Discourse on Being Prevented (Iḥṣār)

As for iḥṣār, its textual foundation is the Almighty’s word,

“Should you be prevented, then (offer) whatever sacrificial animal is easy to obtain,”
(Al-Baqarah 2:196)

and His saying afterwards,

“Once you are secure, whoever avails himself of the ʿumrah until the ḥajj must offer whatever sacrificial animal is easy to obtain.”
(Al-Baqarah 2:196)

We therefore state: The scholars have differed greatly over this verse, and that divergence lies behind their disagreement concerning a pilgrim who is prevented from completing the rites, whether by illness or by an enemy. Their first point of contention is whether the “one prevented” (al-muḥṣar) mentioned here is a person blocked by an enemy or one blocked by illness.

One group held that the verse refers to the person impeded by an enemy, while another maintained that it refers to the one impeded by illness.

Those who said it concerns the enemy based their case on His words,

“Whoever among you is ill or has an ailment of the head …”
(Al-Baqarah 2:196).

They argued: Had the verse been speaking of prevention through illness, there would have been no benefit in mentioning illness again afterwards. They also cited His statement,

“Once you are secure …,”
(Al-Baqarah 2:196)

a proof that is, in their view, plainly evident.

Those who contended that the verse was revealed about prevention through illness replied that the verb uḥṣira (to be prevented) is used only for one hindered, while in the case of an enemy the idiom is ḥaṣarahu al-ʿaduww (“the enemy hemmed him in”), whereas illness is expressed as aḥṣarahu al-maraḍ (“the illness prevented him”). They added that illness is mentioned later because sickness is of two kinds: that which prevents and that which does not. In their reading, the clause “once you are secure” means “secure from illness.”

The first party reversed the argument, noting that within the same root the forms faʿala and afʿala convey two distinct meanings. The simple form (faʿala) is used when the action is actually carried out upon another, while the causative (afʿala) is used when one merely exposes him to the possibility of that action. One says qatala-hu (“he killed him”) when the deed is done, and aqtala-hu (“he exposed him to being killed”) when he put him in danger. On that basis, aḥṣara fits the enemy, and ḥaṣara fits illness: the enemy only exposes the pilgrim to prevention, whereas illness actively prevents him. They further argued that the term “security” (amān) is literally applied only to the removal of fear from an enemy; when applied to recovery from illness it is figurative, and metaphor is not resorted to unless a compelling reason exists to abandon the literal sense. Likewise, the explicit mention of the sick person’s ruling after the discussion of prevention outwardly indicates that the muḥṣar is other than the sick person. This is the position of al-Shāfiʿī. The contrary position—that the verse concerns illness—is held by Mālik and Abū Ḥanīfah.

A third view holds that al-muḥṣar here includes anyone barred from the Hajj by any means whatsoever—whether sickness, an enemy, an error in the count, or anything else.

The majority of scholars, however, maintain that prevention from the Hajj is of two kinds: prevention by illness and prevention by an enemy. Concerning the pilgrim blocked by an enemy, the majority agree that he may release himself from his ʿumrah or Hajj at the very spot where he is prevented. Al-Thawrī and al-Ḥasan ibn Ṣāliḥ differed, saying that he may not leave the state of iḥrām until the Day of Sacrifice.

Those who allow him to exit iḥrām immediately then disagree on three further issues: (1) whether a sacrificial animal (hady) is obligatory; (2) where that hady must be slaughtered if it is obligatory; and (3) whether he must later make up the ḥajj or ʿumrah from which he was prevented. Mālik holds that no hady is due, and that if the pilgrim already has a sacrificial animal with him he should slaughter it where he leaves iḥrām. Al-Shāfiʿī, followed by Ashhab, obliges a hady. Abū Ḥanīfah requires that it be slaughtered within the Sacred Precinct (al-Ḥaram). Al-Shāfiʿī, by contrast, says it may be slaughtered wherever the pilgrim releases himself from iḥrām.