if someone else performs the pilgrimage on his behalf out of the sick person’s own wealth, the obligation is fulfilled and Mālik sees no harm in it. The same applies, in Mālik’s view, when the pilgrim is a mendicant who owns nothing at all: the pilgrimage is valid and unobjectionable. Likewise, a debtor may set out provided he possesses the means to repay—or reasonably expects to repay—what he owes. Should an unmarried man be unable to afford both marriage and the pilgrimage, Mālik holds that he should begin with the pilgrimage. A son need not ask his parents’ permission to discharge an obligation that has already become binding on him, though he should not undertake voluntary acts without their permission, or the permission of whichever parent remains alive.

The pilgrimage is obligatory only once in a person’s lifetime. No one may perform it on behalf of another—whether that person is healthy or ill—while the latter is still alive. It is permissible to do so after someone’s death if he had left instructions to that effect. Some scholars of Medina allowed a proxy pilgrimage for a chronically ill patient whose recovery is not expected, but Mālik did not. His position regarding one who hires a proxy because of illness or for some other reason is that the contract should not be rescinded, even though it is impermissible for anyone to hire himself out for the pilgrimage. If a man dies without having performed it, his heirs are not obliged to have it performed on his behalf, nor may they spend from his estate for that purpose; if he did bequeath it, the cost is taken from one-third of his estate. No one should volunteer a pilgrimage before fulfilling his obligatory one, nor may anyone perform it on behalf of another before doing it for himself. Should he do so, it remains valid according to Mālik—though he dislikes it—whereas other scholars deem it invalid.

If someone undertakes a voluntary pilgrimage before it becomes obligatory for him, that act does not later count as his obligatory pilgrimage in Mālik’s opinion.

The time for performing the pilgrimage rites begins one day before ʿArafah, continues through the Day of ʿArafah and the Day of Sacrifice, and extends for two more days for the one who hastens, or three for the one who completes the full period.

The months during which one may enter into ihram for the pilgrimage are Shawwāl, Dhū al-Qaʿdah, and Dhū al-Ḥijjah up to the night of the Sacrifice, provided dawn has not yet broken. Entering ihram for pilgrimage outside these months is impermissible; whoever does so has acted wrongly, yet the ihram still counts as a pilgrimage according to Mālik. Other scholars, however, hold that his ihram becomes an ʿumrah, even if he had already performed one before the pilgrimage.