Hadj Program

Hajj is Islam's fifth principle. In other words, it is fard to go and visit the Kaba al- muazzama once in a lifetime. The second and later hajjes become supererogatory. The lexical meaning of hajj is 'to mean, to do, to wish.' In the Sharia it means to visit a certain place by doing certain things at a certain time. These certain things are called Manasik. Each of these Manasik, (that is, singular form of Manasik), is called Nusuk. Nusuk means worship. Hajj and Umra also are called nusuk. In the tenth year of the Hegira Rasulullah 'sallallahu alaihi wa sallam' went on hajj on his camel named Kuswa. It is written at the end of the chapter about Friday Prayer in the book Durr-ul-mukhtar, "A person who goes (to the Kaba) both for trade and for hajj gets thawab if hajj occupies the major part of his intention. [The amount of the thawab varies in proportion to the scope of the intention for hajj]. If his intention for trade is greater or if the two intentions are equal, he cannot attain the thawab for hajj. But if he fulfills its precepts he will have performed the fard only. Thus, he will escape the torment for not having done the fard. So is the case with the thawab for any worship or pious deed which is done for ostentation".

A person who performs the hajj is called a hajji. There are three kinds of hajjis:

1. Mufrid hajji: a person who intends only for hajj when putting on the ihram. Inhabitants of Mecca can be mufrid hajji only.
2. Qarin hajji: a person who intends both for hajj and for umra. First he performs the tawaf [Visiting, and going around the blessed Kaba at Mecca.] and sa'i [Performance of the course between Safa and Merva.] for umra and then, without taking off his ihram and without cutting his hair, performs the tawaf and sa'i again, this time for hajj on the days of hajj. There is more thawab for the qiran hajj than for either of the other two kinds.
3. Mutamatti' hajji: he puts on the ihram to perform umra in the months of hajj, performs the tawaf and sa'i for umra, cuts his hair, and takes off his ihram. He does not go back to his home town (or country) but, on the day of tarwiya [The eighth day of Zu'l-hijja.], or earlier, in the same year, wears ihram for hajj, and performs the hajj like a mufrid hajji. Only, he performs the sa'i after the tawaf, too. Thawab for this tamattu' hajj is more than that of the ifrad hajj (first kind). The months for hajj are Shawwal and Zu'l-qada, plus the first ten days of Zu'l-hijja. It is wajib for the qarin and mutamatti' hajjis to perform the thanksgiving qurban. If they do not, they will have to fast on the seventh, eighth and ninth days of Zu'l-hijja and also for seven more days after the 'Iyd (of qurban). All these days add up to ten days. Meccans cannot be qarin or mutamatti' hajji.

Umra means the performance of the tawaf and sa'i with the ihram on and the shaving or cutting of the hair on any day of the year except the five days allotted for hajj. Doing umra once in a lifetime is sunnat muakkad in (the Madhhabs of) Hanafi and Maliki, while it is fard in Shafi'i and Hanbali. The hajj which is fard is called Hajj-i akbar or Hajjatul-Islam. Umra is called Hajj-i asghar.

The hajj has conditions, faraid (fards), wajibs, and sunnas. It has two kinds of conditions:

1. Conditions for incumbency. They are eight according to Imam azam:
   1. To be a Muslim.
   2. For a person living in a country of disbelievers to hear (or know) that the hajj is fard.
   3. To be discreet.
   4. To have reached the age of puberty.
   5. To be free; not to be a slave.
   6. In addition to the necessary livelihood, to have halal money sufficient for the round trip for hajj and also for the subsistence of the household who will be left at home. The prescribed necessary livelihood here is the same as that which is prescribed for zakat. He who has haram property is liable not for the hajj but for returning the property to its rightful owner (or owners). A person who goes on hajj with haram property will escape the torment for not having performed the hajj but will not attain the thawab for hajj. It is similar to performing namaz at a usurped place. Such people should not be discouraged from worshipping. Sins do not debar worships. A person who doubts whether his money is halal must, as written in The Fatwa of Yahya Effendi, borrow money from a person whose earnings are halal, and spend it on the hajj to attain the thawab. And then he must pay his debt out of his doubtful money. [Pious Muslims have followed this procedure in defraying their needs.]
   7. For the time of hajj to have arrived. The time of hajj consists of five days: the 'Arafa day, and the (four) days of 'Iyd. The time spent on the way being taken into consideration, it becomes fard for a person who has the conditions for incumbency at the beginning of this time (for hajj) to go and perform the hajj once in his lifetime. A person who is in Dar-ul- Islam and who has property must know whether or not hajj is fard for him when the time for hajj comes.
   8. Not to be too blind, too ill, too old, or too disabled to go on hajj.
2. Conditions for performance are four:
   1. Not to be imprisoned or debarred.
   2. For the route to be taken for hajj and for the place of hajj to be safe and without danger. The hajj is not fard when one is compelled to go by dangerous means, by ship, train, bus or plane. During years when highwaymen attack the hajjis' lives and possessions it is not fard to go on hajj. But the murder of a few hajjis is not an excuse (for not going on hajj). On hajj, it is permissible to pay the tax or bribes charged for entering the country. Bribery is always permissible when it is for saving one's life or property. But it is sinful to ask for bribe.
   3. To go on hajj, a woman who lives in a place three-days-plus-three-nights' way (by walking) to Mecca has to be accompanied by her husband or by an eternally mahram relative whom she can never marry and who is not on record sinning. Also, the woman must be rich enough to meet his expenses too. A hadith, which is quoted by Bazzar in Kunuz ud-daqaiq, declares, "A woman cannot go on hajj without her mahram accompanying her." Because we live in an age when mischief and wrongdoing are on the increase, one should not travel with a person who is one's relative through marriage or rida. The husband cannot prevent his rich wife from going on hajj with a mahram relative of hers once. For a husband does not have the right to prohibit his wife from doing the faraid. Again, it is written at the end of the chapter about the afflictions incurred through speech, "The husband can prohibit his wife from going on nafila (supererogatory) hajj with her mahram relative. If she goes with his permission, her livelihood will be provided by her husband throughout the course of her going and coming back, but not if she goes without his permission". Please see the section dealing with a marriage contract with stipulated conditions in the thirty-fourth chapter of the second part of the Turkish version. According to Shafi'i Madhhab, a woman without a mahram relative accompanying her can go on a hajj which is fard for her by joining two other women. It will be an excuse for a woman whose mahram dies on the way of hajj to imitate the Shafi'i Madhhab.
   4. For a woman not to be in the state of iddat, that is, not to be newly divorced.

By the year a person has the conditions for performance as well as the conditions for incumbency the hajj becomes fard for him. If he dies on his way to hajj in the same year, he becomes absolved from the hajj. In this case he does not have to request in his last will the sending of a deputy. But he becomes sinful if he does not go that year. If he puts off going on hajj until a few years later, he becomes gravely sinful. For, insisting on small sins causes grave sins. If he becomes ill, imprisoned, or disabled on his way for hajj or at home in one of the later years, he will have to send a deputy in his place or money from his country, or request it in his last will. If he recovers after sending the money, he will have to go in person, too. If he goes on hajj in a later year, his sin for delaying the hajj will be forgiven. According to Imam Muhammad and Shafi'i, it is permissible to put it off until later years.