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Can I Pay for My Parents’ Hajj?

23 June, 2023
Q As-salamu `alaykum. Respected scholar, is a son obliged to send his parents for Hajj if he is financially able to do so? If someone lives with his parents and brothers in a joint family and he is the one to earn money, if he has the money enough for one person to perform Hajj, who should he prioritize, himself or one of his parents? And if the parents: his mother or his father? If you could please tell, whether in such a joint family system, his brothers have rights on him to support them financially or not?

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:

As for performing Hajj, one is firstly required to do it for himself then for others. After performing Hajj for himself, directly comes the turn of his parents with priority of mother.

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In responding to your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:

A person who is financially able has the duty to perform pilgrimage on behalf of himself first before he does it for others or send others for hajj including parents.

However, if he has the means to take his parents with him, he should not hesitate to do so, as pleasing parents is akin to pleasing Allah and it is immensely rewarding.

If he has only limited means, then the priority is to spend on his own obligatory Hajj.

After having done that, he should prefer his parents. He should choose his mother over his father, if he can only pay for one.

If the brothers are adults, then they are supposed to look after themselves. If they could not, because of the circumstances beyond their control, then, if he can afford it, after fulfilling his primary obligations, then he should support them too, as best as he can.

Allah Almighty knows best.

Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.

About Sheikh Ahmad Kutty
Sheikh Ahmad Kutty is a Senior Lecturer and an Islamic Scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada