What is your opinion regarding a man whose mother has not performed Hajj, and she wants to perform Hajj and has asked him to take her, while he is far from her and has a debt that he is able to repay?
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The questioner : May Allah reward the honorableThe Shaykh : I have a mother who has not performed Hajj, and she wants to perform Hajj this year. She asked me to come to her and take her for Hajj. I am in al-Qassim, far from her. Also, I have a debt, and this debt is with me, and I am able to repay it now. The debt was for buying a car, and I want to perform Hajj alone from here. What is your opinion in this matter, may Allah guide you? And the same question is asked: I am a man with a large debt, but my mother asked me to go with her to Hajj. What is the answer, and she has not performed Hajj?
The Shaykh : The first question differs from the second in that the first questioner says he is able to pay off the debt. So I say to this brother: pay off the debt, because what a person should do is hasten to pay off the debt before he dies, and then the heirs play with his wealth and do not pay off his debt. Pay off the debt and take your mother for Hajj, and this is the completion of dutifulness to parents that you take her for Hajj. And I have seen with my own eyes people who carried their mothers on their backs during Hajj, from 'Arafah to Muzdalifah and from Muzdalifah to Mina, despite the severe crowding and the hardship of walking. And by Allah, I saw them carrying their mothers on their backs. The mother's right is great, her right is immense. Her staying awake one night so that you can rest and sleep is worth the entire world. Do you not know that the mother stays awake at night so that you can sleep? She rocks you until you sleep, and then she sleeps after you. Her hardship in pregnancy, her hardship in childbirth, it is something unbearable. So she has a great right over you. If she orders you to come from al-Qassim to her country, even if she were in America and you are able to go to her, go and take her for Hajj. And you will find every good from Allah, because dutifulness to parents is a matter of great significance, and its command is immense. And whoever is dutiful to his parents, his children will be dutiful to him. As for the second one who has a debt, we do not see that he should take his mother for Hajj while he has a debt, unless his mother says, "I will bear all the expenses, the expenses of Hajj." In that case, we say: take her for Hajj, because in this situation, you will not harm the creditors, and you will be dutiful to your mother.
The Shaykh : The first question differs from the second in that the first questioner says he is able to pay off the debt. So I say to this brother: pay off the debt, because what a person should do is hasten to pay off the debt before he dies, and then the heirs play with his wealth and do not pay off his debt. Pay off the debt and take your mother for Hajj, and this is the completion of dutifulness to parents that you take her for Hajj. And I have seen with my own eyes people who carried their mothers on their backs during Hajj, from 'Arafah to Muzdalifah and from Muzdalifah to Mina, despite the severe crowding and the hardship of walking. And by Allah, I saw them carrying their mothers on their backs. The mother's right is great, her right is immense. Her staying awake one night so that you can rest and sleep is worth the entire world. Do you not know that the mother stays awake at night so that you can sleep? She rocks you until you sleep, and then she sleeps after you. Her hardship in pregnancy, her hardship in childbirth, it is something unbearable. So she has a great right over you. If she orders you to come from al-Qassim to her country, even if she were in America and you are able to go to her, go and take her for Hajj. And you will find every good from Allah, because dutifulness to parents is a matter of great significance, and its command is immense. And whoever is dutiful to his parents, his children will be dutiful to him. As for the second one who has a debt, we do not see that he should take his mother for Hajj while he has a debt, unless his mother says, "I will bear all the expenses, the expenses of Hajj." In that case, we say: take her for Hajj, because in this situation, you will not harm the creditors, and you will be dutiful to your mother.