Q427 :Some government and private institutions and
netpanies sponsor what they call ” poor men’s pilgrimage.” Some of
these netpanies and institutions may pressure their employees to go on
such free pilgrimage. Some of these employees may have some other
urgent needs, such as serious sickness in the family, the payment of an
outstanding debt, the marriage of a daughter, etc. Would it not have
been better for the netpany to help the employee with these needs,
instead of sending them on pilgrimage? It is sometimes felt that there
is an element of prestige which the netpany or the institution gains as
a result of this exercise. How about helping them offer the Umrah
instead of pilgrimage? Does a person who offers pilgrimage in such
circumstances fulfil his obligatory pilgrimage, or he will have to
offer it again when he is able to undertake the journey on his own
resources? If a person who can afford to perform pilgrimage without any
financial help from others accepts such an invitation, does it count as
the discharge of his obligatory pilgrimage?
A427 : As you are all well aware, pilgrimage is a
duty incumbent on all Muslims and it must be offered at least once in a
lifetime. Therefore, many scholars are of the opinion that once a
person is able to make the journey and make the pilgrimage, he must do
so without delay. He does not know whether he will live till the
following season or not. If he waits he is simply delaying a duty that
has benete obligatory to him. Furthermore, he may not be able to afford
the journey the following year or in a few years time. He would have
missed the chance of discharging a very important duty. As long as one
receives his money from a legitimate source, then he can offer the
pilgrimage, using that money. It is well known that receiving a gift is
a legitimate way of taking money from another person. The Prophet, who
was not allowed to take charity from anyone, used to accept gifts.
Therefore, there is nothing wrong with accepting a gift which covers
the expenses of one’s pilgrimage. It is true that some netpanies and
institutions, as well as governments, invite people to offer the
pilgrimage at their own expense. Some netpanies invite their own
employees. They feel that it is a gesture of kindness or appreciation
to the employees to be invited to go on pilgrimage. Some of those
employees are reluctant to accept such invitation because of
reservations of the type mentioned. Therefore, a netpany may feel that
it needs to encourage its employees to accept the invitation.
Obviously, no one forces or pressures another into making the journey.
Whether it is better to give the employees money to meet some other
needs is a totally irrelevant question. There are numerous methods of
earning reward from Allah. We may choose whichever one suits us. Allah
says in the Qur’an that no restriction is imposed on people who wish to
do an act of kindness. You will find some people providing drinking
water to a village or to their neighbours as an oct of charity. Others
prefer to offer food, while a different group may give cash. We cannot
say to the one who provides drinking water that he should have given
the cost in cash to poor people. Moreover, one act of kindness should
not be considered in opposition to another. Perhaps those employees who
have another urgent need may be able to get help from their netpanies
or institutions if they put their cases to them. Do you find it proper
to say to a netpany that it should not invite some people to pilgrimage
in order to help them with the marriage of their daughters? The two
things cannot be matched together. Nor is it kind nor polite to suggest
that these netpanies sponsor the pilgrimage of their employees as a
matter of prestige. How can one testify to that? We are here running
into the dangerous grounds of trying to judge the intentions of other
people, when we have nothing to go by except our own knowledge which,
by necessity, must be defective. It is Allah alone who knows the
intentions of the people and rewards them for their actions according
to His knowledge. If a netpany sponsors the pilgrimage of its
employees, then we should praise that netpany as one which looks after
its employees and its interests. We give them credit for their action
as it appears to us, without trying to attribute it to any ulterior or
selfish motives. You suggest that Umrah may be offered instead of
pilgrimage in such cases. ‘May I ask : in what cases? How do you feel
if you invite a person to dinner and he says to you : I will only have
a cup of tea or an orange juice. As you realize, the difference between
Umrah and pilgrimage is great indeed. Although both are duties of
Islam, the effort and expense needed for the one are no match at all to
those of the other. Or do you mean that the netpany should offer Umrah
to those of its employees who have other needs and offer them cash to
meet such needs? That bring us back to the earlier point of imposing
restrictions on kindness. That is not acceptable. When a person offers
the pilgrimage and he or she is an adult, sane Muslim, he or she has
discharged the duty of pilgrimage, and any subsequent pilgrimage counts
as a voluntary one. Whether he meets the expenses himself or someone
else foots the bill is irrelevant. Even if he is very rich and he
receives an invitation to offer pilgrimage, which he duly accepts, then
his duty of pilgrimage has been discharged. He does not need to do it
again. People in our part of the world describe pilgrimage as an
invitation by Allah. That is an appropriate description, since we
travel for pilgrimage to visit the Sacred House of Allah. We do not go
there unless we are admitted by Him. Sometimes, He invites us and
requires us to pay our own expenses. At other times, He facilitates for
us the invitation allowing others to pay our expenses. We should not
refuse. Indeed, when we accept His kindness we are doing what is
appropriate. The pilgrimage is valid in every sense of the word.
Therefore, no repeat is required, unless we wish to voluntarily offer a
second or a third pilgrimage.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )