sacrificial offering for omitting an obligation, and that one need only seek forgiveness and repent for having omitted it,” most people would not take the matter seriously. They would say, “I would fill the whole expanse between Makkah and Madinah with pleas for forgiveness and repentance; I have no objection to that. But do not make me lose even fifty riyals.” Many people care more about money than about violating the rites of pilgrimage.

So, if it were said: “This is obligatory, and whoever omits it is sinful and must repent and seek forgiveness,” would people respect this rite as they would if we said that it entails a sacrificial offering, to be slaughtered in Makkah and distributed among the poor?

The answer is no. People will not regard the obligation in the same way. This is why we hold that they should be required to do so, even though its establishment through rational consideration and legal argument is subject to discussion and objection. We say that this is a means of training Muslims to adhere to their obligations. Since we rely upon the statement of a noble Companion for whom the Prophet, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, supplicated, “May Allah grant him understanding of the religion and teach him interpretation,” (1) we hope that we have thereby discharged our responsibility. And Allah knows the corrupter from the reformer.

For this reason, we issue the legal verdict that whoever omits an obligation must slaughter an expiatory sacrifice and distribute it among the poor in Makkah, based on the reasoning we have mentioned. But if he cannot find an animal to sacrifice, then according to the school of law, he must fast ten days: three during the Hajj and seven when he returns to his family. If he is unable to fast them during the Hajj, he should fast them in his own country.