Book of Pilgrimage
Introduction
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Book of Pilgrimage

The pilgrimage, together with ʿumrah, is obligatory once in a lifetime.

The conditions that render it obligatory are five:

1. being Muslim, 2) sanity, 3) puberty, and 4) full freedom. The pilgrimage and ʿumrah performed by a minor or by a slave are valid, yet they do not fulfil the hajj and ʿumrah required by Islam. If the minor reaches puberty, or the slave is set free, before the standing at ʿArafah—or even afterwards, provided that he returns¹ and stands there within its appointed time—his hajj counts for the obligatory hajj of Islam, so long as he had not entered iḥrām intending an isolated hajj (ifrād) or a combined hajj-ʿumrah (qirān) and then performed the saʿy after the arrival circumambulation (ṭawāf al-qudūm). Likewise, the ʿumrah will count if he reaches puberty or is freed before performing its circumambulation.

2. Ability (istiṭāʿah): this means owning the provisions and mount appropriate for a person like him, or possessing the means with which he can obtain them, on the condition that these resources exceed what he needs for books, housing, and a servant, and that they are also surplus to his own ongoing maintenance and that of his dependants.

Whoever meets these conditions must set out immediately, provided the road is safe. If he is unable to travel because of an excuse—such as advanced age or an illness from which recovery is not expected—he must appoint² a free deputy, even if she is a woman, to perform the hajj and ʿumrah on his behalf from his homeland. This arrangement suffices unless the excuse disappears before the deputy enters iḥrām. If he dies before appointing a deputy, the expenses for hajj and ʿumrah on his behalf must be paid from his estate.