Praise be to Allah.
Stipulating a condition with regard to Hajj refers to when a person stipulates, when entering ihram, that if anything prevents him from continuing, he will exit ihram from the place where he is prevented from continuing.
The scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) differed as to whether it is prescribed to make this condition. Some of them said that it is not prescribed at all, because the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) did Hajj and ‘Umrah, and there is no report from him to suggest that he stipulated this condition either in his Hajj or in his ‘Umrah. And it is well-known that there were with him people who were sick, but he did not instruct the people to stipulate this condition. Ka‘b ibn ‘Ujrah (may Allah be pleased with him), during the ‘Umrah of al-Hudaybiyah, came to the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) when he was sick with an infestation of lice that were falling onto his face from his head. The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said to him: “I did not realise that your problem had become as bad as I see it”, and he instructed him to shave his head and offer a fidyah (sacrifice of a sheep) or fast or feed (poor persons). This story is well-known in as-Saheehayn and elsewhere.
Some of the scholars say that it is prescribed in all cases, and that it is mustahabb for a person to stipulate, when entering ihram: “If anything prevents me (from continuing), then my exiting ihram is where I am prevented.” They gave as the reason for that the fact that there is no guarantee that anyone will be safe from obstacles that may arise during ihram, which may require him to exit ihram, so if he has stipulated this condition, it will be easy for him to exit ihram.
Some of the scholars say that if the person fears that an obstacle may arise, he should stipulate this condition, otherwise he should not.
The correct view is that stipulating this condition is not prescribed except in cases where a person fears that some obstacle may prevent him from completing his pilgrimage, such as if he is sick and his sickness worsens, so that he is not able to complete his pilgrimage. In that case he should stipulate this condition. But if he is not afraid of some obstacle that will prevent him from completing his pilgrimage, then he should not stipulate this condition. This view reconciles all the evidence, the reason being that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) did ‘Umrah and Hajj, and he did not stipulate any condition and he did not tell the people in general to stipulate conditions when entering ihram. But when Dubaa‘ah bint az-Zubayr ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib (may Allah be pleased with her) told him that she wanted to do Hajj but she was sick, the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said to her: “Do Hajj, and stipulate: My exiting ihram will be where I am prevented (from continuing), then you will have permission from your Lord to do so.” So anyone whose situation is like hers may stipulate this condition, and those whose situation is not like this should not do so. End quote.
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