by the husband in the very first year, even if hajj may be deferred, since she is entitled to perform it immediately even though she is not obliged to do so. Since the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, postponed hajj for one year because of the excuse mentioned in the hadith, Mālik held, according to the book of Ibn ‘Abd al-Hakam, that a ruling should require the couple to defer it for one year. The husband’s oath constitutes an excuse, and she may have intended merely to make him break his oath rather than to draw nearer to Allah by performing hajj immediately. This explains that report, and Allah knows best.

Ibn Nāfi‘ also related from Mālik in al-Majmū‘a that a man should seek his parents’ permission to perform the obligatory hajj that year and again the following year, without pressing them; if they refuse, he should depart. This clearly indicates that, in his view, hajj may be deferred, contrary to what appears in the book of Ibn al-Mawwāz: that he should perform the obligatory hajj [without their permission], while seeking to win their approval if he can. Sahnūn likewise held that hajj may be deferred, as indicated by his case rulings in the Book of Testimonies. That is, he did not consider a person’s testimony inadmissible for failing to perform hajj despite being able to do so, unless this continued for many years—twenty to sixty years or thereabouts.

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If we hold that hajj may be deferred, there nevertheless comes a point when it must be performed: when further delay would most likely cause the opportunity to be lost. In my view, it becomes imperative for someone who has reached sixty, because the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “The time when death overtakes my community is between sixty and seventy.” It was this hadith that Sahnūn had in mind in his case rulings, and Allah knows best.

Further evidence that hajj may be deferred is that it became obligatory in the ninth year, when Abū Bakr led the people in performing it, whereas the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, did not perform hajj until the tenth year. Al-Shāfi‘ī adopted this position and cited this evidence.

Those who hold that hajj must be performed immediately argue that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, knew, through what Allah had made known to him, that he would live long enough to perform it. This argument is not compelling, because their disagreement on this question rests on whether an unqualified command requires immediate compliance. Thus, if the words of Allah, Mighty and Majestic,

“Pilgrimage to the House is a duty owed to Allah by people who are able to make their way there.” [Āl ‘Imrān: 97]

entailed immediate performance according to linguistic usage and the understood meaning of