Does having intercourse during Hajj invalidate one's Hajj?

The Shaykh : And so I was also asked, on this occasion, whether a pilgrim having intercourse with his wife invalidates his Hajj, or whether it is merely forbidden for him? There is a vast difference between it being forbidden for him while the Hajj remains valid, and his Hajj being invalidated simply by committing the forbidden act. So regarding this forbidden act, I answered that in reality, there is scholarly disagreement among the jurists on this issue. The well-known position among them is that intercourse invalidates the Hajj, but there is a view that there is no evidence for the invalidation of the Hajj, while acknowledging that it is also among the prohibitions of Hajj. I answered that I do not have a specific study on this issue, and I hope I will be given the opportunity to devote myself to studying it as it deserves, so that we may be assured regarding the majority's statement that the Hajj is invalidated or not invalidated, and we stop only at the prohibition. Likewise, this specific issue requires a special study: is cutting the nails considered by analogy to cutting the hair, for example, or is there a specific text regarding it? This is what we do not know, and it requires a special study. It is not difficult for you that one who is greater than us in knowledge, when asked about an issue, says, "I do not know," for half of knowledge is saying "I do not know." It is established from some of the Imams of the Salaf, and I think it was Imam Malik, that a man from Khurasan came to him with a list—more than this list—containing one hundred questions from the people of Khurasan. They sent these questions with this man, saying, "Ask Imam Malik, the Imam of the City of Migration, for us and take the answers from him." So he took the paper, studied it, and gave answers to only three out of the one hundred questions. The messenger, this intermediary, was stunned and said, "You are the Imam of the City of Migration, and we sent specifically to you one hundred questions, and you give me only..." He said to him, "Go back and tell them that Imam Malik does not know the answer to the questions except for these three questions only." This is the people of knowledge; they do not say what they do not know, because Allah (Mighty and Majestic) forbade the Muslim from saying what he does not know. And so we always say in our supplications, "Our Lord, increase us in knowledge." Why? Because Allah said: And as for that which I have not been given an answer to yet, my answer is "I do not know," "I do not know," here.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : And beware of that.