Q. Is it appropriate to perform the Umrah on behalf of a deceased person? Are there any conditions, such as the deceased being in need of having it performed on his behalf? Must it start at the meeqat? Is it obligatory that one should wash the ihraam garments for a second Umrah? Can it be done on behalf of living people?
A.B. Khan
A. Like the pilgrimage, the Umrah can be offered on behalf of another person, subject to certain conditions. The first is that the person performing it should have done his own duty of pilgrimage and Umrah first. If he is offering only the Umrah on behalf of someone else, he does not have to have performed the pilgrimage. There are no conditions on the status of the deceased or his having performed the pilgrimage or the Umrah in his or her own lifetime. Suppose that a son wants to perform the pilgrimage on behalf of either one of his parents, this is a highly dutiful action for which he stands to earn rich reward from God, while the parent will have the reward of the pilgrimage or the Umrah performed on his or her behalf. One can do either duty on behalf of other deceased people. This is a form of a gift, or charity, which God accepts if He so pleases, and both the giver and the receiver benefit by it.
When you ask about the need of a deceased person to have it done, this sounds strange. What person is not in need of an additional reward that can improve his status on the Day of Judgment? Everyone will be very grateful for such a gift.
If you wish to do the Umrah on behalf of another person, you must approach it in the same way as you do when you offer the Umrah on your own behalf. It starts with entering into the state of consecration, or ihraam, at the point of meeqat. If you are in Makkah already and you want to do a second Umrah, you have to go to the nearest point of the Hil area, which is Al-Taneem or Al-Ji’irranah, where you start your ihraam. If you have already used your ihraam garments, you are recommended to have them washed if they are unclean. This is not obligatory, but part of the good manners that we need to observe in offering worship.
Neither the pilgrimage nor the Umrah may be offered on behalf of a living person, except in the case when that person is too ill or poorly or weak to undertake the journey himself. In this case, he or she should ask someone to do the duty on his behalf, paying all their expenses. The practice of expatriates who try to do as many Umrahs as possible on behalf of different members of their extended families is not a proper one. They should remember that these duties are required only of those who meet the condition of ability to undertake them. The ability is both physical and financial. If one is unable to do it, one is not required to do so. And if a person is not required to do the pilgrimage, how can you do it on his behalf? If he is so dear to you, as in the case of your parents, then invite them to do it at your expense, if you can afford that. You will still earn rich reward from God for the money you pay, and they will earn the reward of the pilgrimage. The easy way out of doing it on behalf of friends and relatives is not on.
Shortening Prayers in Hometown
Q. Can a person working here in Saudi Arabia shorten prayers as a traveler when he goes back home on vacation, staying in his parents’ home? For how long can he do so? Does this apply if he has fixed his return journey?
Y. Zakir
Q. Why do we shorten prayers when travelling? Should we not offer Sunnah and nafl during travel? Does this apply to the Sunnahs of Fajr and Maghrib; or to the witr?
A. Rashid
A. Every travel provides an opportunity to exercise the concession granted by God to travelers, allowing them to shorten every obligatory 4-rak’ah prayer to 2 rak’ahs only, and not to fast in Ramadan while travelling, provided they compensate by fasting later. It does not matter where one stays at his destination. If he is a traveller, he shortens his prayers. A person who stays for a week or ten days in his own house in his hometown but works and lives abroad, may shorten his prayers on his home visits.
The important question here is for how long can one be considered a traveller? This is not subject to any rigid rule, but rather to what people consider to be a travel. We do not have any limit specified for the duration of travel, but we can say that people’s customs define that. If you stay two weeks in a city where you do not normally live, you are a traveller there for the duration of your stay. If you stay several weeks, hoping to finish your business in a couple of days and to go back home, you are a traveller throughout your stay. But if you know that you will be staying in a town for a month or longer, you are not a traveller any more.
Why do we shorten our prayers in travel? This is a concession God has given us and we are well advised to exercise it. It is like an invitation given to a person. He should accept it if he has no valid justification for declining. You can treat it as an act of hospitality by God to whom we offer our prayers. Should we decline, our action is improper. It is an affront to reject God’s concession.
When the Prophet travelled, he shortened his 4-rak’ah prayers to two rak’ahs each, and he omitted all Sunnah or voluntary prayer, with the exception of the two rak’ahs before Fajr prayer and the witr after Isha. However, the witr is offered in one rak’ah only during travel. The Prophet tells us that when we miss any act of worship that we do voluntarily, such as praying Sunnah or fasting, for a valid reason such as illness or travel, God rewards us as if we have offered it until we regain our health or returned home.
