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Hajj
and 'Umrah without a mahram
Question:
Someone from Germany asks: In Germany, a number of Muslim
sisters have recently embraced Islaam, Some of them are old
and others are young and many do not have a mahram
from their own family as no-one else from their family has
accepted Islaam. Is it therefore permitted for them to make
Hajj
or 'Umrah
with a group led by both Muslim men and women?
Response:
It is not correct that we say that such women should make
Hajj
or 'Umrah
because if a woman does not have a mahram,
Hajj
and 'Umrah
are not obligatory for her. However, there is another issue
here: Is it not obligatory for her to perform them or are
they not even obligatory upon in the first place.
What is more common in the Hanbalee Madhhab
is that Hajj
is not obligatory upon her in the first place, even if she
has enough money but has no mahram.
Hajj
is, therefore not obligatory upon her and if she dies she
would not be punished for not performing it.
Allaah
(Subhaanahu
wa Ta'aala) says: {And Hajj
to the House is a duty to Allaah, for whoever has the ability
to make the journey} [Soorah
Aal-'Imraan, Aayah
97].
Having the ability is a condition for it to be obligatory
and ability is of two kinds: ability according to Islaamic
law and material or physical ability. Health and sufficient
money are part of material ability while having a mahram is
a part of the ability required by Islaamic law. Whoever does
not have a mahram is like the one who does not have sufficient
money. Accordingly, we must assure those women that do not
have a mahram
that Hajj
is not obligatory upon them.
Some scholars, however, are of the opinion that having a mahram
is a condition for performing Hajj
and if a woman does not have one then she should appoint someone
to perform it instead of her if she has sufficient money.
She is like those who cannot perform Hajj
themselves because of old age and so someone else does it
for them.
In any case, there is a solution, and all praise is for Allaah,
for whichever opinion is followed. If we say that Hajj
is not obligatory upon her in the first place, then there
are no obligations upon her whatsoever, neither upon her wealth
nor upon her body. If we say that it is not obligatory for
her to perform it and she has sufficient money to do so, then
she should pay someone to perform it for her and it serves
instead of her performing it herself. There is, therefore
no difficulty or problem in the issue.
And
all praise is for Allaah.
Shaykh
Ibn 'Uthaymeen
al-Aqalliyaat al-Muslimah - Page 77, Fatwa No.18
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