What’s this practice jee kay if one of your relatives, say parents etc, have passed away and never had the opportunity to perform hajj, you either pay someone to do a hajj on their behalf or do it yourself, believing kay “yay hajj unn ka hooa”.
Are people really that stupid or religion does that to them?
Adding on, do you also think it's an ahmaqana practice or not? Why and why not?
If it makes them (the relatives of the dead person) feels better, then why not?
Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and if you can do it(i.e., afford to do it) you should do yours first.
Allah(swt) knows best
Someones mother wanted to go for Hajj very badly, the son being wealthy and rich, allways told her, we will dont worry, the poor lady died with this wish on her lips, I think in such a case, it would even make sense.
This practise is an expression of a little known concept central to Islamic beliefs which is known as mercy and linked to that is the idea of sadqah jariyya. Both of these are extensions of the fact that muslims can never despair of God’s mercy, whether dead or alive. You sin, you ask for forgiveness. You die, you stop committing bad, but you still have to account for what you did. Any bad you do is, in the long term, against your own self only. But the idea that whatever good a person does and its effects, goes on eternally, is in my view amazing. The idea that God’s mercy goes beyond life and death is amazing. It is probably for the same reason people are asked to remember the deceased in good terms, to pray the qaza salahs of the deceased, same with fasting, same with paying off his debts, or giving charity in his name or even planting a tree or digging a well. The same idea applies to performing hajj on the part of the deceased too. It’s called compassion.
Saadia, that's a good point and practiced for the reason as such would constitute compassion as XTC said but that's not the case mostly. The reason that people doing as such actually believing that that hajj's sawab will go to the dead makes it wrong. It adds to the superstitious practices and believes that grow on in the religion.
What is so wrong about it? What is so superstitious about believing in God's mercy?
well the matter is quite simple....
if u want to perform hajj for ur parents (or want someone else to do it by paying him) then go ahead and do it....
and if u think u shud not do it for ur parents, then dont do it and tell ur kids not to bother about doing hajj for u in case u missed the chance in ur lifetime....
there isnt much of an issue with it....
none that i see....
people do tend to forget that hajj is fardh only when one is capable of performing the hajj....
poor, disabled, captive, slave, mentally disabled, person who cant get a visa, all r exempt from it....
i assume the dead shud fall in the same category too....
Roman should edit his last sentence in his first post, maybe then, people can give him some information on the issue.
Some good information on islamonline
Let me just put it this way there is this hadith very well known it goes like this...
When a man dies, his deeds come to an end, except for three: A continuous charity, knowledge by which people derive benefit, pious son who prays for him.
So based on this hadith if people perform charity or pray for their parents its clearly benefits them. In case of hajj its allowed to perform Hajj for you parents, there is this clear hadith which allows it. What we have to remember is that its only obligatory if you can afford it. The hadith is from Imam Bhukhari's collection...
A woman asked the prophet (S.A.W.) that my mother died and has not fulfilled her nathir, (to vow to Allah) to perform hajj. Can I make hajj for her? The prophet answered, “Yes perform hajj for her, wouldn’t you think that if she had a debt and had not paid it before she died wouldn’t you have paid it off for her? She said, “Yes.” The prophet Muhammad said, “Pay off your debts towards Allah, **because Allah is more worthy of paying your debts too.**
I hope the bold part clears the stupidity in this practice.
In Islam there is also this concept of Hajj Al-Badel, which allows people to send someone else to perform Hajj in case of disability, but this thing is only allowed for hajj.
I have Pa the Kasam on myself not to participate in controversial topics.
One more thing which is not mentioned above is that One should have no Karza of any sort to perform Haj. So if someone is Makrooz, s/he is exempt from performing.
Romeo, I still pay Chanda on my Dada Ji’s behalf (marhoom for over 40 years). I think I am being ripped off, but then again, I don't think that he will ever be forgiven for his sins, no matter how much I pay.
So while we are at it, could someone please elucidate on whether its just the son who could perform Hajj or Umrah on his father's behalf or the daughter's Hajj for her deceased father is equally acceptable.
I would like to perform Hajj or atleast Umrah in my life time and if I get this chance twice I would like to perform once on my father' s behalf.
Take the virtual Hijj, next best thing to being there.
From that link XTC gave below Islam Online
‘Abdullah ibn Buraydah reported that his father (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “While I was sitting with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), a woman came to him and said: ‘I gave my mother a slave-woman in charity, and now my mother has died.’ He said: ‘You have got your reward, and your right of inheritance has brought your gift back to you.’ She said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, she still had one month to fast – can I fast it on her behalf?’ He said, ‘Fast it on her behalf.’** She said, ‘She never went to Hajj – can I perform Hajj on her behalf?’ He said, ‘Perform Hajj on her behalf.’”** (Reported by Muslim)
This is a daughter doing it for her mother, so the same should apply for a father also.
Umrah takes a few hours only and can be done once a day, so if and when u go inshallah, it wouldnt be too hard to perform Umrah for your father. Hajj is different though, cause its a certain time each year, so youd have to have done your own one first, and then for someone else. Actually if you regularly go to Pakistan you can easily go Umrah on the way, the one time I went it didnt really cost that much extra in terms of plane tickets.
On a side note from that same link....
Prayers for forgiveness offered by both sons and daughters of the deceased bring great benefits, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: *“A man’s status will be raised in Paradise and he will ask, ‘How did I get here?’ He will be told, ‘By your son’s du`a’s (prayers) for forgiveness for you.” * (Reported by Ibn Majah)
This is incredible, look how much benefit a persons dua can bring their parents. Theres a great lesson in that for all of us.
Dua, charity etc is a form of incentive to do good on the name of your dead parents. But it doesn't make any sense in the case of hajj because when you're paying someone to do hajj for someone else, the hajj performing person doesn't get any hajj benefit out for himself (since he's not affording it on his own for himself), while the deceased don't have the benefit of it either since they're not performing themselves either. Also, hajj is supposed to be performed by yourself out of your own desire to perform it. A deceased person doesn't have a desire of his own nor does he have the ability. There is no charitable deed done in case of hajj. Building a school, hospital, sure.
^ Are you starting your own fiqha.. or is it just the beginning of Deen-e-Romanvi? Why don't you write them in bullet points. Have a total of 10. And put them on a stone. Maybe then Charlton Heston can make a sequel on your religion too.
Faisal bhaijaan, which prophet he'd be playing this time? Eesa and Moosa are so overly done.