Is it permissible to perform Hajj or 'Umrah on behalf of a living person or a deceased person?

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The questioner : Peace be upon you.
Is it permissible for a living person to perform 'Umrah on behalf of a living man or a deceased man?

The Shaykh : Performing 'Umrah and Hajj on behalf of a living person: if it is an obligatory duty and the living person is unable to come to Makkah himself, there is no harm in doing so, based on the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas

a woman from the tribe of Khath'am came and Al-Fadl started looking at her and she started looking at him. The Prophet (ﷺ) turned Al-Fadl's face to the other side. The woman said, "O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)! The obligation of Hajj enjoined by Allah on His devotees has become due on my father and he is old and weak, and he cannot sit firm on the Mount; may I perform Hajj on his behalf?" The Prophet (ﷺ) replied, "Yes, you may."

أن امرأة أتت النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم فقالت : يا رسول الله إن فريضة الله على عباده في الحج أدركت أبي شيخا كبيرا لا يثبت على الراحلة أفأحج عنه ؟ قال : نعم

Sahih al-Bukhari 1513

. As for if it is a voluntary act, if the person for whom you are performing it is unable, then it appears, if Allah wills, that it will benefit him. If he is able, there is disagreement among the scholars. Some scholars say that it is not valid to perform Hajj on behalf of an able person, neither for an obligatory duty nor a voluntary act, because the obligatory duty requires a person to perform Hajj himself, and a voluntary act does not benefit from saying to someone, "Worship Allah on my behalf," as that does not reach me. In my view, this is closer to the position of permissibility. However, the practice of people now is that a person performs Hajj on behalf of another, even if the other person is able, in the case of a voluntary act. Yes.

Source alathar.net

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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