Should he give up his place in the Hajj lottery to his father even though he has not yet done the obligatory Hajj?
Question I am a young, married Algerian man, and I have not yet done the obligatory Hajj. Allah has blessed me this year, and my name was drawn from the lottery of people who have registered for Hajj in our country. It is well-known that spots are limited, and I was very happy, but my…
Question
My question is:
Should I go or should I let my father go in my place, by way of honouring my parents? Is it more important to fulfil this pillar of Islam or to honour one’s parents?
Praise be to Allah.
Firstly:
It is obligatory to do Hajj immediately;
once a person is able and has the means to do Hajj, he must hasten to do it,
and it is not permissible for him to delay it. This is the view of the
majority of scholars.
See the answer to question no.
41702
Secondly:
In the answer to question no.
132011 we stated that giving up an opportunity to
someone else with regard to acts of worship is of two types:
1.In the case of an obligatory
act of worship, it is not permissible to give precedence to someone else
with regard to it
2.In the case of a recommended
(mustahabb) act of worship, it is more appropriate not to give precedence to
someone else, but if there is an interest or purpose to be served by doing
that, then there is nothing wrong with it.
As you have not previously done the
obligatory Hajj, and Allah has made it easy for you this year to have your
name drawn in the Hajj lottery, then what you must do is perform Hajj on
your own behalf, because the obligatory Hajj is one of the obligatory duties
and pillars of Islam, and it is obligatory upon the one who is able to do
it. The means of being able to do it have become available to you, so you
must fulfil this obligatory duty towards Allah, may He be exalted, and it is
not permissible for you to give precedence to your father in the lottery,
because giving precedence to someone else with regard to obligatory acts of
worship is not permissible, as stated above.
You have to speak to your father gently
and apologise, and explain to him the Islamic rulings on this matter.
Performing this important pillar of Islam
takes precedence over honouring one’s parents if there is a conflict between
the two, and that does not come under the heading of disobedience to
parents; you can honour your father in other ways.
But if you go against that and you give
your father precedence over yourself, and he goes for Hajj instead, then his
Hajj is valid, but you must hasten to perform Hajj as soon as you are able
to.
The scholars of the Standing Committee
were asked: is it permissible for a person to send his parents for Hajj
before he goes for Hajj himself?
They replied: Hajj is obligatory for every
free, adult Muslim of sound mind who is able to perform it, once in a
lifetime. Honouring one’s parents and helping them to do the obligatory duty
is something that is prescribed to the extent that one is able. However you
have to do Hajj for yourself first, then you can help your parents, if it
was not possible for all of you to do Hajj together. But if you give your
parents precedence over yourself, their Hajj is valid. And Allah is the
source of strength.
End quote from Fataawa al-Lajnah ad-Daa’imah
(11/70-71)
And Allah knows best.
