Questions - Umrah Browse Categories

Hajj has been prescribed for every Muslim who is financially well-off and physically fit to undertake the journey, meet the financial costs and be able to perform the rituals. It is a common observation that majority of the people going for Hajj come from the lower income groups and they bear lot many hardships in raising money for the Hajj. But out of sheer reverence they sacrifice their primal needs at the altar of religious devotion. Do you think that such people who have to struggle to earn their livelihood, better not be allowed to perform Hajj? Is it permissible for an Islamic government to draft a Hajj Policy (as drafted by the Pakistani government regularly) that would only allow people with fiscal soundness to perform hajj? e.g only those would be allowed who earn, lets suppose, 100,000Rs annually or more. Will such a restriction be in accordance with Islam?

If faced with a decision to perform Umrah or provide financial help to the poor and destitute (there are many in Pakistan) what is the right thing to do? Go for Umrah and make the hotel owners and airlines rich or help the poor?

There is a general tendency nowadays to form groups by some agents for ‘Umrah. The problem with this method of ‘Umrah is that some of the ladies also want to perform ‘Umrah but they do not have a Mahram to accompany them. In the process, what the agents do is to declare some males in the group as Mahram of these ladies so that the official requirement is fulfilled. I wanted to know whether this kind of subterfuge is allowable in Islam. A good aspect of forming these groups could be that these groups consist of subgroups of ladies who then perform the ‘Umrah rituals quite satisfactorily and independently, which serve the real purpose of the company of a Mahram.