The Ruling on Engaging in the Secret Habit During Hajj

Question: The questioner, Brother M. A. M. from Riyadh, says in his question: Seven years ago, my father and I went to perform the obligatory Hajj, and I was about seventeen years old at the time. While I was wearing my ihram, and before we left Makkah for Mina to perform the rites of Hajj, I engaged in the secret habit out of ignorance and without knowing the prohibitions of ihram. After that, I performed the ghusl for janabah, put on my ihram again, and then we went to Mina and completed all the rites of Hajj, praise be to Allah. What is the ruling on my Hajj, which is the obligatory Hajj? The reason I delayed asking about this for all this time was negligence. May Allah reward you with good, grant you success, and assist you.

Answer: The Hajj is valid according to the most correct of the scholars' opinions. You must repent to Allah for that, because engaging in the secret habit is forbidden in Hajj and otherwise, due to the saying of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) : EXCEPT WITH THEIR WIVES OR WHAT THEIR RIGHT HANDS POSSESS, FOR THEY ARE NOT TO BE BLAMED. BUT WHOEVER SEEKS BEYOND THAT, IT IS THEY WHO ARE THE TRANSGRESSORS [Al-Mu'minun: 5-7], and because of the many harms it contains, which the scholars have clarified. We ask Allah for guidance and success for us and for you. You must slaughter a sacrificial animal in Makkah for the poor.