Can I Pay for the Hajj of My Parents?

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Question: Assalam alaykum

Both my parents are poor and spent most of their lives trying to make ends meet. They don’t have the means to pay for both of their Hajj trips. Is it permissible for my sisters and I to pay? What it is in it for me?

Answer: Wa alaykum assalam,

I hope you’re doing well, insha’Allah.

Paying for the Hajj of your parents would:

1. Fulfill their obligation, fully without diminishment of their reward;
2. Give you (and whoever else contributes) the reward of Hajj (though it doesn’t fulfill your own obligatory Hajj!)—because, “Whoever assists in the good has the reward of those who act on it,” said the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace);
3. Count as a great act of excellence to parents (birr al-walidayn) which is of the greatest of spiritual acts in Islam after faith (iman) itself, and the obligatory prayer, as the Messenger of Allah (peace & blessings be upon him) affirmed in authentic hadiths.

Please see: A Hajj Reader

And Allah is the giver of success and facilitation.

Wassalam,
[Shaykh] Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Faraz Rabbani is a scholar and researcher of Islamic law and translator of several Arabic works to the English language. After ten years overseas, Shaykh Faraz returned to Canada in the Summer of 2007. In May 2008 he founded SeekersGuidance to deal with the urgent need to spread Islamic knowledge—both online and on the ground—in a reliable, relevant, inspiring, and accessible manner.