http://www.arabnews.com/?page=5§ion=0&article=74907&d=19&m=12&y=2005
Monday, 19, December, 2005 (18, Dhul Qa`dah, 1426)
Official Regulations and Confused Restrictions
Adil Salahi, Arab News
I often receive queries about the performance of the
pilgrimage and the Umrah indicating some unforeseen problems. In their
eagerness to perform these highly spiritual and richly rewarding duties, some
people try to evade official regulations. What happens if a person who has
started his journey intending to do the Umrah and entered into the state of
consecration is stopped at the checkpoint and discovered to be in breach of the
regulations? He may be told that he cannot continue his journey and must return
without performing his religious duty. He will then find himself in a difficult
position, not knowing how to release himself from consecration.
The first point to make in this connection is that God has
made the performance of the pilgrimage and Umrah duties conditional on being
able to undertake them. This condition of ability is all important. If a person
does not meet it, then the duty is not applicable to him. Scholars of old
times, when there was no restriction on travel, specified that ability covers
both the physical and financial aspects. A person who wanted to do either duty
should be able to physically withstand the strain of travel and should have the
financial means to pay his own expenses and those of his family's living during
the entire period of his trip. They also spoke of safety along the road, making
clear that if one's route is unsafe, then the duty does not apply.
In our own times we must add compliance with official
regulations concerning travel and other relevant issues. Certain governments
impose a ceiling on the number of pilgrims allowed each year, and require
people to apply for permits early. Suppose a rich person who is in good health
applies for a permit year after year without success. If that person dies
without offering the pilgrimage, he will not be considered to have failed in
performing this religious duty. For more than 70 years Muslims in the former
Soviet Union were not allowed to travel for pilgrimage. Hence, they did not
meet the condition of ability that makes the pilgrimage duty applicable to
them. Islam does not require them to expose themselves to endless trouble by
trying to cross the borders into another country from where to travel.
Unfortunately some people take a careless attitude to
official restrictions, particularly when it comes to offering the Umrah and the
pilgrimage. They forget that it is the responsibility of the Saudi authorities
to issue the necessary regulations to organize the process of offering the
Umrah and the pilgrimage in order to ensure the safety of the worshippers and
their ability to fulfill their duties. It is also the responsibility of every
individual who wishes to offer the pilgrimage and the Umrah to ensure
compliance with these regulations. If he violates such regulations, he is also
in breach of Islamic teachings, because Islam requires its followers to obey
the orders of an Islamic government, provided always that these orders remain
within what is permissible from the Islamic point of view and are intended to
serve the interests of the Muslim community. All regulations concerning travel
for performing the Umrah and the pilgrimage fall within this category.
Therefore, they must be observed by prospective pilgrims.
The Umrah After Ramadan
A different area of restrictions is that of religious rules
concerning the Umrah and the pilgrimage. Here we find people keen to comply.
However, they may often be confused, which could result in their observance of
imaginary rules. One of the most commonly held of these imaginary rules is that
a person who offers the Umrah after Ramadan must offer the pilgrimage in the
same year. This is totally mistaken, as there is no such rule. The Prophet
(peace be upon him) offered the Umrah four times, all of which were in the
month of Dul Qaada, which is one of the pilgrimage months. Yet the Prophet
offered the pilgrimage only once, combining it with one of these four Umrahs.
Therefore, it is wrong to suggest that the Umrah cannot be offered in these
months unless it is accompanied by offering the pilgrimage.
The confusion arises from the fact that one of the methods of
pilgrimage, the tamattu' method, requires the pilgrim to slaughter a sheep in
expression of gratitude to God for enabling him to offer both duties in the
same season. This method means that when a pilgrim arrives in Makkah at any
time from the first day of Shawwal to the 8th of Dul Hijjah, he starts with
offering the Umrah and releases himself from the state of ihraam, or
consecration, immediately after he finishes it. None of the restrictions of
ihraam applies to him after that until the 8th of Dul Hijjah when he is
required to enter into the state of consecration again in order to offer the
pilgrimage.
Therefore, if one offers the Umrah in Shawwal or Dul Qaada or
the early days of Dul Hijjah, without intending to do the pilgrimage in the
same year, he is perfectly entitled to do that. He receives God's reward for
his action and he is required to do nothing by way of compensation, since he
has done no mistake. If it so happens that when the time of pilgrimage
approaches, he also offers the pilgrimage, he is deemed to have opted for the
tamattu' method which requires that a sheep must be slaughtered. This is the
case even if he mistakenly declares his pilgrimage to be in the ifraad method,
which does not involve offering the Umrah.
Thus we see that the commonly held notion that the Umrah
cannot be offered after Ramadan unless combined with the pilgrimage is
mistaken. In fact, the reverse is true. Hence, we need to recap: Offering the
Umrah in the intervening period between Ramadan and the time when the
pilgrimage is due is perfectly valid and in order. If the pilgrimage is then
offered in the same year, that Umrah counts as one completed requirement and
the pilgrimage is deemed to be offered in the tamattu' method. No second Umrah
is required. A Sheep needs to be sacrificed in gratitude to God. The pilgrim
and his family may partake of the meat of that sacrifice because it is a
sacrifice of gratitude.
The Umrah in the Pilgrimage Days
On a totally different point, people say that the Umrah
cannot be offered on the 9th 10th or 11th of Dul Hijjah. If they mean that a
person who is offering the pilgrimage cannot do the Umrah on these days, they
are correct, except in the case of one arriving in Makkah early on 9th Dul
Hijjah, starting with the Umrah and then beginning his pilgrimage on the same
day. But then such a pilgrim is better advised to do his pilgrimage and Umrah
in the qiran method. The restriction on doing the Umrah in these days applies
particularly to pilgrims opting for the ifraad method of pilgrimage. These
pilgrims should wait until the 14th of Dul Hijjah when they should go out to
Al-Taneem or any point at the boundaries of the Haram area where they enter
into the state of consecration, making their intention to do the Umrah and come
back to Makkah to fulfill its duties.
However, a person who is not doing the pilgrimage may offer
the Umrah at any time, even on the Day of Arafat, or on the Day of Sacrifice.
Take, for example, the case of a person traveling from Europe or Africa to
Pakistan, India or any eastern destination. He makes a stopover at Jeddah for
one day or a few hours, during which he wishes to perform the Umrah. There is
nothing to prevent him from doing so, if he has the appropriate visa or transit
permit. If such a traveler arrives in Jeddah on the Day of Arafat, he may go
ahead and do the Umrah. There is nothing to prevent him from doing so.
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