A man who has a debt and has not performed Hajj, and someone said to him: Perform Hajj and I will bear your debt. Is it permissible for him to perform Hajj?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : May Allah reward the honorableThe Shaykh : I am a person who will not be able to perform the obligatory Hajj, and I have debts amounting to twenty thousand riyals. A brother of mine in Islam said to me: Perform Hajj and I will bear your debt. I am eager to perform Hajj. Please advise me, may Allah reward you.
The Shaykh : If this brother in Islam wants to bear the cost of Hajj such that your going with him does not harm you, there is no harm in your going, and it is not obligatory for you either. But we say there is no harm, why? Because there is a favor done to you. It is feared that one day you may not have a brother in Islam. He might say: This is my reward; I performed Hajj for you in such-and-such a year, and now you are doing this to me. So we say: if this man wants to take you on Hajj at his own expense such that you lose nothing, there is no harm in your performing Hajj. And with that, we say it is not obligatory for you to perform Hajj. And my words here do not contradict what I said first: the man goes with the group and has a debt, but he goes in the capacity of serving them, with coffee, tea, and the like. Because this man who went with them has no favor upon them; rather, he is the one who has the favor upon them by serving them.
The Shaykh : If this brother in Islam wants to bear the cost of Hajj such that your going with him does not harm you, there is no harm in your going, and it is not obligatory for you either. But we say there is no harm, why? Because there is a favor done to you. It is feared that one day you may not have a brother in Islam. He might say: This is my reward; I performed Hajj for you in such-and-such a year, and now you are doing this to me. So we say: if this man wants to take you on Hajj at his own expense such that you lose nothing, there is no harm in your performing Hajj. And with that, we say it is not obligatory for you to perform Hajj. And my words here do not contradict what I said first: the man goes with the group and has a debt, but he goes in the capacity of serving them, with coffee, tea, and the like. Because this man who went with them has no favor upon them; rather, he is the one who has the favor upon them by serving them.