If he has women with him, can he trot and jog (in tawaaf and saa‘i)?

Question

Praise be to Allah.

It is a Sunnah to trot in the first
three circuits of tawaaf and it is Sunnah to jog in saa‘i between the two
markers; these are two Sunnahs that apply to men, not women.

If a man is accompanying a woman or an
elderly person, and he is afraid he will lose them if he goes on ahead of
them, then he may walk with them and forego trotting and jogging.

Ibn Qudaamah (may Allah have mercy on him)
said: The tawaaf and saa‘i of women is all walking. Ibn al-Mundhir said: The
scholars are unanimously agreed that women do not have to trot around the
Ka‘bah or between al-Safa and al-Marwah, and they did not have to bare the
right shoulder. That is because the original purpose in both (tawaaf and
saa‘i) was to demonstrate strength, and that is not intended in the case of
women; and because women should be covered, and trotting and baring the
shoulder imply uncovering. End quote from al-Mughni, 3/197

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have
mercy on him) was asked: You referred to jogging in tawaaf and saa‘i… is
jogging only for men? And if a man has a woman or women with him, should
they run with him or not?

He replied:

Some scholars stated that the Muslim
scholars are unanimously agreed that women should not jog either in tawaaf
or saa‘i. I used to think initially that a woman should hasten between the
two markers in saa‘i, i.e., jog, because the origin of saa‘i is the story of
the mother of Ismaa‘eel [and he related the story of Haajar]. But when I saw
some of the scholars narrating that there was scholarly consensus that women
should walk and not hasten, I saw that the correct view is that women should
walk and not run.

There remains the issue of the mahram who
is with her: should he hasten and leave her behind, or should he walk with
her as she is walking? We say: If the woman can find her way by herself and
she has experience and there is no fear for her, there is nothing wrong with
the man trotting in the first three circuits and saying to her: After tawaaf
we will meet at Maqaam Ibraaheem; but if she cannot find her way by herself
and there is fear for her, then it is better for him to walk with her than
to jog or walk quickly between the two markers. End quote from al-Liqa’
al-Shahri, 7/21; Majmoo‘ Fataawa Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, 22/430.

If a sick or elderly person cannot walk
normally, there is nothing wrong with him walking slowly, according to his
ability. If it is too hard for him to do that, there is nothing wrong with
him doing tawaaf riding.

And Allah knows best.