The Messenger of Allah ﷺ replied, “Had you allowed her to perform Hajj on that camel, it would have counted as being in the cause of Allah.”

Abu Dawud recorded the report with a good chain, as did al-Tabarani in al-Kabir; al-Hakim declared it sound, and Ibn Khuzaymah included it in his Sahih. It is also supported by a narration from Abu Talq, transmitted by al-Dulabi in al-Kuna with a sound chain and judged reliable by al-Mundhiri and Ibn Hajar. For this reason Ibn Kathir, while commenting on the relevant verse, said, “According to Imam Ahmad, al-Hasan, and Ishaq, Hajj is one of the avenues ‘in the cause of Allah,’ on the strength of this hadith.”

This is likewise the position selected by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, who writes in al-Ikhtiyarat al-‘Ilmiyyah: “Whoever has not yet performed the obligatory Hajj and is poor may be given from zakat what enables him to do so; this is one of the two opinions reported from Ahmad.”

Abu ‘Ubayd narrates in al-Amwal (no. 1976) that Ibn ‘Umar was asked about a woman who had bequeathed thirty dirhams “in the cause of Allah.” Someone said to him, “May they be spent on Hajj?” He replied, “Indeed, that is in the cause of Allah.” Its chain is sound, as al-Hafiz states in Fath 3/258.

Abu ‘Ubayd also relates (nos. 1784 and 1965) with a sound chain from Ibn ‘Abbas: “He saw no harm in a man giving from his zakat toward Hajj or toward the emancipation of a slave.” Abu ‘Ubayd’s objection that Abu Mu‘awiyah alone transmitted the report is baseless, for Abu Mu‘awiyah is trustworthy and the most precise transmitter of al-A‘mash’s narrations, as noted in al-Taqrib. Moreover, he was followed in it by ‘Abdah ibn Sulayman, as cited in Fath, removing any doubt about solitary transmission. See Irwa’ al-Ghalil 3/376–377.