Is it permissible to participate with a group as a bus driver for Hajj, given their condition that you do not stay overnight in Mina on the eighth day?

The questioner : I am going with a company that is assisting them, and they conditioned that they give me a bus in exchange for this, but they insisted that I not take the people to Mina on the eighth day.

The Shaykh : This is a problem from the start.

The questioner : So I accepted this on the surface, but I said perhaps there is a stronger benefit if I take the people and strive for them, if Allah wills, and I negotiate with them to take them to Mina.
Al-Halabi : Or what?

The Shaykh : Well, what is this in the surface and the reality?

The questioner : I mean, I agreed to this thing, but my intention is to take the people to Mina.

The Shaykh : And are you able to carry out your intention?

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : How?

The questioner : The people with me in the bus, I take them as experienced; I have done this before.

The Shaykh : There is no supervisor or person in charge over you, I do not think...

The questioner : Not always.

The Shaykh : How not always?

The questioner : I mean, if I take the bus and I am responsible for it, buses usually go to 'Arafah; we take the bus instead of going to 'Arafah, we take it to Mina.

The Shaykh : I do not think so, my brother.

The questioner : Well, what if they forced us, O Shaykh?

The Shaykh : I mean, now you have returned to the same problem that occurred at the beginning. You returned to saying, "Necessity forced us." Before this, how did you imagine that you could be independent? If you go to Mina, you know where you want to get off.

The questioner : I know.

The Shaykh : How, where, what?

The questioner : The place, meaning in Mina?

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : The Jordanians' accommodation, the place is known, yes.

The Shaykh : The place is known.

The questioner : I mean, we take them to the Jordanians' accommodation located in Mina.

The Shaykh : Well, and if you go to 'Arafah, do you know that too?

The questioner : Yes, I know.

The Shaykh : I see you are being bold in the wrong place.

The questioner : I know, I have spoken.

The Shaykh : Well, my brother, 'Arafah is vast, long, and wide. How do you imagine that easily, and without getting lost like the Jews in the wilderness, you directly know how to go to the place allocated for the Jordanians? How did you imagine this with such ease?

The questioner : O Shaykh, the places are known every year and do not change. The shops, I praise Allah, I have gone more than once; they do not change. The address is always known, this is regarding our situation as Jordanians.

The Shaykh : Well, now what is your question?

The questioner : Now, if the group, the owners of the company, take us to 'Arafah and do not take us to Mina, in this case, do we separate from them?

The Shaykh : This is what we are saying, meaning we were applying... and I am not feeling the words, they eat me, and listen, O neighbor.
Al-Halabi : ... in the trap, our Shaykh.
Abu Layla : Our Shaykh, you noticed, perhaps in his question... as you say, on the company's account, on the condition that he is responsible for the bus. So now, he breaks the promise when he leaves the people; he is responsible for the bus now.

The Shaykh : No, he felt at the end that he would not be able to be anything but a follower, and therefore he said, "If they take us directly to 'Arafah."

The questioner : This is on the assumption, my teacher, that there is no one else responsible in the bus besides me. But if there is another one from the company owners, he will be the one responsible.

The Shaykh : This is what is supposed to be the case, so I told you there is no supervisor or guardian over you.

The questioner : This is what I do not know... but O Shaykh, may Allah bless you, I do not know if I will be directly responsible or if there will be a supervisor over me. If I am directly responsible, if Allah wills, the situation will be according to the Sunnah. But in the case where there is a supervisor and person in charge over us, and they take us to 'Arafah, taking the whole bus, and I cannot separate from the bus because I am responsible for the people in the bus, yes, I know that if I am the primary responsible person, if Allah is Exalted, I go to Mina directly. But if one of the supervisors or overseers from the company takes us directly to 'Arafah, in this case, I mean, I leave the caravan in which I am responsible and go to Mina alone.

The Shaykh : Are you able to do that or not? You will tell me no.

The questioner : I am able to go.

The Shaykh : Are you able to leave the caravan?

The questioner : By Allah, my teacher, I do not know. This may lead to harms from the company, not from the work, meaning there may be blame or something similar.

The Shaykh : And if they take you from 'Arafah to Mina.

The questioner : Without passing through Muzdalifah, meaning?

The Shaykh : What is passing, is it the condition?

The questioner : No, of course not.

The Shaykh : Like passing through al-Akhbayn.

The questioner : The Fajr prayer.

The Shaykh : So I say, if they take you to Mina immediately.

The questioner : No, of course, because...

The Shaykh : What do you do? ... the issue is like this.

The questioner : Regarding Muzdalifah, I do not go with them directly to Mina; it is necessary...

The Shaykh : What do you do?

The questioner : I leave them, I separate from them.

The Shaykh : Can you leave them?

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : What is the difference now? Here you said yes, and there you said I do not know?

The questioner : Because staying overnight in Muzdalifah, as I believe...

The Shaykh : Do not deviate from the answer.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : Why did you say yes here and I do not know there? The important thing is, I do not advise you to go with them.

The questioner : If another person went, he would do more harm.

The Shaykh : You are not responsible for others. This is a method practiced by others. Allah the Exalted said, as you know, If another person wants to burn and violate the Shari'ah, why do you burn and violate the Shari'ah? This logic is not Shari'ah-compliant; it is what opened the doors to violating the Shari'ah in many issues. For example, and Allah is truthful, mixing in learning is contrary to the Shari'ah, but we need female doctors. So if I send my daughter or sister to study in this mixing, why, my brother? Let others be the scapegoat. They come with the same answer that it is permissible for some open sinners or wicked women to graduate as doctors, so it is better for us to send our daughters and women. We say it is better if we do not want to burn ourselves and make our women and daughters scapegoats. But exposing ourselves to violating the Shari'ah under the claim that we are better than others, this is, Glory be to Allah, logic contrary to the Shari'ah. Therefore, you imagine now the following issue, regardless of your travel with the caravan: a person performed the obligatory Hajj, then wanted to perform Hajj as a voluntary act, but neglected some of the obligations. Is he sinful or not? Is it better for him to perform voluntary Hajj and commit sin, or not to commit sin?

The questioner : Not to commit sin and not to perform Hajj.

The Shaykh : Well, what do you say about being forced to perform Hajj and neglecting some of the pillars? A fortiori, since Allah Mighty and Majestic has blessed you and you have fulfilled the obligatory Hajj, and perhaps more than the obligatory, what do you want with this problem? It is supposed that when a person wants to rectify things, he should be the one commanding and forbidding, the one guiding this public under his control, so that he gains the full virtue of Hajj for himself first, and then for his companions with him second. But the issue is reversed, and he performs an incomplete Hajj, such that what was said in the past may apply to him: "I did not perform Hajj, but the camels performed Hajj."