Rulings on the hajj

Hajj, in the sacred sense, is the purposeful journey to the Sacred House and to Arafat in the months of hajj to perform set acts. ¹ It is an individual obligation on every adult who is able, once in a lifetime, established by the Qur'an, the Sunna and consensus. ² On whether it must be performed at once or may be delayed, Abu Hanifa (in the sounder of his two reports), Abu Yusuf, Malik (in the preferred view) and Ahmad hold that it is immediate, while al-Shafi'i and Muhammad ibn al-Hasan hold that it may be delayed. ^{2 3} The texts praise the merit of the hajj at length, including the report that a hajj accepted has no reward but paradise. ^{3 4} Five conditions of obligation are agreed: Islam, reason, puberty, freedom and capacity. The hajj of a madman is not valid; a child's hajj counts as a voluntary one. ^{5 6} General capacity has four elements: provision and a mount, bodily health, safety of the road, and the possibility of travel. ⁶ The majority require provision and a mount, while the Malikis accept the ability to walk with provision for a person in good health. ^{6 7} The majority also require that the provision and mount be owned beyond the basic needs, such as maintenance of dependants, housing and household goods. ^{7 8 9}

Capacity is the condition of obligation. The general elements are provision and a mount, bodily health, safety of the road, and the possibility of travel. ⁶ The majority require provision and a mount; the Malikis accept the ability to walk with provision for a person in good health. ^{6 7} The provision and mount must be owned beyond basic needs such as the upkeep of dependants, housing and household goods. A large house surplus to need must be sold, according to the Malikis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis, but not according to the Hanafis. ^{8 9 10} A woman must also have a husband or a mahram, or a trusted company of women in the view of some schools, and a woman in the waiting period after divorce or widowhood may not set out. ^{11 12 13 14} Bodily health is a condition of obligation for Abu Hanifa and Malik, and a condition only of performing the hajj in person for the Shafi'is, Hanbalis and the two companions of Abu Hanifa; the disabled person sends a deputy. ^{15 16} Safety of the road is a condition of obligation for the Malikis and Shafi'is, and of performing it in person in the sounder Hanafi view. ^{16 11} Possibility of travel is a condition of obligation for the Hanafis, Malikis and Shafi'is. ^{11 12}

Eight conditions make hajj count for the obligation, including remaining a Muslim until death, reason, freedom, puberty, and performing it oneself where able. ^{17 18} The hajj has a fixed time, the months of shawwal, dhu al-qa'da and the first ten days of dhu al-hijja, and a fixed place for its rites: Arafat for standing, the House for circumambulation, and the space between Safa and Marwa for the running. ^{19 17} The three forms, ifrad, qiran and tamattu', are all lawful by consensus, and qiran and tamattu' require an offering. ^{20 21} For preference, the Malikis and Shafi'is favour ifrad, the Hanafis qiran, and the Hanbalis tamattu'. ^{21 22}

The pillars are four for the majority: the state of ihram, standing at Arafat, the visit circumambulation, and the running; the Hanafis count two, standing and the visit circumambulation. ²³ Standing at Arafat is a pillar whose loss voids the hajj, beginning at the decline of the sun on the day of Arafat and lasting to dawn of the feast; the Malikis hold that the night is its time. ^{23 24} The visit circumambulation may be done from dawn of the feast by the Hanafis and Malikis, and from midnight of that night by the Shafi'is and Hanbalis; a delayed visit circumambulation is not dropped. ^{25 26 27} The running is seven rounds between Safa and Marwa and is a pillar for the three Imams, but a duty for the Hanafis. ²⁷ Staying at Muzdalifa is a duty for the majority and a sunna for the Hanafis. ^{28 29} On the feast day the pilgrim casts seven stones at the Aqaba pillar, sacrifices, shaves or trims, performs the visit circumambulation, and on the days of tashriq casts the three pillars in order before leaving Mina. ^{29 30 31 32} Duties are made good by a sacrifice, and a duty left out for a lawful excuse carries no sin. ^{27 33}

Shaving or trimming the hair is a duty for the Hanafis, Malikis and Hanbalis, and a pillar in the best-known Shafi'i view. ³⁴ Spending the nights of the days of tashriq at Mina is a duty for the majority, whose omission requires a sacrifice; the Hanafis hold it a sunna. ³⁴ The farewell circumambulation is a duty for the Hanafis, Hanbalis and, in the sounder view, the Shafi'is, and a sunna for the Malikis; it is not required of the lesser pilgrim for the Hanafis, nor of the people of Mecca in the Hanafi and Hanbali view, while the Malikis and Shafi'is require it of a Meccan who leaves on a journey that shortens prayer. A menstruating or post-partum woman does not perform it, and owes nothing for leaving it. ^{34 35} The majority require purity from minor and major impurity and the sequence after the visit circumambulation. ^{35 36}

Dependent duties are performed within a pillar or a duty of the hajj. The majority set conditions for validity of the circumambulation: purity, covered 'awra, starting at the Black Stone, and keeping the House on the right; the Hanafis add walking for the able and the two rak'as. ^{36 37} The order on the day of sacrifice is: the Aqaba pillar, then the sacrifice for the qarin and mutamatti', then shaving, then the visit circumambulation. ^{37 38} Whether the order is obligatory is disputed: the Hanafis, Malikis and a view of Ahmad require it, while al-Shafi'i and the two companions of Abu Hanifa treat it as a sunna; in either case the rite is valid. ^{38 39}

The sunan are desired and rewarded, and omitting them carries no sacrifice. ³⁹ They include the arrival circumambulation, a sunna for the Hanafis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis and a duty for the Malikis when the pilgrim entered the state of ihram outside the sacred zone. ^{39 40} It falls away for people of Mecca and those in the same position. ⁴⁰

The arrival circumambulation falls away for people of Mecca and those in the same position; the Malikis require it of one who entered ihram outside the sacred zone, unless he was a youth close to puberty (muraahiq), and owe a sacrifice for omitting it. ⁴¹ Its time runs from entering Mecca until standing at Arafat for the majority; it is performed like the visit circumambulation, without the exposed shoulder and the quick step unless running is brought forward. ⁴² The sermons: one at Mecca on the seventh of dhu al-hijja to teach the rites, held by the Hanafis, Shafi'is and Malikis; two on the day of Arafat before the prayer; a third at Mina on the eleventh for the Hanafis and Malikis, or on the day of sacrifice for the Shafi'is and Hanbalis; the Shafi'is and Hanbalis add a fourth on the second day of tashriq. ^{42 43} It is recommended to leave for Mina on the day of tarwiya after sunrise and to pray there the five prayers, a sunna for all the Imams. ⁴³ Going out to Arafat in the morning after sunrise is a sunna for the majority and recommended for the Hanbalis. ⁴⁴ Spending the night at Muzdalifa on the night of the feast and remaining there until full daylight is a sunna for the Hanafis and Shafi'is, recommended for the Malikis and desirable for the Hanbalis; the duty there is standing, not the night. ^{44 45}

Among the sunan is the sacrifice of a voluntary offering; the Prophet ﷺ slaughtered a hundred camels as a voluntary offering on his pilgrimage. ⁴⁵ Ghusl is desirable on entering Mecca for one who came from outside, and at Muzdalifa after midnight for the Hanafis and Shafi'is. ⁴⁵ It is also desirable to bring the visit circumambulation forward to the day of sacrifice, and to repeat prayers, supplication and remembrance. ⁴⁵ Halting at the Muhassab valley on the way back from Mina is recommended for the majority and a sunna for the Hanafis, but not required. ^{46 47} Prohibitions are of three kinds: disliked acts such as leaving a sunna; forbidden acts such as leaving a duty, which is sinful and carries a redemption; and invalidating acts, which concern the state of ihram in general. ⁴⁷

A woman has special rules. If she enters ihram and then menstruates before circumambulating, she waits until she has stood at Arafat and done the other rites, then performs the circumambulation and the running after she is clean; the farewell circumambulation is not dropped. ^{47 48} If she menstruates during the umra before standing at Arafat, the Hanafis hold that she enters the hajj and abandons the umra; others say she becomes a qarin. ⁴⁸ If she menstruates after standing and the visit circumambulation and leaves Mecca before she is clean, the farewell circumambulation falls away. ⁴⁸

Hajj on behalf of another is lawful according to the majority (Hanafis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis), on the basis of the reports of the Khath'ami and Juhayni women. Malik holds that the hajj is not transferable, and that a guardian should rather give alms or make a supplication for the dead. ^{48 49 50} The Shafi'is and Hanbalis require the hajj of a dead person to be done from his estate even without a bequest; the Hanafis and Malikis require a bequest. ^{51 52} The deputy must intend the hajj for the principal, perform it in person, begin at the principal's station, and if he acts against the instruction, the hajj does not count for the principal in Abu Hanifa's view. ^{52 53 54} Taking a fee for hajj is lawful for the Shafi'is and Malikis and void for Abu Hanifa, Ishaq and most Hanbalis. ^{54 55}

The pilgrim should learn the rules of the hajj and how it is performed, carry a clear manual of the rites, seek God's guidance for the year, repent, repay what he owes, and write his will. ^{56 57} It is recommended to please one's parents: if a parent forbids the obligatory hajj the prohibition is disregarded; for a voluntary hajj the Shafi'is hold in the sounder view that the parent may release him. ⁵⁷ The pilgrim should take care that his money is lawful. A hajj with unlawful money is valid outwardly, but is not an accepted hajj in the majority view; one report from Ahmad holds that it does not suffice. ^{57 58} On the road he should pray, remember God and keep good company; a sign that the hajj was accepted is that he is better after his return than before. ^{58 59} The article ends at the next headword, hajr (interdiction), which starts on the same page. ⁵⁹