Q. Two years ago, I intended to offer the pilgrimage on behalf of my deceased mother, having offered my own pilgrimage earlier. We started with several cars from Dammam, and I declared my intention to do the pilgrimage as I left home. When we were half way on our journey, our car was involved in a serious accident that left one passenger dead and all others injured. I was transferred to a hospital in Alkhobar where I stayed for 10 days. Needless to say, I missed the pilgrimage then. I did not manage it this year either. What is my position?

A. S. Trowbridge (Mrs.), Dammam

A. Obviously the accident took place a long way before reaching the meeqat. As such I take it the lady was not yet in consecration, or ihraam. Hence, nothing is required. It is like any one who intends to go for pilgrimage but before he starts, he is prevented from fulfilling his intention. He has not started the pilgrimage. Therefore, nothing is needed.

What worries me in the question, however, is the lady’s saying that she declared her intention to do the pilgrimage before she left home. Does this mean that she actually entered into consecration, or ihraam before leaving home? In order to make this clear I ask, had she had a man companion doing the same as she did, would he have put on his ihraam garments at the time and said something like: "I intend to do the pilgrimage, my Lord, so facilitate it for me and accept it from me." If the answer is yes, then she would have started her pilgrimage already and she was in ihraam. In this case, she would have needed to slaughter a sheep and have it sent to the Haram area where it should be distributed to the poor there and then she would be released from ihraam. But if she only meant that her trip was intended for pilgrimage and that she would enter into ihraam or consecration at the point of meeqat, then nothing is required.

What remains is that since she wanted to do the pilgrimage on behalf of her late mother, she should do so as soon as circumstances allow in order to gain a great reward both for her and for her mother.

Fasting when pregnant, zakah liability

Q.1. My wife was pregnant when Ramadan approached. She was poorly most of the time, and a doctor advised her not to fast as fasting was not good for her health. How and when does she compensate for her not-fasting?

Q.2. I am the only wage earner in my family and I support my parents and other members of the family, in addition to my wife and children. This means that only very little is left of my salary at the end of any month. I have only a small amount of savings and the jewelry which my wife wears. What is my zakah liability?

Z.A. Zinde, Al-Kharj

A.1. Pregnancy and breast-feeding may represent considerable strain for a woman. Fasting also may affect some people considerably, particularly those who are weak or having to cope with much strain. Hence, Islam allows women who are pregnant or breast-feeding not to fast in Ramadan. Should a reliable doctor advise a pregnant woman not to fast, then she should surely act on his advice in order not to bear considerable strain which may affect her health or the health of her baby.

There are two types of compensation for not fasting as a result of a valid exemption. These are: 1) fasting at a later date, one day for each day which a person does not fast in Ramadan; and 2) feeding a poor person two meals for each day. The first type is the one to be followed in all cases where it is possible, such as a person who travels in Ramadan and avails himself of the concession for travelers. He fasts after the month is over when he is no longer a traveler.

The other type is for a person who is chronically ill, or an old person who finds fasting too much of a strain. A pregnant or breast-feeding lady may make compensation in this way, particularly if her general health is not very sound. She may also do that if she does not fast one year for pregnancy and the following year for breast-feeding, and then again for pregnancy, etc. That makes her miss several months of fasting. Compensation by fasting may become a heavy burden for her, particularly if she ends up having to fast for several months. She may compensate by feeding a poor person, or several poor persons, two meals per person for each day. The meals should be of the average type she eats at home.

A. 2. You have to differentiate between your zakah liability and that of your wife. You speak of your wife’s jewelry as if it was your own. Who owns it? If it is hers, then she is responsible for its zakah, if it is liable to zakah. If all her jewelry was bought by you, and you gave it to her as a gift, she still owns it. However, if you told her at the time that it is yours but she may wear it, then it is yours. In this case, it is liable to zakah. If it is hers and she holds it for her personal use, then it is not liable to zakah, unless she considers it a form of saving. In this latter case, i.e. jewelry kept as savings, it is zakahable.

Your savings in the bank are too small to be liable to zakah. These savings are below the threshold of zakah, which is equivalent to the value of 85 grams of gold. Unless you own that amount above what you need for your family’s expenses, then you are not liable to pay any zakah. This means that if the jewelry your wife uses is yours, then you should pay zakah for both the jewelry and savings because in this case, you have more than the threshold of zakah.

Marriage and dowry

Q. The dowry system in India places a heavy burden on families with daughters. What should be done in order to eradicate this system? May I also point out the fact that families insist on marrying within their own class, dividing Muslims into different classes and giving each certain distinctions, so that their privileges may be perpetuated. Please comment.

S. A. Parwez, Jubail

A. I have repeatedly pointed out that the dowry system as practiced in India and Pakistan is contrary to the Islamic system of marriage. In Islam, it is the man who has to pay a dowry to his prospective wife. In those countries, it is the reverse, with a man demanding a large amount of money, or gold, for the "great privilege" he is about to confer on the woman’s family by marrying her. This leads to difficult problems for both families, especially when the marriage does not settle well.

The proper way for Muslims of these countries is to return to the correct Islamic method of marriage, requiring the husband to pay a dowry to his wife, as her right in return for becoming lawful to her husband. That dowry becomes her own property, and she has sole control of it. This is the proper way, because it is the husband who is receiving an advantage as a result of marrying, and he should pay for that advantage.

The only way to ensure such a return to the Islamic way is for scholars to start a campaign of educating the public in the proper way of Islamic marriage. This should be supplemented by encouraging young men of marriageable age to relinquish what they may receive when the Hindu traditions are adopted, i.e. getting a dowry, and to opt for the Islamic way. Moreover, families with daughters in marriageable age must be encouraged to take a stand, refusing to pay anything to prospective suitors, even if that would mean that some girls would remain unmarried. All this requires a determined and coordinated effort, in which the government, particularly in Pakistan, may assist. The point to be stressed is that the dowry system, as now practiced, is borrowed from Hinduism. When people realize this, they will be ready to discard it.

The criterion for selecting a marriage partner is piety and God-fearing. The Prophet says: "When a man of an acceptable standard of faith and honesty comes to you with a proposal of marriage, then accept his proposal. Unless you do, much strife and corruption will spread in the land.

Other considerations, such as wealth, social position, connections, etc. are of no value in the Islamic system.

Marriage and separation

Q.1. Is it true that when a husband and wife have been living separately for more than six months, their marriage becomes invalid and that they will have to go through a remarriage if they want to continue to live together?

Q. 2. Should one recite the Qur’an aloud in night worship, or tahajjud? How many rakaahs is this prayer, and how is it performed?

I. Khalimbol, Riyadh

A.1. No, all this is wrong. A marriage is a bond made by God, and it can be dissolved only through the ways He has laid down. These do not include separation of the spouses. What the reader is confusing here is the fact that a man should not stay away from home for more than four months without his wife’s consent and the effect of such absence on his marital status. If he stays away for that duration and his wife objects to any longer absence, then she is entitled to apply for divorce on grounds of husband’s absence. There are other rulings concerning long absence, but the marriage is never automatically dissolved. There must always be an application by the wife for nullification of the marriage when her husband is away for a prolonged period of time.

A. 2. Night worship, or tahajjud, may be offered with the Qur’an being recited aloud, if a worshiper is offering it alone. If he is in a congregation, then the imam will read the Qur’an aloud, as it is the case in taraweeh. In fact, taraweeh is of this type of prayer, but it is offered in Ramadan only.

The form of tahajjud, or night worship is the same as taraweeh. It is offered normally in pairs, two rakaahs at a time, and one may read a long passage of the Qur’an if one wishes to do so. If a group is praying together in congregation, then the imam must observe the requirement of making his prayers short in order that no one in the congregation finds it hard.