Thursday 18 Ramadan 1445 - 28 March 2024
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She did Hajj and she did not cut her hair, stone Jamrat al-‘Aqabah or offer a sacrifice; what must she do now?

Question

A woman from Morocco did the obligatory Hajj in 1988. On the tenth of Dhu’l-Hijjah she did not do these rituals: stoning the Jamrah, cutting her hair and offering the sacrifice. What must she do? What if she was unaware of the rulings?

Answer

Praise be to Allah.

Cutting the hair for women is one of the obligatory acts of Hajj. The same applies to stoning the Jamrah on the Day of Sacrifice (the tenth day of Dhu’l-Hijjah). Whoever omits an obligatory act has to offer a compensatory sacrifice, by slaughtering a sheep and distributing the meat to the poor of Makkah. If he is not able to do that, then he must fast ten days. This is the well-known view of the fuqaha’. 

With regard to the hadiy (sacrifice), it is only required of those who are doing tamattu‘ (‘umrah followed by Hajj, exiting ihram in between) or qiraan (‘umrah and Hajj together, without exiting ihram in between)]. 

If this woman did tamattu‘ or qiraan, then she has to offer a sacrifice, so she must appoint someone to slaughter her hadiy in Makkah; if she cannot do that, then she must fast for ten days. 

What appears to us to be the case is that if she is poor, and she could not afford the price of the sacrifice to compensate for not cutting her hair and not stoning the Jamrah, then she does not have to fast in compensation for that, because there is no evidence to indicate that she should be obliged to fast. A fatwa to this effect was issued by Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him). With regard to the hadiy for tamattu‘ or qiraan, if she is not able to offer it, then she must fast, because Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):

“whosoever performs the Umrah in the months of Hajj, before (performing) the Hajj, (i.e. Hajj-at-Tamatt ‘ and Al-Qiran), he must slaughter a Hady such as he can afford, but if he cannot afford it, he should observe Saum (fasts) three days during the Hajj and seven days after his return (to his home), making ten days in all”

[al-Baqarah 2:196]. 

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked:

This questioner is saying: I did Hajj tamattu‘ but I did not offer a sacrifice and I did not cut my hair. What is the ruling? Please answer me, may Allah reward you with good. 

He (may Allah have mercy on him) replied: 

Sacrifice is only obligatory for the one who is doing tamattu‘ or qiraan. As for the one who is doing ifraad (Hajj on its own), he does not have to offer a sacrifice. As for cutting the hair, you have to offer a compensatory sacrifice for not doing it, to be slaughtered in Makkah and the meat distributed to the poor, because the scholars say that whoever omits one of the obligatory acts of Hajj must offer a compensatory sacrifice to be slaughtered in Makkah and the meat distributed to the poor. 

I would like to take this opportunity to advise my Muslim brothers, if they want to do Hajj, to learn the rulings on Hajj before they undertake the pilgrimage, because if they do Hajj without knowledge, they may do things that will spoil their pilgrimage without realising, and they may not realise that until a long time afterwards. So if a person wants to do Hajj, he must learn the rulings on Hajj, either from the scholars face-to-face, or by reading books about the rituals, of which there are many, praise be to Allah.

End quote from Fataawa Noor ‘ala ad-Darb

And he (may Allah have mercy on him) said, concerning someone who failed to cut his hair: He must offer a compensatory sacrifice, to be slaughtered in Makkah and the meat distributed to the poor. This applies if he is well off. But if he is poor, then he does not have to do anything.

End quote from Majmoo‘ Fataawa Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (22/470) 

Conclusion: 

if she failed to cut her hair, stone the Jamrah and offer the sacrifice required of one who is doing qiraan or tamattu‘, then she has to offer three compensatory sacrifices. If she is not able to do that, then she must fast ten days to compensate for the sacrifice of tamattu‘ or qiraan. And you should make sure whether she did not stone the Jamaraat after she left Muzdalifah at night, and whether her Hajj was tamattu‘ or qiraan. 

And Allah knows best.

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Source: Islam Q&A