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Matters due upon someone who stood on ‘Arafah only (during Hajj) and then returned to his country

Question

My father performed Hajj a long time ago. He is very old now. I knew that he stood on ‘Arafah only and then returned to Jeddah. What is he liable to now, knowing that it was not the obligatory Hajj?

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

If the matter is as you mentioned; then this man is still in a state of ihram (ritual consecration) and should avoid wearing form-fitting clothes and perfumes, having intercourse and (partaking in) foreplay, and doing any of the matters that are forbidden during ihram. He should consider the violations that he committed and offer a ransom for each of them. If he had intercourse with his wife, then his Hajj has become invalid. He should go to Makkah to complete his invalid Hajj by performing tawaf (circumambulation) around the Sacred House and then Sa‘y after it, if he had not performed Sa‘y after the tawaf of arrival. Then he should perform the farewell tawaf. He should slaughter a sheep for abandoning spending the night in Muzdalifah as well as a sacrifice for abandoning spending the night in Mina and another one for abandoning throwing the pebbles. These are obligations whose due time has passed; so slaughtering is obligatory for each of them.

Moreover, he should make up for this Hajj, even if the invalid Hajj is voluntary, not obligatory, and he bears the sin of what he did.

This applies in the case that he knows the ruling on violating Ihram. However, if he does not know, then nothing is due upon him for violating the restrictions of ihram, even the sexual intercourse, according to the preponderant opinion of scholars. He should return to observe his ihram and avoid the prohibitions—mentioned above—and head to the Ka‘bah to perform tawaf al-ifaadhah and sa‘y and then the farewell-tawaf. He is required to offer sacrifices as ransoms for the obligations that he abandoned, like spending the night in Muzdalifah and Mina and throwing pebbles—as previously mentioned. He does not have to make up for this Hajj in the next year as this Hajj is valid, and he is not deemed sinful due to his ignorance.

Allah Knows best.

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