Can I Travel To Umra Alone With a Well-Known Shaykh Following Another School?

Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel

Question

There is an opportunity for me to go to Umra with a group of Shaykh Ahmad Babikir. I was just wondering if I can go alone with them as a woman in a group, and if I take this opinion from another school, would I have to perform the Umra according to the rules of that school, too? Also, it is a very pricey Umra, much more than you would usually pay. Am I obliged to use this money and save and pay for Hajj instead? However, I don’t have a mahram that could take me any time soon.

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

I pray you are in good faith and health. Thank you for your question.

Generally, the ruling of the Hanafi school is that a woman must travel either with her spouse or non-marriageable kin (mahram) who is trustworthy, mature, i.e., reached puberty, and of sound intellect. However, in your specific case, knowing the Shaykh, if you are traveling with a known group of friends with the Shaykh, following the school of the Shaykh, which is of Imam Shafi‘i, and traveling and doing Umra accordingly, then it will be permissible.

This has been mentioned as fulfilling the major conditions of the Shafi‘i school. See the links below. Some scholars in other schools, such as the Hanbali and Shafi‘i schools, also lend this position of permissibility support.

[Zayla‘i, Tabyin al Haqa’iq, Al Mawsu‘a al Kuwaitiyya; Ibn Muflih, Al-Furu‘; Al-Nawawi, Al-Majmu‘; Ibn Hajar, Fath al-Bari]

My teachers and other scholars have adopted this position when the conditions of safety and security are met, which are generally fulfilled by modern modes of transportation. However, mindfulness (taqwa) is always to be safe and wait for an opportunity when the conditions are fulfilled according to one’s school.

I would like you to go through the valuable answers and links below. You will receive guidance and direction in sha Allah.

Related 

• Is it Permissible for a Lady to Perform Hajj Alone if She Lives In Saudi Arabia? – SeekersGuidance
• Can a Woman Perform an Umra Alone? [Shafi’i] – SeekersGuidance
• Sisters, Make the Most of Your Umra with These Free Lessons – SeekersGuidance
• Imam al-Haddad’s Counsels on Hajj and `Umrah – Muwasala – SeekersGuidance

Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete the hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled in an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and ‘Aalimiyya sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan. He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for several years. He has taught hifz of the Quran, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to children and adults onsite and online extensively in the UK and Ireland. He taught at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences. He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His interest is a love of books and gardening.