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:
The person who dies during the hajj has already fulfilled his obligation and is assured of his reward with Allah.
Answering your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:
The person who dies during the hajj has already fulfilled his obligation and is assured of his reward with Allah.
Allah says:
{And if anyone leaves his home, in search of the pleasure of God and His Apostle, and then death overtakes him – his reward is ready with God: for God is indeed much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace.} (An-NIsaa’ 4:100)
And the Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
“Whoever travels in the path of Allah, while cherishing firmly the intention to seek the pleasure of Allah, and then death overtakes him, he is a martyr.”
Ibn Abbas narrates the following story:
“When a man was performing the ritual of standing in the plains of Arafah in the company of the Prophet (peace be upon him), he fell from his mount and was crushed to death by the beast. Then, the Prophet told his companions: “Wash him… and shroud him in two pieces (of ihram) and do not cover his head, for he will be raised up making the chant of talbiyah on the Day of Resurrection.” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)
And the Prophet (peace be upon him) never told anyone to do the hajj on his behalf.
If it had been necessary, he would have said so clearly.
Almighty Allah knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.