Dear respected Shaykh, peace and blessings of Allah be upon you. I have a question that I would like to ask: Is it permissible for a person who wants to perform Hajj to stipulate a condition regarding exiting the state of ihram? When should it be said?
وقت الاشتراط في الحج والعمرة هل قبل الميقات أم بعده
الجواب
All praise is due to Allah alone, and may the Salah and Salam of Allah be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family and his companions. To answer your question, we say while seeking the success from Allah: The evidence on the permissibility of stipulating a condition in regards to exiting the state of ihram is the report narrated by al-Bukhari (5089) and Muslim (1207) according to which the Messenger of Allah (may the Salah and Salam of Allah be upon him) said to Dubaa‘ah bint az-Zubayr when she wanted to perform Hajj but she was sick: “Go for Hajj but stipulate a condition and say, O Allah, I will exit ihram from the point where You have prevented me (from continuing, if some problem should arise).” This hadith shows that it is prescribed to stipulate conditions about exiting the state of ihram, if one is afraid that some obstacle such as sickness may prevent him from completing Hajj. This is the view of many companions such as Ali ibn Abi Talib, ‘Aisha, Ibn Masoud (may Allah be pleased with them) and a number of successors such as ‘Alqamah, al-Aswad and ‘Ataa’, etc. It is also the view adopted by al-Shafi’e, Ahmad, Is-haaq, Abu Thawr and Ibn Hazm. However, as explained before, this is only prescribed when one fears of facing an obstacle such as sickness that may prevent him from completing the rituals. Furthermore, establishing the intention alone is not enough and so it is required to utter the condition because the Prophet (may the Salah and Salam of Allah be upon him) said, “say…” However, if there is no necessity i.e. one does not fear any obstacle that could prevent him from completing the rituals; it is not prescribed to stipulate the condition, according to the most correct view. This is because: (a) The Prophet (may the Salah and Salam of Allah be upon him) did not order the rest [of the group] who wanted to enter the state of ihram to say that. Rather, he only enjoined this upon Dubaa’ah bint az-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with her) after she explained her health condition, (b) and in general every person who enters the state of ihram is obliged to complete the rituals he initiated, be it for Hajj or Umrah because Allah, the Most High said (interpretation of the meaning): {And complete the Hajj and Umrah for Allah.} [Quran: 2:196]. The benefit of stipulating a condition regarding exiting the state of ihram is that if someone faces an obstacle that prevents him from completing the rituals, he can exit the state of ihram without the need to offer a sacrificial animal because in normal cases if one is prevented or unable to complete the rituals [and did not stipulate the exit condition] then he must offer a sacrificial animal based on the ayah (interpretation of the meaning): {But if you are prevented, then [offer] what can be obtained with ease of sacrificial animals} [Quran 2:196]. Furthermore, when a person stipulates the condition and then exits the state of ihram, he is still not required to make up the ritual acts he missed according to the scholars who hold the view that it is obligatory for the one who was prevented from completing the ritual to make up the missed ritual. And Allah knows best.
Your brother,
Khalid al-Mosleh
24/11/1428 A.H.
