وَلِلَّـهِ عَلَى النَّاسِ حِجُّ الْبَيْتِ مَنِ اسْتَطَاعَ إِلَيْهِ سَبِيلًا ۚ وَمَن كَفَرَ فَإِنَّ اللَّـهَ غَنِيٌّ عَنِ الْعَالَمِينَ ﴿٩٧﴾
As a right of Allah Ta‘ala, it is obligatory on people to perform hajj of the Ka’bah – on everyone who can afford the journey. If one disbelieves, then Allah Ta‘ala is independent of all the worlds.
(Surah Aal ‘Imraan v97)
In the above verse of the Quraan Majeed, Allah Ta‘ala speaks of the fardh of hajj and tells us that it is His right over us that we perform hajj if we have the means to do so.
Having the means refers to a person being physically capable as well as possessing the financial means for his travel costs to go and return, accommodation and other related expenditure. If one has dependents at home, the needs and expenses of the dependents must also be seen to. Furthermore, a woman will require a mahram to travel with her for hajj. If she does not have a mahram, it will not be permissible for her to travel alone for hajj.
In our context, once hajj becomes fardh on a person, he cannot merely board a plane and fly off to fulfil this great ‘ibaadah. Rather, he has to follow the procedure of applying through SAHUC, awaiting accreditation etc. Hence, as soon as we possess the means to perform hajj, we should set the money aside and forward our application. We should not delay as it often takes a few years before a person receives accreditation and is able to go for hajj.
In the above verse, Allah Ta‘ala warns us that if a person shows an indifferent attitude towards the ‘ibaadah of hajj by not performing hajj or delaying unnecessarily, then Allah Ta‘ala has no need for him – or anyone else for that matter. Hence, by neglecting to perform hajj or delaying, we are harming no one but ourselves.
Additionally, we should not think that we are doing Allah Ta‘ala a favour by performing hajj. Rather, we are performing hajj for our own benefit through absolving ourselves of the obligations and earning the tremendous rewards promised for the one who performs hajj. We should thus try our best to perform our hajj as soon as we can.
May Allah Ta‘ala favour us all with the honour of presenting ourselves at His door.