Making ‘Umrah with her money or giving it to her mother to make ‘Umrah

14-5-2013 | IslamWeb

Question:

If I save some money for the purpose of performing ‘Umrah in Ramadhaan, may I give it to my mother to perform ‘Umrah? Am I required to perform my ‘Umrah first, and my mother can go the next year for instance?

Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

 

The sounder of the two opinions of scholars is that ‘Umrah is obligatory for the Muslim who affords it and it must be performed immediately. Thus, if you have not performed the obligatory ‘Umrah, you must perform it once you are able to. It is not correct to give precedence to your mother over you in this regard, beside this is not a form of dutifulness to her. That is because neglecting an obligation is an act of disobedience, and dutifulness cannot be achieved by disobeying Allaah The Almighty. However, if you performed the obligatory ‘Umrah, giving preference to your mother in this case would be a praiseworthy act for which you would be rewarded. This takes place particularly when your mother has not performed the obligatory ‘Umrah, so that you are helping her to fulfill that obligation. If your mother performed the obligatory ‘Umrah, the fact of giving preference to her to perform ‘Umrah is debatable among scholars. In other words, the majority of scholars held that it is not permissible for the Muslim to give preference to anyone over himself in acts of worship, whereas Ibn Al-Qayyim  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him in Zaad Al-Ma‘aad, seconded the opinion which permits it.

If it is possible to go with your mother in a ‘Umrah cheaper than that of Ramadan, this will be of a double benefit. We draw your attention to the importance of taking a Mahram since it is not permissible for the Muslim woman to travel without a Mahram man even for the obligatory Hajj and ‘Umrah – according to the opinion of many scholars. However, there is a well-known divergence of opinion on the issue.

Allaah Knows best.

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