DEFINITION AND OBLIGATION: Hajj is a journey to the sacred a House of Allah, the Ka’abah, to perform specific rituals at specific times and places. It is an obligation, only once in the Muslim lifetime. The Evidence for that is found in:

THE QUR’AN: “And complete the Hajj and Umrah in the service of Allah.” [2:194]

THE SUNNAH: “O people, Allah has prescribed Hajj upon you, so make Hajj.” (Muslim)

CONDITION FOR HAJJ: Islam, Sanity, Age of Maturity, Financial ability, which is defined as sustainance ( for one’s self and those he or she is responsible for while one is away for Hajj) and means of travel, Only for women: Having a Mahram.

MAHRAM FOR WOMEN: Mahram is the husband or any male relatives of the woman whom she is eternally prohibited to marry, like a son, brother etc. There are two possible alternatives for this condition:

She should not go to Hajj without a Mahram: This is the opinion of Abu Hanifah, Ibn Hanbal, and al-Hasan al-Basri. They cited the hadeeth narrated by Abu Hurairah, “it is not allowed for a woman who believe in Allah and His Prophet to travel for a day [or more] except with a Mahram.” (Bukhari and Muslim)

She may go to Hajj with a “Good Company”: Good Company means trustworthy women and men traveling together with her. Good Company can replace the Mahram. This is the opinion of Malik, Shafi’i and Ibn Saireen. They cited the incident of the Hajj of the Mothers of the Believers (Wives of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam) at the time of Year ibnul Khattab who ordered Uthman and Ali to accompany them to Hajj. (Bukhari)

CONDITIONS FOR MAHRAM: Maturity and Sanity.

HAJJ OF CHILDREN: If the child is young at the time of starting the Hajj, then he must repeat Hajj when he/she matures. If the child is mature at the start of Hajj, he does not need to repeat Hajj.

IHRAM: Ihram is the declaration of intention for, and actually commencing Hajj. If the child is younger than (7) seven years of age, his parents do the Ihram on his behalf, “A woman came to the Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, and held up her baby to him [so that he can see it] and said, ‘is Haaj counted for this baby?’ He said, ‘Yes, and you will be rewarded for doing that.’” (Muslim)

If he is over seven years of age, he makes Ihram by himself.

OTHER ACTS OF HAJJ: Everything the child can do by himself he should do, and what he cannot, the parents do it on his behalf.

If the child violated Ihram prohibition, the parents must pay Fidyah (Financial expiation) .

If the child is too young to make Tawaf (Circumambulation) by himself, the parents may carry him. If they do, then it has to be a separate Tawaf from theirs, i.e, they should not combine the two Tawafs together.

DYING WITHOUT PERFORMING HAJJ: If a Muslim dies without performing Hajj, the scholars are of two opinion with regards to this issue:

Hajj obligation is dropped; one will not be questioned about it. Yet, if a person wrote in his Will asking That Hajj be made in his behalf, it is to be done, and the cost is taken out from the fortune he left.

Hajj obligation is not dropped; Buraidah said, “A woman came to the Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, and said, ‘My mother died before making Hajj. Should I make it on her behalf?’ He said, ‘Yes, do that.’” (Muslim)

HAJJ BY PROXY: Hajj by substitute is allowed only if a person is permanently unable to do Hajj because of sickness or old age, for example. Ibn Abbas said that a woman came to the Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, and said, ‘my father is an old man who cannot sit still on the camel [cannot travel] can I make Hajj on his behalf?’ He said, ‘Yes.’” (Muslim)

One may also hire a substitute to make Hajj on his behalf.

A substitute could be a male and female.

A substitute may initiate Hajj from the place (town) where the person, he is substituting for, lives, or from his own place

Source: AlJUMUAH Volume 13