Mahram Rules of Hajj – Islam is the religion of peace and wisdom. Allah ﷻ knows better about human needs, good and bad aspects of selfdom and thus provide a complete guide for life through Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and the Holy Quran. In Islam, women should be treated as the noblest aspect of a society. Their respect and honor is a must, therefore, Allah has given them some guidelines as a prevention of their esteem –such as “the Mahram”.
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Who is a Mahram?
As extracted from the Quran, the definition of this term is; A Mahram is a male relative of the women who is either related through blood ties, marriage or breastfeeding. This includes relations like father, brother, son, grandfather, grandson, nephew, uncle, father-in-law, stepfather, stepson and similar relations. According to Shari’ah a woman can simply perform Hajj with any of these persons only.
A mandatory condition of Pilgrim women
Hajj is an obligation to every capable Muslim in a lifetime. When it comes to Muslim women, Islam has made it a mandatory to perform the Hajj with the men who are in their blood relation or husband, in other words.
I have searched for a relevant Quranic Verse about travelling with Mahram, but couldn’t find any specific verse in the Quran which states that women couldn’t travel without her Mahram. However, it is clearly mentioned in Sahih Muslim that a woman is not permitted to travel a distance more than 78 km.
Narrations from Sahih Al-Muslim
In Sahih Muslim, it is penned that Allah’s Apostle ﷺ
1) Sayyiduna Abu Sa’id al-Khudri (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said: “Let no woman travel for more than three days unless her husband or a or a Mahram is with her.” (Sahih Muslim)
2) Sayyiduna Abd Allah ibn Umar (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said: “A woman must not travel for three days except with a Mahram.” (Sahih al-Bukari, no. 1036 & Sahih Muslim)
Narrations from Sahih Al-Bukhari
3) Sayyiduna Abud Huraira (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said: “it is unlawful for a woman who believes in Allah and the last day that she travels the distance of one day and one night without a Mahram accompanying her” (Sahi al-Bukhari, no 1038)
4) Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said: “ A woman must not travel except with a Mahram and man must not enter upon her except if she has a Mahram.” ( Sahih al-Bukhari, no. 1763)
Why is Mahram an Obligation?
Islam has brought a specific style of protecting the reputation and dignity of women. This is Allah’s religion and comes with the teachings that act as a shield for vulnerable and weak aspects of the society. The wisdom behind the prohibition of travelling without Mahram is to protect women from all evils so that they can travel and perform all Hajj rituals without any difficulty and stay safe and protected.
Could a Single Women Perform Hajj if she has no Mahram?
There are mixed views on women performing Hajj and Umrah without mahram. Different scholars have different views of a single woman performing Hajj. Some say that the woman who has no Mahram and financially able is not allowed to perform Hajj. Whereas, the other views suggest that if a woman has no Mahram but is financially stable should sponsor somebody else to perform Hajj in her place. There have been practicing from some countries who allow single Muslim women to perform Umrah/Hajj with groups.
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