Explanation of the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) that a woman from Khath'am said: "O Messenger of Allah, my father is an old man who cannot stay on a mount"

The Shaykh : The first text we find on this matter is the hadith in al-Bukhari regarding that woman from Khath'am who asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) on the Day of Sacrifice during the Farewell Pilgrimage. She said: "O Messenger of Allah, my father is an old man who cannot stay on a mount, and the obligation of Allah, Hajj, has come upon him. Should I perform Hajj on his behalf?" He (peace be upon him) said: .
This hadith cannot be understood in an absolute sense without the condition that was included in the question, on the basis of which the answer was given. You heard the woman describe her father's condition with attributes, the first of which is that he is an old, decrepit man; necessarily, as she said, he cannot stay on a mount; meaning he is unable to ride a she-camel and continue his journey to the Sacred House of Allah; for he would lean and fall to the ground and die.
And the obligation of Allah, Hajj, has come upon him; meaning: Hajj became obligatory on him on the day it was made obligatory, and he was an old man who could not stay on a mount; because the obligation of Hajj was established in the later years of the life of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), according to the most likely of the opinions; and therefore the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) pilgrimage was delayed until the last year of his life. So a man who is in the prime of his youth when Hajj becomes obligatory on him, and who finds wealth, leisure, and energy, and nothing prevents him from hastening to perform Hajj except his preoccupation with his trade, buying and selling, his family, his children, and the like of the adornments of this worldly life, cannot be compared to him or included with him; for he has no excuse for delaying Hajj. Then he dies in middle age, or even as an old man, without having performed the Hajj of Islam at all, and he has no excuse as we mentioned. He may be one of those people who traveled to Europe, to the lands of disbelief and misguidance, repeatedly and often, for what? For the sake of his trade and for the sake of expanding his wealth. Then he dies and leaves behind a great deal of wealth, and every one of his children became wealthy because of him after his death, and they inherited his wealth. They take out two or three thousand pounds with ease, as if a poor person were to take out a dirham, saying, "This is a substitute Hajj for our father." No one benefits at all from this substitute Hajj, neither the one who performed the substitute Hajj nor the one for whom it was performed; and the deceased father is sinful and an open sinner, if he did not die a disbeliever; because Allah (Mighty and Majestic) indicated in the previously mentioned verse by saying: . It is possible to imagine that this one who did not perform Hajj turned away from Hajj out of disbelief in Hajj, a heart-based, creedal disbelief. We can imagine this, just as it is imagined for one who abandons prayer. And it is possible, may Allah protect us, that he denied Hajj. I know some of the young Muslim men... who performed Hajj and then regretted his pilgrimage; so there is no doubt in his disbelief and his apostasy from his religion; because he found there manifestations which he interpreted, as the writers, the Orientalists who are enemies of the religion, interpret them, as polytheistic manifestations, such as kissing the Black Stone, for example. And he saw the shortcoming of the Muslims due to their ignorance, due to their lack of upbringing, from the gathering of filth, dirt, and flies, and so on. So he returned, may Allah protect us, regretting what he had performed of the pilgrimage to the Sacred House of Allah.
So this one who died wealthy and did not perform the Hajj of Islam, it is possible to imagine that he is not a disbeliever regarding Hajj, but rather lax in it. So if someone else performs Hajj on his behalf, what benefit does this Hajj bring him? He died, as we said, an open sinner. And Hajj is like prayer; the first intended purpose of it is a trial from Allah for His servants, as He said: , and the intended purpose is the purification of the soul of the one who performs obedience to Allah. So this one died and his soul was not purified by Hajj; because he did not perform Hajj, and his soul was not purified even if all people performed Hajj on his behalf; because: . So the substitute Hajj in this case is not prescribed at all. It is not permissible for the pilgrim to take the cost of the Hajj if he knows that he is performing Hajj for this type of people upon whom Hajj became obligatory and they were able to perform it, but they did not perform it due to their preoccupation with the world.
The woman from Khath'am described her husband with attributes.

Those present: Her father.

The Shaykh : Yes?
Attendance: Her father.

The Shaykh : She described her father with attributes that excuse this father from not performing Hajj. So whoever is in this state can have Hajj performed on his behalf. This is one of the forms of the prescribed substitute Hajj.
A second form: the same type of person who did not perform Hajj until he was on the verge of death due to an illness that struck him, so he regretted his shortcoming, and he tasked a person to perform Hajj on his behalf, and gave him the maintenance costs. So Hajj is performed on his behalf; because he is making up in the last of his life what he missed, so he is still within the scope of religious obligation. It is not so after death, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . So this one who bequeathed that Hajj be performed on his behalf, Hajj is performed on his behalf, and this is a type of the prescribed substitute Hajj.