Answer
Wa `alaykum as-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi 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:
1- It is better or you to take your husband’s permission to go for Hajj. However, your husband should not refuse such permission as Hajj is an obligatory act of worship ordained on Muslims who can afford it.
2- So, he should be more than happy that you are going to perform Hajj. He should even help and support you for this journey.
As for your question, Sheikh Sayyed Sabiq states in his well-known book Fiqh-us-Sunnah:
It is mandub (recommended) for a woman to seek her husband’s permission for performing wajib (obligatory) Hajj. If he grants her the permission, she may leave for Hajj, but if he refuses she may still proceed for Hajj, for a husband is not supposed to deny his wife the right to perform the obligatory Hajj.
Hajj is an obligatory act of worship, and such it is unlawful to obey the husband at the expense of disobeying Allah the Almighty.
A woman should perform obligatory Hajj as soon as possible, just as she should offer her prescribed daily prayers at their earliest appointed times.
In either case, a husband has no right to prevent his wife from doing what is her obligatory duty.
The same applies when a wife has vowed Hajj, because it is mandatory like the obligatory Hajj.
However, in case of nafl (voluntary) Hajj (i.e. Hajj performed after the first time), the husband may prevent his wife from going, and the wife must obey her husband.
This is supported by a hadith reported by Ad-Daraqutni on the authority of Ibn `Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) who narrated that while speaking about a wealthy lady whose husband had refused to give her permission to perform Hajj, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “She must not go for Hajj except by her husband’s permission.” (Ad-Daraqutni)
Allah Almighty knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.