If one of the parents is unable to perform Hajj and then dies, does the child perform Hajj on their behalf?

The questioner : No, Professor. The one who died was not able to perform Hajj, for example?

The Shaykh : How?

The questioner : The deceased was not able to perform Hajj—for example, due to poverty or incapacity or such—so is it permissible for his guardian?

The Shaykh : This has already been answered implicitly.

The questioner : He said: If he was able but did not perform Hajj, as in the question.

The Shaykh : Yes, but implicitly, when we repeated the condition of ability, the understanding is the opposite.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : So I am answering you now regarding your specific case!
I say: Yes, if one of the parents dies and Hajj was not obligatory upon them at all—with this condition, pay attention—if one of the parents dies and Hajj was not obligatory upon them at all after reaching the age of puberty, then the child may perform Hajj on their behalf. In fact, I hope you pay attention, in fact, the child must perform Hajj on their behalf. What is the difference?

The questioner : I mean, it is obligatory.

Another questioner : It is obligatory upon the child.

The Shaykh : ... May Allah guide you.

Another questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : If one of the parents dies and Hajj was not obligatory upon them at all after reaching the age of puberty, then the child must perform Hajj on their behalf. Why? Because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered the woman from Khath'am when she said: "O Messenger of Allah, my father is an old man who cannot stay on the mount, and the obligation of Allah, Hajj, has come upon him. Shall I perform Hajj on his behalf?" He said (peace and blessings be upon him): , and in another narration: , or in another narration: ; because there is a disagreement regarding whether the questioner is a man or a woman, . She said: Yes. He said: .
But I hope you pay attention here now; because some later jurists, and perhaps some earlier ones, reversed the indication of the hadith. They did this regarding prayer, as you know in the chapter of making up missed prayers, making up prayers in many books of jurisprudence. They hold that if a man dies and he has broken prayers upon him that he did not make up in full, some of them say: his son makes them up. Some of them—and they are the majority—say: No, he does not make them up. Some of this majority held the view of this expiation, which you may have heard about, and we will not lengthen the discussion on it. They gather money, they calculate how many prayers, how many years he did not pray, they multiply—for example—the year by three hundred and sixty-five days, all the days by five, and it comes out to whatever Allah wills. And this comes out to a mudd of wheat for every prayer, and so on.
This is, of course, a Hanafi innovation, and Imam Abu Hanifa is innocent of it; it only occurred after him.
The summary: So prayer is not made up except for the excuse of forgetfulness and sleep. So regarding Hajj, some of these later scholars said . The first case is the man upon whom Hajj became obligatory and he did not perform it. This one died with a debt upon him? No, this one did not die with a debt upon him. The one who dies with a debt upon him is the one with an excuse, and this one has no excuse. Therefore, what does the hadith say? "My father cannot stay on the mount." So this one has an excuse. Thus, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) considered this excuse a debt upon the child to make up for his father, and not even one who left Hajj without what? Without an excuse.
That first case, and we have answered it. As for this one, it is the evidence for the one with an excuse upon whom Hajj was obligatory but he was unable to perform it. So it is obligatory upon his son to perform Hajj on his behalf.
Yes.