"And the one who is able: the one for whom riding is possible and who has found provisions and a mount suitable for his like"

The Shaykh : He (may Allah have mercy on him) says "And the one who is able". The one who is able, in his statement "upon the Muslim, free, adult, and able person," means that the one who is able is the one for whom riding is possible and who has found provisions and a mount. What comes after that in your text? "Suitable for his like". This is the one who is able: the one for whom riding is possible. So, if one is not able to ride, he is not considered able. How might one be unable to ride? We say that in the age of camels, the inability to ride was common. There were some people who could not ride a mount because of their ... constitution, being weak and frail, unable to ride. If someone were to say, "We can tie him to the saddle," we would say that this is a hardship that the Shari'ah does not bring. As for our time, the time of cars and airplanes, the one for whom riding is not possible is usually rare. But we have seen some people who cannot ride in a car because when they ride, they suffer greatly, feeling dizzy and losing consciousness, or perhaps they suffer from nausea and vomiting, which causes them great hardship. He says that Hajj is not obligatory upon him, even if he is physically healthy and strong, but as long as he incurs this burden, Hajj is not obligatory upon him.
The second point is that he says he found provisions and a mount. Provisions are what a traveler takes with him of food, drink, a saddle, and other travel necessities. A mount is well known: it is what one rides, whether camels, donkeys, cars, or airplanes. If he finds a mount, but the author stipulated, saying "suitable for his like," meaning that the provisions must be suitable for his like, and so must the mount. So, if he finds a mount but it is not suitable for his like because he is a person of status, wealth, honor, and leadership, and he finds no mount suitable for his like—for example, suppose he is a person of honor and leadership and finds no mount except a donkey—is it obligatory for him?
The audience: No.

The Shaykh : Why? Because it is not suitable for his like, and it would bring him humiliation and the taunting of his enemies, so it is not obligatory for him. Likewise, with provisions, if we suppose he is wealthy, but the travelers do not have the kind of provisions that would be suitable for his like—they have only a piece of bread and simple food, meaning a man like him would not eat such food—then Hajj is not obligatory for him, because there is humiliation in that. In this matter, someone might say that the generality of the statement of Allah the Exalted includes the one for whom riding is possible on a mount that is not suitable for his like, and with provisions that are not suitable for his like. And if people travel for Hajj on such a mount or with such provisions, they do not mock him or blame him. It is true that he is psychologically affected and loses the provisions of food and drink he was accustomed to, and he sees that this mount is not fitting for his like, but he cannot be called incapable. And Allah the Mighty and Majestic says . For this reason, some scholars held the view that the one who finds provisions and a mount that enable him to reach the sacred sites and return is obligated, without restricting this to them being suitable for his like. And this is closer to the truth: to say that the one who is able to find a way to it, in any state, is obligated, provided there is no harm to him. As for losing the customary vehicle, food, or drink, this is not considered incapacity. Then he mentioned other conditions, saying "after fulfilling the obligatory duties and expenses." We will leave this for the next lesson, as it is time for questions.