Q. My husband and I went on pilgrimage 10 years ago, taking with us our very young daughter. At the time, I knew very little about religion, and I had to take care of the child while performing the duties of pilgrimage. I feel I want to do the pilgrimage again, particularly since I have learned much about Islam. My husband, however, refused to let me go with my sister and her husband, saying that the pilgrimage is a duty once in a lifetime. Yet we are spending much on holidays, food, clothes, etc. We have had several difficulties lately: could this be a punishment from God for my husband’s refusal to let me do the pilgrimage? My husband gives me an allowance for my own expenses. If I save some of this and use it for pilgrimage, is that acceptable?

(Name and address withheld)

A. The first point to clarify is that your difficulties are not a punishment from God for your husband’s attitude. God may punish people in this life for their sins, and your husband’s refusal to go on pilgrimage or to support your pilgrimage is no sin, because it is a voluntary pilgrimage, or Sunnah. The duty of pilgrimage is once in a lifetime, and both of you have done that. So, where is the sin in not going again? Everyone may have difficulties, because our life on earth is a test which we have to pass. This test may involve difficulties and hardship or affluence and blessings.

What you need to do is to make your husband understand that pilgrimage could be offered as voluntary, or Sunnah, in the same way as the Sunnah prayers which we may offer every day. It is a method to get our past sins wiped out. Everyone needs that, regardless of how good they are. Your husband appears through your letter to be a good person, devoted to his family and kind to his relatives. He may earn great reward from God for that, but doing the pilgrimage every few years is also a great act of submission to God, for which you stand to earn great reward.

If you save from your allowance and pay for the expenses of your and his pilgrimage, this will be a great act for which he may be indebted to you.

Ablution for tawaf

Q. You have stated that ablution is obligatory for doing the tawaf around the Kaaba. I have recently come across a ruling issued by the Deobandi school in India, stating that ablution is highly recommended for tawaf, but not obligatory. Please clarify.

M. Arif, Karachi

A. The overwhelming majority of scholars consider ablution, or wudhu, an essential condition for tawaf, not merely obligatory. When we speak of a condition we mean that the action itself will not be valid if the condition is not met. There are several Hadiths supporting this. In one of them, Ibn Abbas quotes the Prophet as saying: “Tawaf is a prayer. However, God has allowed speaking during tawaf. Whoever speaks while doing it should only say something good.” (Related by Al-Tirmidhi, Al-Hakim, Ibn Khuzaimah, Al-Daraqutni and others). Another highly authentic Hadith quotes Aishah as saying: “The first thing the Prophet did on arriving in Makkah was to do the ablution and perform tawaf.” (Related by Al-Bukhari and Muslim).

If a person doing the tawaf experiences doubt as to whether he has performed the ablution before he started, his tawaf is not valid. He must leave and perform the ablution and come back for his tawaf. If he has done the tawaf of the Umrah and then realized, after completing it, that he had not done the ablution first, he remains in ihraam until he has done a new tawaf after doing the ablution.

However, the Hanafi school of Fiqh does not consider the ablution a condition for the validity of tawaf, but makes it a duty. This means that if a person doing the Umrah or the pilgrimage performs the tawaf without having done the ablution, his tawaf is valid but he must compensate for omitting the duty of purification by slaughtering a sheep and giving the sacrifice to the poor in the Haram area. If a pilgrim does the tawaf when he is in the state of ceremonial impurity, i.e. janabah, or when a woman is in her period, the tawaf is valid but the compensation is a sacrifice of a cow or a camel, and they must repeat the tawaf while they are in Makkah.

As you see, the matter is serious indeed. I cannot find a basis for the ruling by the Deobandi school, which I certainly respect.

Arab News Islam 10 February 2003