HAJJ PRACTICALITIES

THE LAWS OF IHSAAR

(updated December 2013 - Safar 1435)

If a person dons the Ihraam for Hajj or Umrah and is prevented from doing so either by sickness, or by an injury, or by an enemy, or by a ruler’s oppressive laws, or by an animal, or by loss of one’s money and thus is unable to perform the Umrah, or is unable to reach Arafat, then he is called a “Muhsir”. Such a situation is termed “Ihsaar”.

A Muhsir should wait for the cause/s to be removed; then if there is still time to perform Hajj, he should do so. If not, he should perform an Umrah and come out of Ihraam. He will now become a Faa-itul Hajj.

If a Muhsir cannot wait and wishes to end his Ihraam then he should offer a sacrifice of a one-year-old goat or sheep within the precincts of the Haram. This will now free him from all the restrictions of Ihraam.

If he is not present within the Haram boundary, then he should send the equivalent amount of money to someone who is within the Haram boundary who will then carry out this Damm for him. The day and time for this Damm should be stipulated so that the Muhsir is certain that his Damm has been done, hence freeing him from his state of Ihraam without having to pay a further penalty. Although he will now be free of his Ihraam, it will be better for him to follow it up with Halq/Qasr wherever he may be. In case this Damm is done one or two days before the stipulated date then the Muhsir will still be considered to be out of Ihraam on this new date.

The condition of slaughtering the Muhsir’s Damm is that it should be within the precincts of the Haram; it does not matter whether it was done during the Days of Nahr or not.

If a Muhsir is a Qaareen, then he will have to slaughter two goats or sheep as he has adopted two Ihraams, one for the Umrah and the other for Hajj.

A Muhsir, who has already carried out the formalities of Ihsaar, may re-enter into Ihraam if the time for Hajj still remains. If no time remains then the Muhsir has to perform a Qadha of his Hajj in the future. If he is a Qaareen then he will also have to perform the Qadha of his Umrah even if it is in the same year that the Ihsaar took place.

This Qadha is Waajeeb upon every Muhsir whether the Hajj is Fardh, Nafl, Badl or not.

If a Muhsir became “Halaal” from a Fardh Hajj then it is not necessary to make intention for Qadha whether it be in the same year or in any other year.

If one became “Halaal” from a Nafl Hajj and recovered after being incapacitated and managed to perform Hajj in that very year, then there is no need for an intention of Qadhaa, but if this is done in another year then it becomes Waajeeb to make intention of Qadhaa.

A Muhsir who freed himself from the Ihraam of Hajj will make Qadha of one Hajj and one Umrah in the following year/s. If a Muhsir freed himself from a Qiraan Ihraam then he will make Qadha of one Hajj and two Umrah. All this is done when there was no time left for Hajj during that year.

If it so happened that after being incapacitated, one gave Damm in the Haram and released oneself from the Ihraam, and then became well again, and re-adorned Ihraam in that very same year during the time of Hajj, and made the Wuqoof, etc., then there is no need for making an intention for Qazaa in the following year, and if one is a Qaareen, then there is no need for an extra Umrah either.

If a Qaareen or Mufrid has the ability to perform Wuqoof-e-Arafat and then becomes a Muhsir, then he should do so and the Tawaaf-e-Ziyyaarat should be done either on the 1oth or 11th or 12th of Zil Hajj. If one could not do so even then, then one should make this Tawaaf later than the 12th but give a Damm for the delay. In this case, one must wait until the Tawaaf-e-Ziyyaarat has been done before having marital relations with one’s spouse. There will be no need of a Qadhaa and the Hajj has been done.

Until such a time that one does not come out of Ihraam as explained above, if one continues to perform any action which is prohibited in the state of Ihraam, then one will have to give a Damm for each misdemeanour.

The Muhsir will only be deemed to have missed his Hajj when, after freeing himself from Ihraam, is unable to be at Arafat between noon of the 9th of Zil Hajj and dawn of the 10th of Zil Hajj in the state of Ihraam. Such a person will still need to carry out the actions of Umrah and then shave the hair. By doing this, he will be free of his Ihraam but the Qadha of Hajj will still remain.