Answer
Wa `alaykum As-Salamu waRahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
If a person is suffering from a contagious disease, he or she should not go for Hajj.
Answering your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:
If a person is suffering from a contagious disease, he or she should not go for Hajj.
Those who are facing such medical challenges are excused from performing hajj. Hajj is obligatory only on those who can afford to do it both physically and financially.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) taught us to stay away from causing harm to others. He enforced quarantine upon those who are suffering from contagious diseases so that such diseases are not passed on to others.
Since they are staying away from Hajj because of conditions beyond their control, they will still be rewarded for their good intentions.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) taught us that if anyone cherishes the intention to do a virtuous deed and yet could not do it because of circumstances beyond his or her control, they would still be rewarded for their intentions.
I pray to Allah to keep us safe from all debilitating diseases, both physical and mental and grant relief for all those who are suffering from such ailments.
Almighty Allah knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.