This is the first in a series of six articles on pilgrimage, which aim to provide a step-by-step guide to this important Islamic duty of worship, and to remove its difficulties. In the final article we give a translation of the long Hadith, which details how the Prophet (peace be upon him) conducted his pilgrimage. This is particularly important, since he instructed all Muslims to learn the pilgrimage rituals from him, and follow his example in conducting their pilgrimage.
A Muslim who resolves to go for pilgrimage or Umrah, which is often defined as “minipilgrimage”, should do the following steps before embarking on his journey:
• Urge his family, friends and relatives to observe all Islamic teachings and to abide by God’s commandments;
• Write down any loans he might owe to others or are owing to him, so that everybody’s rights and duties are documented;
• Write his will. A Muslim is recommended to allocate a portion of his property, not exceeding one-third, to relatives who do not automatically inherit from him under Islamic law and to poor people;
• Repent of his past sins and mistakes and pay back to others whatever is due to them;
• Select the best of his money for the expenses of his journey. What this means is the money that he knows to have been earned in perfectly legitimate ways and from legitimate sources. The best of this is that earned by personal effort or for service that was done to the best of one’s ability. The pilgrimage is undertaken for God, and God accepts only what is pure and legitimate.
• Resolve to undertake his pilgrimage or Umrah purely for God’s sake. God accepts only such actions as are undertaken for the sole purpose of earning His pleasure. It is sufficient for a believer to feel that from the moment he begins his journey he is a guest of his Lord, enjoying His blessings, and sharing with a very large number of believers a trip of total devotion, purity, brotherhood and mutual love.
A pilgrim should guard against all sorts of sin because, as the Prophet says, a pure pilgrimage releases the pilgrim of all his past sins and leaves him as pure of sin as he was on the day he was born.
The pilgrimage is defined as a journey to the Sacred Mosque in Makkah which includes tawaf (i.e. walking around the Kaaba, sa’ie, (walking between the two hills of Al-Safa and Al-Marwah), attending at Arafat and completing all the duties incumbent on a pilgrim.
The pilgrimage is a duty to be performed at least once in a lifetime by every adult Muslim, man or woman, who is free, of sound mind and able to undertake it. It is the last of the five main duties of Islam. Hence, it is very important that every Muslim who has fulfilled the conditions that make him “able” to perform the pilgrimage should do so as soon as possible. If he leaves offering this duty from one year to another, he may die before he has fulfilled his duty. He then meets his Lord having neglected a main pillar of Islam. It may happen that a person who slackens will reach old age, when the pilgrimage becomes doubly difficult, before he has fulfilled his duty.
The Umrah is also considered a duty, or fardh, in the same way as the pilgrimage, by the Shafie and Hanbali schools of Fiqh. Other schools consider the Umrah a confirmed Sunnah. The duty of pilgrimage is fulfilled when a person offers it once. No Muslim is required to offer the pilgrimage a second time in his or her life. If anyone volunteers a second pilgrimage, or does it any number of times, he receives rich reward from God and he is forgiven his past sins every time he undertakes the pilgrimage journey. He who denies that the pilgrimage is a duty of Muslims is not a Muslim because he denies a part of the religion of Islam, which is essentially known, to every Muslim.
The Making of the Duty
Several conditions must be met before the pilgrimage becomes a duty for any particular person. If any of these conditions is not met, the person concerned is not necessarily required to offer the pilgrimage. The conditions are as follows:
To be an adult: A person is an adult if he or she has attained puberty. If a child offers the pilgrimage, his pilgrimage is valid and both the child and his parents are rewarded for it. Pilgrimage in childhood, however, cannot be a substitute for offering the pilgrimage after one becomes an adult. In other words, it does not discharge the duty, which becomes binding on attaining puberty;
To Be of Sound Mind
To be free: In the old days of slavery, a slave was not required to perform the pilgrimage. If he did, and then he subsequently attained his freedom, the pilgrimage he offered in his slavery days would not have relieved him of the duty to offer the pilgrimage after he has gained his freedom;
To be aware that the pilgrimage is a duty: This applies particularly to people brought up in non-Muslim countries;
A woman must be accompanied on her pilgrimage journey by her husband or one of her mahrams, i.e. her relatives whom she cannot marry, or by a group considered to be safe companionship. If she cannot find such company, she is not required to offer the pilgrimage. If such a companion is available but refuses to accompany her unless she pays his expenses, she is required to pay such expenses if she can afford to do so. If a woman takes the pilgrimage journey on her own, her pilgrimage is valid but she is not relieved of the sin of violating Islamic restrictions on women’s travel. No husband can prevent his wife from offering her first pilgrimage if she wants to do so. If he tries to prevent her, she may undertake the journey without his consent;
To be able to offer the pilgrimage: This ability is fulfilled if the following conditions are met: Physical ability. Any intending pilgrim must be of sufficient physical strength to do all the requirements of the pilgrimage; He must not be too weak to travel and fulfill the pilgrimage duties because of old age; His route should be safe. If he fears for his life or money, this condition is deemed not to have been met;
Financial ability: He should have sufficient funds to meet his necessary expenses on his journey and to leave his family enough to meet their reasonable expenses during his absence;
There should be no physical impediment preventing him from undertaking the journey, such as imprisonment, torture or punishment inflicted by a tyrannical ruler. We may add that he must be able to undertake the journey without violating the relevant rules either in his own country or in Saudi Arabia.
If someone who does not meet the ability conditions offers the pilgrimage despite his inability, his pilgrimage is valid.
The Essentials of the Pilgrimage
There are four essentials that must be done for the pilgrimage to be valid. To omit any of these four essentials is to invalidate one’s pilgrimage. These are the ihraam, attendance at Arafat at the time specified, the tawaf of ifaadah, and sa’ie between the two hills of Al-Safa and Al-Marwah. The Shafie school of Fiqh adds a fifth essential which is shaving one’s head (for men only) or shortening one’s hair. These essentials are done in the following order: Ihraam, then attendance at Arafat, the tawaf of ifaadah, shaving one’s head and then sa’ie. However, the sa’ie can be offered after the tawaf of arrival, and in this case it comes second in order.
We will discuss these essentials and other duties of the pilgrimage over the next few weeks.