marwah has corrupted his umrah; there is due upon him the making up of the Hajj along with the offering the following year, and the making up of the umrah along with the offering at any time when that is possible for him (al-Istidhkar, 4/257, 258).
The basis of this is what is reported from Ibn Umar:
A man asked him and said: I had intercourse with my wife while we were in the state of ihram. He said: You have corrupted your Hajj. Go, you and your family, with the people, do what they do and release yourselves when they release themselves; then, when the following year comes, perform the Hajj, you and your wife, and offer a sacrifice; if you cannot find one, fast three days during the Hajj and seven when you return.Reported by Ibn Abi Shaybah (3/164), al-Daraqutni (3/50), al-Hakim (2/74) and al-Bayhaqi in al-Sunan al-Kubra (5/167), who said: its chain is authentic; al-Nawawi likewise authenticated its chain in al-Majmu' (7/335)
Ibn Hubayrah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: They agreed that if the muhrim has intercourse intentionally in the vagina, whether he ejaculates or not, before the standing at Arafah, his Hajj is corrupted; they proceed in that corrupted Hajj, and the making up is due upon them, whether the Hajj was supererogatory or obligatory, and whether the wife was consenting or coerced.
The majority of the jurists, namely the Malikis within their school, the Shafi'is and the Hanbalis, held that whoever has intercourse after the standing at Arafah and before the first release has corrupted his Hajj and owes a badanah, that is, a head of large livestock; for it is intercourse that occurs while the ihram is still in force, like intercourse before the standing; and because this act is a worship susceptible of corruption: the defect may therefore occur in it from the moment of entering that state until leaving it, as with other acts of worship.
They supported this with what is reported from Ibn Umar:
A man asked him and said: I had intercourse with my wife while we were in the state of ihram. He said: You have corrupted your Hajj. Go, you and your family, with the people, do what they do and release yourselves when they release themselves; then, when the following year comes, perform the Hajj, you and your wife, and offer a sacrifice; if you cannot find one, fast three days during the Hajj and seven when you return.Reported by Ibn Abi Shaybah (3/164), al-Daraqutni (3/50), al-Hakim (2/74) and al-Bayhaqi in al-Sunan al-Kubra (5/167), who said: its chain is authentic; al-Nawawi likewise authenticated its chain in al-Majmu' (7/335)
The point of the argument: this narration and the reports of the same kind from the Companions are general concerning the muhrim who has intercourse, without distinction between before the standing and after it; the ruling of both cases is therefore one and the same: corruption and the obligation of the fidyah; for intercourse is known to be a corrupter of the Hajj only because it corrupts the ihram, and the ihram after the standing persists as long as the pillar of the Hajj persists, namely the tawaf of visitation (tawaf al-ziyarah); and it is inconceivable that the pillar persists without the ihram; so the state after the standing became like the state before it (al-Istidhkar, 4/258; Bidayat al-Mujtahid, 1/495; Hashiyat al-Adawi, 1/485; al-Sharh al-Kabir, 2/68; al-Sharh al-Saghir, 2/61; al-Umm, 7/244; al-Majmu', 7/349; Nihayat al-Muhtaj, 2/456; al-Ifsah, 1/487; al-Mughni, 4/466).
The Hanafis, as well as Malik in one narration, held that whoever has intercourse after the standing at Arafah and before the first release has a complete Hajj and owes a badanah. Al-Kasani (may Allah have mercy on him) said: the essential pillar of the Hajj is the standing at Arafah, according to the statement of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):
The Hajj is Arafah.Authentic hadith, reported by al-Tirmidhi (889), al-Nasa'i (3016) and Ibn Majah (3015)
that is, the standing at Arafah; whoever stands at Arafah has therefore completed his Hajj, the Prophet having informed that the Hajj is completed by the standing itself. It is known that what is meant is not the completion that is the opposite of deficiency, for that is already established by the standing alone; so it is known that what is meant is the Hajj's exit from susceptibility to corruption and loss.
And the standing is a pillar independent in itself, in its existence and validity, which does not depend on the other pillar; what has existed and passed in a state of validity is not annulled except by a reversal, and none occurred; and if the past is not corrupted, the remainder is not corrupted, for its corruption would follow from it. Nevertheless, the badanah is due from him (Bada'i' al-Sana'i', 3/297).
They also supported this with the statement of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the hadith of Urwah ibn Mudarris al-Ta'i:
He had stood at Arafah before that, by night or by day; he has therefore completed his Hajj and performed his tafath.Authentic hadith, cited earlier in this chapter
The tafath is the washing and grooming by which one comes out of the state of ihram.
The point of the argument: the reality of the completion of the Hajj that emerges from the two hadiths, namely "The Hajj is Arafah" and "he has completed his Hajj", does not require the persistence of the tawaf of visitation, which is a pillar by consensus; so one must hold that the Hajj is complete by ruling, and the ruling-based completion consists in being safe from the corruption of the Hajj after it; the hadith therefore indicates that the Hajj is not corrupted after Arafah whatever the muhrim does (Tibyin al-Haqa'iq, 2/58; Fath al-Qadir, 2/240, 241; al-Maslak al-Mutasqit, p. 226; al-Istidhkar, 4/258; Bidayat al-Mujtahid, 1/495; Hashiyat al-Adawi, 1/485; al-Sharh al-Kabir, 2/68; al-Sharh al-Saghir, 2/61).
It is only by what is reported from Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that the badanah is made obligatory:
He was asked about a man who had intercourse with his family while in the state of ihram and was at Mina before the ifadah; he ordered him to sacrifice a badanah.Reported by Malik in al-Muwatta (858), al-Shafi'i in al-Umm (7/244) and al-Bayhaqi in al-Sunan al-Kubra (5/171); al-Nawawi said in al-Majmu' (7/335): its chain is authentic
As for whoever has intercourse after the first release: the four imams agreed that intercourse after the first release does not corrupt the Hajj; the Malikis annexed to it the intercourse after the tawaf of ifadah even if it occurs before the stoning, as well as the intercourse after the day of sacrifice before the stoning and the ifadah.
They nevertheless differed over the compensation due on him. The Hanafis, the Shafi'is in one opinion and the Hanbalis within the school held that a sheep is due from him; for it is intercourse that did not corrupt the Hajj and therefore does not require the badanah, like intercourse short of the vagina without ejaculation; and because the ruling of ihram became lighter with the first release, what triggers it should therefore be less than what is triggered by the complete ihram.
The Malikis, the Shafi'is in one opinion and the Hanbalis in one narration held that a badanah is due from him; for he had intercourse during the Hajj, so the badanah is due from him, as if he had it before the stoning of jamrat al-aqabah; and by the preceding statement of Ibn Abbas. Al-Baji explained this by the greatness of janabah (the major impurity) upon the ihram.
Imam Malik and the Hanbalis obligated whoever has intercourse after the first release and before the ifadah to come out into the state of full release and to perform an umrah. Al-Baji (may Allah have mercy on him) said: this is because, when a deficiency was introduced into his tawaf of ifadah by the intercourse that befell him, he must make it up with a tawaf free of that deficiency; and a tawaf in ihram is only valid within a Hajj or an umrah (al-Muntaqa, 3/9, 10). The Hanafis and the Shafi'is did not require that (al-Hidayah, 2/241; Sharh al-Kanz by al-Ayni, 1/103; al-Tanbih, 1/73; al-Majmu', 7/350; al-Mubdi', 3/164; al-Insaf, 3/499, 501; Matalib Uli al-Nuha, 2/350; al-Ifsah, 1/488; and the other previous sources).