Q. Could you please let me know whether it is permissible to offer the pilgrimage or Umrah on behalf a deceased person or one who lives abroad.
Nur Aziz, Alkhobar
A. Offering the pilgrimage or the Umrah on behalf of a deceased person is perfectly legitimate. Indeed, if a person did not perform the pilgrimage in his lifetime, his heirs should set aside from his estate a sum of money sufficient to cover the expenses of someone who is willing to travel and do the pilgrimage on his behalf. The only condition for the substitute pilgrimage to be valid is that the person doing it should have offered his own obligatory pilgrimage first. If he did not, then his pilgrimage is counted as his own obligatory one, and not for the person on whose behalf he undertakes it.
A man may do the substitute pilgrimage on behalf of a woman or vice versa. If substitute pilgrimage is undertaken on behalf of a living person, this is only done in the case of that person being too ill to undertake the journey and he or she is unlikely to recover. Otherwise, pilgrimage is a personal duty and should be offered by the person himself.
God’s forgiveness
Q. Please explain the Hadith mentioning that God comes down to the nearest heaven at a particular time and which Qur’anic verses should be read at that time.
M. Hidayatullah
A. A Hadith speaks of God coming down to the nearest heaven every night before dawn and invites people who wish to declare their repentance of their sins promising them forgiveness. What is needed is simply to be genuine in one’s determination to stop the sin of which he is repenting and never to revert back to it. It is this resolve that makes the difference between a sincere repentance which ensures forgiveness and a merely verbal one that is not meant seriously. The Hadith does not mention any special verses to read at that time. Whatever act of worship we undertake will be highly rewarded.
It is also important to point out here that when the Prophet speaks of God coming down, this movement does not apply physically to God. It is a description for our benefit, indicating that God is close to us. Otherwise, God is near at all times. He does not need to come closer for any purpose. The whole concept of place, as we know it, does not apply to God. The same is true with regard to the concept of time. Therefore, when they are used in reference to God, this is only so in relation to us, not to God Himself.