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:
- If your disease is not frequent that you could perform the Hajj rituals, you should offer Hajj and Umrah once you have the financial and physical abilities.
- But, if it is so severe and frequent that you could not do the rituals, then you are excused for not performing them.
Responding to your question, Sheikh `Abdel Khaliq Hasan Ash-Shareef, a prominent Muslim scholar, Egypt, states:
If the epilepsy is so severe and frequent to the extent that it causes you instability in transportation and prevents you from doing your duties, then you are excused for not performing Hajj and Umrah.
However, if it happens occasionally and does not hinder you from your daily life, then you should perform Hajj and Umrah. As, in this case, you do not have a considerable excuse for not performing the rituals of Hajj and Umrah.
All in all, you are the one who can decide what to do; from your experience with your disease you can decide if you can perform the rituals of Hajj and Umrah or not.
If you cannot decide in your own, you can consult a trustworthy Muslim doctor in your community.
Allah Almighty knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.