Hajj on behalf of ancestors whose status is unknown
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you. This questioner says: Your Eminence the Shaykh! All Muslims have benefited from your fatwa in *Nur 'ala al-Darb*. To proceed: Is it permissible to perform Hajj on behalf of ancestors who have passed away, when we do not know whether they performed Hajj or not? Please inform us. May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
If one performs Hajj on behalf of his father or grandfather, may Allah reward him with good, provided he does not know that he was a disbeliever. If he knows nothing about him, his apparent status is Islam. If he performs Hajj on his behalf, or makes du'a' for him, or gives charity on his behalf, he will be rewarded. This is part of dutifulness to parents, but it is not obligatory. It is not obligatory for him to perform Hajj on his behalf. If you perform Hajj on his behalf, may Allah reward you with good.
May Allah reward you. This questioner says: Your Eminence the Shaykh! All Muslims have benefited from your fatwa in *Nur 'ala al-Darb*. To proceed: Is it permissible to perform Hajj on behalf of ancestors who have passed away, when we do not know whether they performed Hajj or not? Please inform us. May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
If one performs Hajj on behalf of his father or grandfather, may Allah reward him with good, provided he does not know that he was a disbeliever. If he knows nothing about him, his apparent status is Islam. If he performs Hajj on his behalf, or makes du'a' for him, or gives charity on his behalf, he will be rewarded. This is part of dutifulness to parents, but it is not obligatory. It is not obligatory for him to perform Hajj on his behalf. If you perform Hajj on his behalf, may Allah reward you with good.
Source
فتاوى الحج 1410 هـ - 13 — archive.org (5:11)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.