The honorable Shaykh, a man gave me pebbles on the twelfth day to throw on his behalf, claiming he is a traveler and the distance is far, and for your information, he is not sick.

The questioner : The honorable Shaykh, a man gave me pebbles on the twelfth day to throw on his behalf, claiming he is a traveler and the distance is far, and for your information, he is not sick. What is the ruling of the Shari'ah in your view regarding this action?

The Shaykh : We have considered that this action does not suffice for him, because he left an obligatory act of Hajj. It is established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: And whoever delegates this to another has not established the remembrance of Allah in these stonings.
Accordingly, the throwing by this agent does not suffice for the one who appointed him. It is obligatory for the one who appointed him to seek forgiveness from Allah and repent to Him for what he did, and to slaughter a fidyah (ransom payment) to be distributed to the poor in Makkah. He must slaughter a fidyah in Makkah to be distributed to the poor there, because he left an obligatory act of Hajj. The scholars have said: If a person leaves an obligatory act of Hajj, a fidyah becomes obligatory upon him, which is slaughtered in Makkah and its entirety is distributed to the poor there.
And let it be known that Hajj is a form of worship by which a person draws near to his Lord, and that the person himself is obligated to perform it and complete it, as Allah the Exalted said: You must perform these actions with your own person.
And were it not that the Companions used to throw on behalf of the children, we would have said that one who is unable to throw the pebbles should not appoint anyone else, because it is a worship connected to the body of the doer. If he is able, that is fine; and if he is not able, it is dropped from him. If there is a substitute for it, he performs the substitute; and if there is no substitute, it is dropped entirely.
As for the negligence of some people today in delegating the throwing of the pebbles, it indicates one of two things: either a deficiency in knowledge or a weakness in religion. As for the one who has knowledge of the Shari'ah of Allah, it becomes clear to him that throwing the pebbles, like the other obligatory acts of Hajj, must be performed by the person himself, and it is not permissible to delegate it to another. For Allah the Exalted said: And completing includes completing all the actions of both (Hajj and 'Umrah). If someone says: What if I have women with me? Women are weak and cannot withstand this severe crowd, which sometimes leads to death, due to the pushing of people and their lack of knowledge of what they should be upon in these rites, namely gentleness and mercy toward their brothers. If we take the women to throw, hardship will be upon them, and perhaps harm will befall them? The answer to this is that we say: This crowd is not constant; rather, this crowd occurs at the beginning of the time of throwing, mostly, and then the people decrease little by little. So wait for the time when the people are fewer, or even throw at night, for throwing at night is permissible, especially in this severe crowd. It is not permissible for women to delegate someone to throw on their behalf because of the crowd. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) permitted the weak among his family to depart from Muzdalifah at the end of the night to throw the pebbles before the crowd of people. He ordered them to cut off a portion of the staying overnight in Muzdalifah, even though staying overnight in Muzdalifah is among the rituals of Allah and among the great stations. Allah the Exalted said: And yet, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered them to cut off a portion of this worship in order to be safe from the crowd. He did not say (peace and blessings be upon him): Sit, do not depart except with us, and delegate someone to throw for you. If there had been a place for delegation, delegation would have been easier than cutting off a portion of the staying overnight in Muzdalifah.
And they were permitted to move forward and to throw before the time in which [the general public] threw. The correct view is that it is permissible for them to throw even before Fajr, whenever they are permitted to depart from Muzdalifah, they are permitted to throw, whenever they arrive at Mina, because throwing the pebbles is a greeting to Mina. Likewise, the shepherds were permitted by the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to throw one day and leave one day, and he did not permit them to delegate someone to throw for them on the day they are absent from Mina.
Therefore, it is obligatory for the Muslim to fear Allah regarding himself and to perform the actions of the rites with his own person, except for what he is unable to do and for which delegation has been reported. Yes.

The questioner : May Allah bless you, honorable Shaykh. In his second question, the listener, 'Aziz Jawdah, is of Egyptian nationality and resides in the Kingdom.