The conditions that make Hajj obligatory
The conditions of ability (istita'ah): freedom, sanity, adulthood, physical capability, means and a safe route, plus the two further conditions for women.
Not everyone has to go to Hajj right away. Hajj only becomes something you must do once certain things are true about you. Together, these are called being 'able' (istita'ah).
To be able to go to Hajj, a person must be:
- Free, not enslaved.
- Sane in mind.
- An adult, not a child.
- Well enough in body to manage the journey and the rites.
- Able to afford the trip there and back, and to leave enough behind for the people who depend on them, without needing to borrow.
- Able to travel a route that is generally safe.
If even one of these is missing, Hajj is not yet fard on that person. A slave, someone who is insane, and a child do not have to go.
Someone who is crippled, blind, paralysed, very unwell, or so elderly that they cannot sit on a mount without great difficulty is, according to Imam Abu Hanifah, not required to go at all, not in person, and not by paying someone else to go for them. Imam Abu Yusuf and Imam Muhammad disagree: they say such a person must still pay for someone else to perform Hajj in their place, out of their wealth.
Being able to afford the journey means having enough money, after paying off debts and looking after one's family and household, to cover travel, food and lodging there and back, with some left over, not just barely enough.
It is better to perform Hajj riding rather than walking, so as to have the strength left for the rites, though walking is allowed, and is not disliked.
Hajj becomes fard on a person only once they possess istita'ah: the ability to perform it. All scholars agree that ability is a condition; what follows is what that ability consists of.
| Condition | What it requires | If it is missing |
|---|---|---|
| Freedom | Not being enslaved. | Hajj is not obligatory on a slave. If a slave performs it anyway, even with their master's permission, it does not discharge the fard; it counts as supererogatory (nafl), and the fard Hajj must be performed again once free and able. |
| Sanity | Being of sound mind. | Hajj is not obligatory on someone insane. |
| Adulthood (bulugh) | Having reached puberty. | Hajj is not obligatory on a minor. A boy's Hajj before adulthood counts as nafl, not as the discharge of the obligation; he must perform it again after reaching adulthood, if he is then able. |
| Physical capability | Not being so crippled, blind, paralysed, severely ill, or elderly that one cannot sit a mount without great difficulty. | According to Imam Abu Hanifah, such a person owes nothing at all: no personal Hajj, no Hajj from their wealth, and no will for it. According to Imam Abu Yusuf and Imam Muhammad, Hajj remains obligatory on their wealth, and they must arrange for someone to perform it on their behalf. |
| Means of transport | Owning it, or being able to hire it; borrowed or gratuitously provided transport does not count. | Without it, Hajj is not yet obligatory. |
| Provisions beyond one's needs | Enough, after debts, household expenses and the upkeep of dependants, to cover the round trip's food, drink and transport, according to one's own habits of living. | Without it, Hajj is not yet obligatory; a person is not considered able merely because a cheaper standard of living would technically get them there. |
| A route that is predominantly safe | Safety need not be absolute; an occasional incident does not remove it, but the balance of probability must favour safety, whether by land or sea. | If danger is at least equal to safety, the route does not count as safe, and Hajj is not yet obligatory. |
These conditions must hold either during the months of Hajj or when setting out from home, according to the fuqaha'.
Where any of these conditions is absent, Hajj is not obligatory on that person for the time being.
It is preferable to perform Hajj while riding, so as to retain strength for the rites; some point to a hadith praising the one who walks over the one who rides, but that hadith concerns the people of Makkah and its surroundings, who are not likely to be weakened by walking there. A person with the means who chooses to walk anyway may do so; walking by night is especially recommended in the lands of Arabia. Imam Malik holds that the condition of ability does not require the capacity to ride at all: health and the ability to walk suffice. For those living within three days' journey of Makkah, riding is not a condition provided they can walk, though provisions are still necessary.
اَلْحَجُّ اَشْهُرٌ مَّعْلُوْمٰتٌۚ فَمَنْ فَرَضَ فِيْهِنَّ الْحَجَّ فَلَا رَفَثَ وَلَا فُسُوْقَۙ وَلَا جِدَالَ فِي الْحَجِّؕ وَمَا تَفْعَلُوْا مِنْ خَيْرٍ يَّعْلَمْهُ اللّٰهُؕؔ وَتَزَوَّدُوْا فَاِنَّ خَيْرَ الزَّادِ التَّقْوٰيؗ وَاتَّقُوْنِ يٰٓاُولِي الْاَلْبَابِ ١٩٧
Wa tazawwadū fa inna khayra'z-zādi't-taqwā
The months of Haj are known; then whoso determines to perform Haj in these months, then there should be no mention of Copulation before women nor any sin nor quarrelling with anyone till the time of Haj; and whatever good you do, Allah knows it. And take necessary provision with you, the best provision is piety and remain fearing Me, O Men of under standing!
Qurʼan 2:197, Al-Baqarah, from Zujajah.org
These conditions apply to men. A woman, even an elderly one, has two further conditions.
| Condition | Detail |
|---|---|
| Not in her waiting period ('iddah) | She may not travel for Hajj while in 'iddah. |
| A mahram to accompany her | Her husband, or a mahram who could never marry her (whether by lineage, breastfeeding, or marriage ties), must travel with her without being compelled to. He may be Muslim or non-Muslim, free or a slave. |
According to the well-known narration, the woman must cover the mahram's own travel and provisions, though the more accurate opinion, reported in Mustata' ibn al-'Imad, is that she does not have to.
Hajj becomes fard on a person only once they possess istita'ah: the ability to perform it. All scholars agree that ability is a condition; what follows is what that ability consists of.
| Condition | What it requires | If it is missing |
|---|---|---|
| Freedom | Not being enslaved. | Hajj is not obligatory on a slave. If a slave performs it anyway, even with their master's permission, it does not discharge the fard; it counts as supererogatory (nafl), and the fard Hajj must be performed again once free and able. |
| Sanity | Being of sound mind. | Hajj is not obligatory on someone insane. |
| Adulthood (bulugh) | Having reached puberty. | Hajj is not obligatory on a minor. A boy's Hajj before adulthood counts as nafl, not as the discharge of the obligation; he must perform it again after reaching adulthood, if he is then able. |
| Physical capability | Not being so crippled, blind, paralysed, severely ill, or elderly that one cannot sit a mount without great difficulty. | According to Imam Abu Hanifah, such a person owes nothing at all: no personal Hajj, no Hajj from their wealth, and no will for it. According to Imam Abu Yusuf and Imam Muhammad, Hajj remains obligatory on their wealth, and they must arrange for someone to perform it on their behalf. |
| Means of transport | Owning it, or being able to hire it; borrowed or gratuitously provided transport does not count. | Without it, Hajj is not yet obligatory. |
| Provisions beyond one's needs | Enough, after debts, household expenses and the upkeep of dependants, to cover the round trip's food, drink and transport, according to one's own habits of living. | Without it, Hajj is not yet obligatory; a person is not considered able merely because a cheaper standard of living would technically get them there. |
| A route that is predominantly safe | Safety need not be absolute; an occasional incident does not remove it, but the balance of probability must favour safety, whether by land or sea. | If danger is at least equal to safety, the route does not count as safe, and Hajj is not yet obligatory. |
These conditions must hold either during the months of Hajj or when setting out from home, according to the fuqaha'.
Where any of these conditions is absent, Hajj is not obligatory on that person for the time being.
It is preferable to perform Hajj while riding, so as to retain strength for the rites; some point to a hadith praising the one who walks over the one who rides, but that hadith concerns the people of Makkah and its surroundings, who are not likely to be weakened by walking there. A person with the means who chooses to walk anyway may do so; walking by night is especially recommended in the lands of Arabia. Imam Malik holds that the condition of ability does not require the capacity to ride at all: health and the ability to walk suffice. For those living within three days' journey of Makkah, riding is not a condition provided they can walk, though provisions are still necessary.
اَلْحَجُّ اَشْهُرٌ مَّعْلُوْمٰتٌۚ فَمَنْ فَرَضَ فِيْهِنَّ الْحَجَّ فَلَا رَفَثَ وَلَا فُسُوْقَۙ وَلَا جِدَالَ فِي الْحَجِّؕ وَمَا تَفْعَلُوْا مِنْ خَيْرٍ يَّعْلَمْهُ اللّٰهُؕؔ وَتَزَوَّدُوْا فَاِنَّ خَيْرَ الزَّادِ التَّقْوٰيؗ وَاتَّقُوْنِ يٰٓاُولِي الْاَلْبَابِ ١٩٧
Wa tazawwadū fa inna khayra'z-zādi't-taqwā
The months of Haj are known; then whoso determines to perform Haj in these months, then there should be no mention of Copulation before women nor any sin nor quarrelling with anyone till the time of Haj; and whatever good you do, Allah knows it. And take necessary provision with you, the best provision is piety and remain fearing Me, O Men of under standing!
Qurʼan 2:197, Al-Baqarah, from Zujajah.org
These conditions apply to men. A woman, even an elderly one, has two further conditions.
| Condition | Detail |
|---|---|
| Not in her waiting period ('iddah) | She may not travel for Hajj while in 'iddah. |
| A mahram to accompany her | Her husband, or a mahram who could never marry her (whether by lineage, breastfeeding, or marriage ties), must travel with her without being compelled to. He may be Muslim or non-Muslim, free or a slave. |
According to the well-known narration, the woman must cover the mahram's own travel and provisions, though the more accurate opinion, reported in Mustata' ibn al-'Imad, is that she does not have to.
Terms on this page
Related
- Hajj Badal: performing Hajj on behalf of someone else When a pilgrim is stopped before finishing, and when someone unable to travel must send another person to perform Hajj on their behalf.
- The obligation of Hajj Why Hajj is fard on every able Muslim, drawn from the Qur'an and hadith, and that it is owed only once in a lifetime.
- The obligation of Jumu'ah, and who it is obligatory upon Why the Friday prayer is fard al-ayn, the six conditions that make it obligatory on a person, and what happens when an exempt person prays it anyway.
- Hajj, Umrah, and the three ways of combining them How Hajj and Umrah differ, and the three recognised ways of performing them together: Ifrad, Tamattu' and Qiran.