Q. My wife and I performed the pilgrimage this year with a tour group. We started our preparations long before the pilgrimage, taking notes and determining our procedure. We were eager to perform every step in the right way, and to endeavor to do every Sunnah. However, we could not do things according to our plan, due to our being with this group. For example, instead of spending 8th of Dul Hijjah in Mina, our group left Jeddah late on that day, arriving in Makkah about 10 p.m. We did the tawaf and proceeded directly to Arafat. Again we were late in leaving Arafat, arriving in Muzdalifah shortly before dawn. Our subsequent stay in Mina was in fact beyond its limits. So my wife wants us to repeat the pilgrimage next year. I wonder if we need to pay any penalty. Please advise.
S.R. Uayan
A. The Prophet (peace be upon him) performed his pilgrimage in a particular way, which remains the best and most appropriate way to perform this great act of worship. However, he made clear during his pilgrimage that this act of worship is very strongly linked to making things easy, not difficult. Therefore, wherever there is a difficulty, it should be removed and things should be made easier. There are four duties of pilgrimage that become due on 10th of Dul Hijjah. The Prophet performed them in a certain order. Many of his companions came to him saying that they did not follow the same order, but they did this or that duty before another. Every conceivable permutation was put to him. In all these cases, he said to the questioner: “There is no harm in what you did.” Had he required them to do their duties in a particular order, he would have told them so. On the contrary, he accepted every variation.
Nowadays, with the number of pilgrims getting close to 3 million, we appreciate better the spirit with which the Prophet ensured that ease will continue to be exercised during the pilgrimage. Unless it is so, there will be no way that all the pilgrims would be able to perform their duty at the appropriate time.
On the basis of what you told me I can say that your pilgrimage is correct and valid. No penalty or compensation is due from either you or your wife. You might have omitted one Sunnah or another, or you might have arrived in Arafat early and arrived late in Muzdalifah, but it is all within the right time. If you decide to do the pilgrimage again, you should be aware that the new one is voluntary as the one you have just finished is your obligatory pilgrimage. May God reward you well for it.
Ablution and Washing One’s Feet
Q. I am told that a person who wears leather shoes and socks after having performed ablution does not need to wash his feet again in a fresh ablution during the day. If this is correct, it helps a great deal. Please explain.
A. Faruq
A. If you perform a complete ablution in the morning, for Fajr prayer or before going out to work, and wear your socks before invalidating it, you can for the rest of the day and the following night wipe over your socks whenever you perform a fresh ablution. The wiping may be done with wet fingers over any part of the top of your feet, once only.
This is a symbolic action, but some people do it to exaggeration, wiping both the top and the bottom of their feet three times, with all their palms. Such exaggeration is not appropriate.
Wiping with just one finger over the top of the foot is enough, but with three fingers is better. Al-Mugheerah ibn Shubah reports: “I was with the Prophet (peace be upon him) one night on a journey. I poured water for him to perform the ablution.
He washed his face and arms and wiped his head. I went down to take off his shoes, but he said to me: ‘Leave them, for I had washed my feet when I wore them.” (Related by Ahmad, Al-Bukhari and Muslim.) As clearly indicated, this Hadith is highly authentic, and scholars have explained that whatever is worn on feet, such as socks, is adequate to follow the Prophet’s example.
Some scholars state certain requirements for what is worn to justify using this concession, but these requirements are not supported by any clear or authentic evidence. Therefore, they need not be considered.
The reader mentions wearing leather shoes. This is the result of confusion by some people as they report the ruling. In the past people wore light leather shoes, with thin soles, either over or in place of socks, and wore ordinary shoes over these. Such light shoes are known as khuff. People who wore these wiped over them and went into the mosque wearing them.
Wearing such shoes, or khuff, is not a condition for using this concession. Anything worn over the feet, covering them, is good enough to exercise the concession in the way I explained. Once the socks are taken off, or the time allowed has expired, a complete fresh ablution is needed.