The Hajj ( Part 2)

بسم الله الرحمان الرحيم
In the Name of Allah,
the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.



who is considered able to
perform the Hajj

Those able to perform the hajj are of two
types : those able to perform the hajj in
person, and those able to fulfill the hajj by
sending someone in their stead.

Those able to perform the
hajj in person

The conditions for being considered able to
perform the hajj in person are :

(a) to be healthy ( enough to ride there without
serious harm ) ;

(b) to be able to obtain provisions for the trip ;

(c) to have transportation suitable to someone
like oneself ( though if one cannot find any, or
if it is more than the usual price ( usual mean-
ing that the fare to the hajj is no more than the
fare to another destination of comparable dis-
tance ), then one is not obliged to perform the
hajj ) ;

( all of the above ( (b), (c), and (d) ) apply
equally to the journey there and back )

(e) to be able to pay for (b), (c), and (d),
round trip, with money one has that is in
excess of the amount one requires to sup-
port the members of one's family and clothe
them while one is travelling there and back,
and obtain lodgings for oneself ; and that is
in excess of any money one owes for debts,
even those not yet due ( scholars agree that
a debtor is not obliged to perform the hajj
even when his creditor does not mind post-
poning the debt until after the hajj, and that
a person is not obliged to perform the hajj
when someone is willing to loan him the
money to do so ( though such a person's
hajj would be valid, as previously discussed);

(f) and that a route exist that is safe for one's
person and property from predators and ene-
mies, whether the latter be non-Muslims or
whether highwaymen wanting money, even
when the amount is inconsiderable ( including
so-called hajj fees, which  are not permitted
by Sacred Law ). If there is no route except
by sea, then one must take it if it is usually safe,
but if not, then it is not obligatory.

( These are the conditions for the obligatoriness
of the hajj or 'umrah, meaning that if one of them
is lacking, the hajj and 'umrah are not obligatory
for that year, though if one performs them anyway,
one's performance validly fulfills the rites which
Islam imposes, as mentioned above )

 Extracts from
Ahmad ibn Naqib al- Misri
Reliance of the Traveller
Tran .. Nuh Ha mim Keller