" Hajj (Pilgrimage) "
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Returning the Rights to Their Owners Before Leaving for Hajj
Should I visit those whom I’m not on good terms with before hajj? Is it really necessary for my hajj to be valid? Actually I haven’t done anything wrong to them…
Answer:
You don’t have to visit those whom you haven’t disputed or crossed before Hajj. However, if you have any disagreement or any rights to return, it is absolutely necessary for you to make it up in some way.
Because, Muslim scholars confirm that whoever wants to perform Hajj should first absolve himself of the rights of others by returning them to their rightful owners. Imam An-Nawawi said: "If a Muslim makes up his mind to travel to perform Hajj or to fight in the Cause of Allah or the like, he should first repent from all sins and evil deeds, return any usurped rights to their owners, settle as many debts as he can, return trusts to their owners, settle whatever dealings or partnership he has with others, write his will and have it witnessed, depute someone to settle the debts he could not settle, and leave his family and whomever he supports sufficient money until he comes back." (See Al-Majmu` Vol. 4, P. 385)
Since a Muslim should preserve his sincere brotherhood (ukhuwwah) ties as Islam orders, it would be great for you to phone those people to ask after them and make amends for the past. This way, you would dispose of disagreement, resentment or misunderstanding between you if there is any. Even if they wouldn’t accept and change their mind, you would do your part that will please Allah (swt) inshallah.
One of the conditions of an accepted valid hajj is to return rights to owners and ask for forgiveness for disagreements in the past
As is known, an accepted hajj is a means of forgiveness of all sins except the rights of others and thus it is like a rebirth in terms of sins; however there are least five conditions to perform such a valid hajj. These conditions are:
- To perform hajj with an immensely sincere intention, in other words just for the sake of Allah (swt). To discard any intention other than that, merely as if visiting Allah (swt).
- To go to hajj with clean (halal) money.
- To return the rights to the rightful owners or ask for their forgiveness to make amend for the past. To compensate the worship debts; make up the missed compulsory (fard) acts such as salah, fasting etc. or to start compensating them with sheer determination.
- To abstain vain and bad words, intentions and behaviours during hajj.
- To complete hajj proper to the other external and internal conditions.
Only Allah knows how much reward will a Muslim get as a result of such a hajj satisfying the conditions above as well as the forgiveness of his past sins.
The more deficiency in the conditions, the more decrease in the reward for hajj.
Source: Fetvalarla Çağdaş Hayat (Modern Life with Fatwas) Kaynak: http://askaquestionto.us - Returning the Rights to Their Owners Before Leaving for Hajj