Fatwa n°: 657

Category: Fatwas of hajj

The ruling concerning performing hajj with ill-gotten money

Question:

What is the ruling concerning performing hajj with ill-gotten money?

Answer:

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. Peace and blessing be upon whom Allah sent as a mercy to the Worlds, upon his Family, his Companions and his Brothers till the Day of Resurrection.

Hajj is an obligatory act of worship which is composed of the physical and material capacity. So, the Mukallaf (a person meeting the conditions to be held legally accountable for his actions) must perform it with good earnings and licit sustenance in order to get reward and recompense from Allah عزَّ وجلَّ. Allah جلَّ جلاله said:

﴿وَتَزَوَّدُوا فَإِنَّ خَيْرَ الزَّادِ التَّقْوَى﴾ [البقرة:197].

The meaning of the verse:

﴾And take a provision (with you) for the journey, but the best provision is At-Taqwa (piety, righteousness).﴿ [Al-Baqara (The Cow) : 197].

The Prophet صلَّى الله عليه وسلَّم said: “Verily, Allah is good, and He never accepts but good”⁽¹⁾.

Although, if a person performs hajj with ill-gotten money, his hajj is valid according to the sounder of the two opinions of scholars, and he is no more asked or obliged to perform it again, but he incurs sin for committing an illicit thing, since each side (the command and the prohibition) are considered apart. He has no reward for his hajj according to the previous texts, because the expenditure is not required in itself, seeing that it is allowed for a Mukallaf to perform hajj by money given to him by others; if the spent money is licit, there will be reward of hajj, if it is not the case there will not be any reward. In addition, the expenditures on hajj are not a condition for its validity, but rather a condition that makes it obligatory for a person who is far from Mecca but not for someone who is close to it, since the hajj of someone who is close to Mecca and is able to perform it without spending money is valid, and no scholar said that this sort of hajj is invalid. Thereof appears that each side (the command and the prohibition) are considered apart. As for the following hadith: “Whoever performs hajj with illicit money then he says (during hajj): Labbayka Allâhumma Labbayka (I respond to Your call O Allah, I respond to Your call, and I am obedient to your orders). Allah جلَّ جلاله says: “Let your call not be responded to and happiness not be your reward and your hajj is not accepted”⁽²⁾ and other hadiths, they have weak chains of narration and do not reach the degree of validity to be taken as proofs.

The perfect knowledge belongs to Allah سبحانه وتعالى. Our last prayer is all praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. Peace and blessing be upon our Prophet, his Family, his Companions and his Brothers till the Day of Resurrection.

Algiers Safar 1^st, 1428 H
February 19^th, 2007