Hajj questions- Women

[amatullah]

AssalamAlaikum Wr Wb Shaikh Aslam,
We have been blessed by Allah SWT with the opportunity to go to Hajj this year inshAllah. We really miss not being able to attend your Hajj lecture this year, however I am glad that we have these forums to ask you all our Hajj related queries.

I am in a dilemma relating to the issue of mensturation and Hajj. Our travel group will take us directly to Makkah to perform Umrah and stay there for 3 days before leaving for Medina for 8 days. From Medina, the group will leave for Mina (Via Makkah) on the 7th Dhul Hijjah night so as to arrive in Mina 8th morning. Apparently the transit time in Makkah is not very long.
My period is expected the day we arrive in Makkah on the 22nd Nov or around then and its fairly regular each month. My questions are:
1. I adopt Ihram and niyyah at the Meeqat while I am still clean but once I arrive in Mekkah, if I am unable to perform Umrah due to the period, do I need to get out of the ihram? If I do so, then do I have to pay a dumm? The travel group has advised that we wont be able to stay behind in Mekkah and finish the Umrah before joining them in Medina and we will need to perform my Umrah after Hajj as a Qada. Is that allowed? In that case do I need to change my niyyah to Qiran?

2. Keeping this situation in mind, am I able to adopt a conditional niyyah of Tamattu to be changed to Qiran at the meeqat, so that in case I cannot perform Umrah before Hajj, there is no expiation due on me?

3. The other situation can be that I am not in a clean state when we reach Meeqat and I already know that I cannot perform Umrah on landing and wont stay in Mekkah for more than 3 days. In that case, should I not adopt the Ihram and Niyyah at Meeqat at all and straightaway go for the qiran method?

4. Doing Ibadah in Haram has the highest reward and I am finding it hard to reconcile myself that I will be missing at least 6 days of salah in Haram during my short stay there. Am I allowed to take a pill to delay the period with only this intention, even though it may not be the best thing for me healthwise? People are advising me to delay the period until my return so I can avoid this whole tension, however I go back to the hadith of Prophet (PBUH) when Ayesha (RA) got her period on the way to Makkah and he ordered her to get out of Ihram. Since women in those days did not have the means to avoid their period and had to work around that, I wonder if we are doing the right thing by messing with nature and hope Allah SWT will not lessen my reward if I chose not to delay them.

I am depending on your answers to these in order to make the necessary arrangements as soon as possible. I hope and pray that Allah SWT grant us all an easy and accepted Hajj. Ameen.

Jazak Allahu Khair,
Amatullah

[Aslam AbuIsmaeel]

Wa alaikumu-ssalaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh

Amatullah, you wrote:

We have been blessed by Allah SWT with the opportunity to go to Hajj this year inshAllah. We really miss not being able to attend your Hajj lecture this year, however I am glad that we have these forums to ask you all our Hajj related queries.

I pray Allah rewards you all for the Haj and makes it a great Iman boosting and rewarding experience!  I hope you find the answer below useful

Alhamdulillah, Sheikh Sultan, has agreed to answer Haj and Eid Adha related questions for this Haj season at our forum here.  So, this allows us to welcome the readers on this forum to post questions with regards to Haj and Eid Adha - please do that in the Haj sections of this forum, thanks.

Please Note: On www.IslamicLessons.com you can find a Haj summary that I did last year in a brief one double sided hand out.


Briefly answering your question:
The best alternative in your Haj situation:
The best alternative for your situation, from my understanding, is that you leave Australia and go to Makkah with NO Ihram nor any intention of Haj/Umrah (permissible according to strongest scholarly opinion) since you'll most likely by menstruating in Makkah and have to leave for Madinah before any chance of doing Umrah.  Then proceed to Madinah with the rest of group and stay there with them for the duration.  Then while returning to Makkah on 7th of Dhul Hijjah, do Ihram for a Haj Qiraan if you can afford a sacrificial animal (hady) - and if not then Haj Ifraad.  With Haj Qiraan, you still get reward more or less of doing Umrah, sacrificing an animal (Had'y) and of Haj - similar to Tamatu, so you would not have missed out on much at all.

Note before details below: As for doing Umrah - "qada" - after haj, there is no such thing in your situation according to the strongest view of scholars on this matter, nor any need for an umrah after haj since the Umrah of Aisha from Tan'eem was a rare thing among companions and not commonly done by others in her or others situation, as some great scholars pointed out, Allah A'lam.


The reason for above suggestion:
I would expect the beginning of Haj in Makkah to be on the 7th December, however, going on past history of crescent sighting declarations, the beginning of haj may well be as early as 5th December, 2008 - that would be the 8th of Dhul Hijjah and the Eid on the corresponding 10th of Dhul Hijjah.

Your haj group will be in Medina for eight days before the beginning of haj; i.e. from 29th November or even 27th November perhaps??

Your inability to do Tawaf due to menstrual bleeding is expected to be around 22nd November until about six or seven days thereafter (about 29th Nov or less or more); so possibly you will not get a chance to complete in Umrah during three days prior to arriving in Madinah quite possibly.

You may therefore be able to do intention at your first approach of Makkah for Umrah (Tamatu) and then if you find you are unable to do so in Makkah then change the Niyah to Qiran (add haj niyah to the existing umrah one).  However, in your situation this is NOT possible because you will NOT stay in Makkah while in Ihram for Qiran but you will have to travel to Medinah thereafter.  So, according to most scholars you CANNOT change your existing niyah of umrah (tamatu) to qiran while in Makkah DUE TO having to leave Makkah for Medinah.

If you were to make niyah while in Airplane for umrah (tamatu) and find yourself unable in Makkah to do umrah due to menstrual bleeding and because your group going to Makkah and you being left behind by yourself to do Umrah away from the group is neither possible nor safe, you can get out of your umrah due to being prevented - somewhat similar to Ihsaar situation.  If you had made a condition at Ihram talbiyah time of exiting if prevented (Allahumma in habisanee haabisun famahillee haythu habastanee - O Allah, if something detains/prevents me, then my place of exiting is where You detained me), then there is no sacrifice (Damm) as penalty.  This is one possibility for you. 

But the possibility I suggested earlier is the by far the best in your situation - avoiding doubts and many scholarly debates, and Allah knows best.

[Aslam AbuIsmaeel]

Assalamu alaikum

As I wrote above in blue writing, inshallah, during this Haj season, we will be able to have answers to Haj related questions, alhamdulillah.  Sheikh Sultan agreed to answer these over the next few weeks - so those of you going on haj can ask him questions inshallah.  Also, those not going on haj can ask regarding Eid Adha if needed, inshallah.

We'll start a new small section for these questions so please ask there, salaamualaikum.

Wassalamu alaikum

[farheena]

Assalamu Alaikum Sheikh
I have a question re the pill. Am I allowed to take the pill to allow me to do as much ibaadah as possible while in haram to maximise my reward? I know that I can do all the rites of the haj except tawwaf-al-ifaadah while menstruating, but I would like to take the pill to allow me to do other ibaadahs as well. I personally feel that all medications and immunisations etc have benefits and side-effects/harms, but we take them everyday if the need is there. Similary, I feel that with the pill, this is the same. So, since the trip for haj can bring so much benefit and boost to imaan (from the prayers etc one can do) and the chance of harm (from taking the pill for such a short time) is small/ negligible, is it then allowed to take the pill? Is it makruh or haram? Please answer as soon as you can.

Another question is that If I don't take the pill and I do all the rites of the haj but the menstruation starts unexpectedly before I do tawwaf-ul-ifaadah, then is it permissble to take the pill to stop it so that I can complete this and then depart home as my departure is soon after the haj finishes and it is not possible to delay the departure?

Jazakallah ul khairan
Wassalam

[Aslam AbuIsmaeel]

Wa alaikumussalaam wa rahmatullah

Pill to give time for compulsory actions of Haj
If taking a pill to avoid menstruation will allow the person to do a compulsory action such as tawaf ifaadah, then there is little reason to doubt its permissibility so long as it does not cause harm to her health.  Provided that the person's body accepts the particular brand of the pill without health problems, this would be permissible for tawaf ifadah to complete haj.


Pill for non-Compulsory actions of Haj or non-Haj mustahab acts
However, if she is taking the pill to prevent menstruation in order to allow her to do praying in Masjid-ul-Haraam, then we must consider that the prayer in Masjid-ul-Haram is not compulsory act, rather a mustahabb one.  So, taking a pill to change the course of the period for this non-compulsory act is not the same as taking it for doing a compulsory act such as tawaf ifadah - in fact tawaf ifadah is a rukn (essential pillar of haj) and not just a wajib.  So, there is a difference between taking pill for tawaf ifadah as opposed to for doing extra prayers in Masjidul-Haraam.

So then, is it permissible to take pill for just praying extra prayers?
I would not have felt comfortable to answer that question either way were it not for the following fatwa from Sheikh Abdulaziz Ibn Baz (Allah shower His mercy on the great scholar):

هل يجوز للمرأة أن تأخذ حبوباً تمنع الدورة لتتمكن من الحج مع الناس ؟.

الحمد لله
" لا حرج أن تأخذ المرأة حبوب منع الحمل تمنع الدورة الشهرية أيام رمضان حتى تصوم مع الناس ، وفي أيام الحج حتى تطوف مع الناس ولا تتعطل عن أعمال الحج ، وإن وجد غير الحبوب شيء يمنع من الدورة فلا بأس إذا لم يكن فيه محذور شرعاً أو مضرة " انتهى كلام الشيخ عبد العزيز بن باز .

فتاوى ابن باز (17/60)

Its translation, as given in www.islamqa.com is as follows:
Is it permissible for a woman to take pills to stop her monthly period so that she will be able to do Hajj with the people?.

Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.   

There is nothing wrong with a woman taking contraceptive pills to prevent her period during Ramadaan so that she can fast with the people, and during the days of Hajj so that she can do tawaaf with the people and not miss out on any of the actions of Hajj. If she can find something other than the pill to stop her period, there is nothing wrong with that so long as it is not haraam according to sharee’ah and is not harmful.”
Fatwa No: 36600


Conclusion from above:
Given that Sheikh Ibn Baz (rahimahullah) said, "... and not miss out on any of the actions of Hajj ..." and this includes mustahab actions too, perhaps then it is permissible also to take pill for mustahab actions outside Haj such as praying in Masjid-ul-Haraam (provided the health is not badly affected).   And Allah knows best.


As for your second question, if taking a pill once the period starts does stop the menstruation and it does so without bad effect on health, then it should be permissible to do that to do tawaf ifaadah and finish haj.

Wassalamu alaikum

[new]

Assalamu Alaykum Shaikh Aslam,

I have a few questions:

1- Does it matter which way a woman cuts her hair in hajj, so long as it is the length of fingertip?
Many women have layers in their hair, or long hair from the back and short fringes etc.. is it sufficient just to grab the longest part when the hair is braided into one braid and cut the end?

2- If a person performed hajj without the intention being the obligatory hajj.. they did not specify an intention (ie nafilah vs obligatory) and were anticipating the reward of hajj.. Does this suffice for their obligatory hajj? They have another oppurtunity to perform hajj this year.. should they have the intention of performing their obligatory hajj (since they were unsure of their intention previously) or should it be  a voluntary one?


3- If a woman performs tawaf al-ifadah without purity (she was menstruating during the days of hajj and thought she became pure one day before ifadah, she performed ghusl and on her way she had brown discharge but did not realise until she returned to her home).. What imlplication does this have? The sister deteremined the end of her period based on the cessation of blood and no traces being left externally.. but she usually gets white discharge a few days after she performs ghusl.. The reason I mention this is that she is sometime usnsure about the end of her period and wants to know the ruling if this discharge was still menses vs if it was that which may come after purity (which she does not generally experience)

4- What should a sister do if she becomes pure while travelling.. It is very difficult to perform ghusl while travelling for eg on a plane.. What is the ruling on such a situation.

May Allah reward you with good

[Aslam AbuIsmaeel]

Wa alaikumusalaam wa rahmatullah

1. No, she would need to cut a little off the tip of all the hair on the head - even if it is in fringes or layered etc.  However, as it may not be possible to be exact and accurate from each and every part of such hair, she should do the best she can to do it from all parts of her hair as Allah said, "So have taqwa as much as you can". 

2. If he/she did not specify nafil or fard haj for their first had but were expecting reward as anyone would, then that would count as the compulsory haj, especially given that a person cannot do a nafil haj until the fard is over and the first one is regarded as the compulsory one.  Also, this person did not realise the difference or the need for specifying and therefore, it should count as compuslory haj.  In fact you do not need to state specifically that this is a nafil haj or compulsory haj, the first one is always the compulsory and thereafter it would be nafil unless if there was a need for another compulsory one for reasons such as a vow etc (then state it specifically or else just "labbayka allahuma biHaj" is sufficient.


3. The period/menstruation actually finishes at the white discharge as Aisha (r) said to women of her time and so she should wait for it and not just suffice with cessation of copious bleeding.  The white discharge is regarded as the complete purity from menstruation, and Allah knows best.  A spot after the white discharge is ignored but as for one before the white discharge, then it is from the menstruation.

What happens about that tawaf ifadah from previous year? 
Its not clear from your question, did the brown discharge come after the tawaf ifadah and during her journey back home returning overseas?  How many days is to the cessation of bleeding and how many more days till the white discharge?  Is this at a regular time every month or varies with no habit at all?

4. If prayer time is running out while on a plane and that is when the sister's menstruation finished and she cannot have ghusl in time for the prayer before the time runs out, then she should do Tayamum if sand (or good amount of dust perhaps) is available on plane.  If it is not available - which is the usual case - then she would not even need to do Tayammum as she is unable to; and she prays the prayer before its time finishes as that is a compulsory act which can be fulfilled in its time even on plane.

Wassalamu alaikum

[new]

Assalamu Alaykum

Jazak Allahu kheiran for ur response.

With regards to a woman who cut her hair in the way mentioned (just the end) for several umrahs and hajj.. what should she do now?

Also inresponse to what you said: The period/menstruation actually finishes at the white discharge as Aisha (r) said to women of her time and so she should wait for it and not just suffice with cessation of copious bleeding.  The white discharge is regarded as the complete purity from menstruation, and Allah knows best.  A spot after the white discharge is ignored but as for one before the white discharge, then it is from the menstruation.

What happens about that tawaf ifadah from previous year?  Its not clear from your question, did the brown discharge come after the tawaf ifadah and during her journey back home returning overseas?  How many days is to the cessation of bleeding and how many more days till the white discharge?  Is this at a regular time every month or varies with no habit at all?

The sister judges the end of her period when he discharge becomes clear (no longer murky) and a few days after that a thicker white discharge comes.. Is the one mentioned (clear discharge) not an indication of purity? please clarify insha' Allah

With regards to her habit.. Sometimes it varies.. but she has cessation of blood a few days before her discharge becomes clear... During these days she may have some drops of brown or yellowish discharge. Once her discharge is clear, about 2 or 3 days later a white thicker discharge comes.

The sister perfomed ghusl on the fajr of the day before she performed the tawaf.. The next day (the day she the tawaf) while on her way to makkah she had some discharge (not realising at the time).. She prayer asr at the haram, perfomed tawaf, took the bus and returned back home (she was residing in saudi for a bit longer) and she realised the discharge then.

She asked one of the local shuyookh and they told her since it was after tuhr then she would not need to do anything, based on the opinion that taharah (from minor impurity) is not a condition for tawaf. This is what she remembers being told.

[Aslam AbuIsmaeel]

Assalamu alaikum

With regardes the clipping of hair in previous umrah/haj, I asked Sheikh Muhammad Sa'ad Al-Yubi in Medina, Saudi Arabia, about this.  He said that you do not need to do anything about the past mistake since that is acceptable (though not the way to do it) according to opinion of some scholars.  But in future you do it properly, i.e. from all the hair - as best as possible - and not just some part of it.

[Aslam AbuIsmaeel]

With regards the end of menstruation: often women find bleeding in menstruation followed by cessation of it gradually where the bleeding ceases, then the colour of discharge changes gradually from intense brown/black menstrual blood to brownish, perhaps yellowish and eventually white which is an indication of no more blood present.  This white may appear as clear but that is a definite indication of ending of all menstrual bleeding and removing of all its tissues from the body and complete purity.

The menstruation will be regarded to have finished when the discharge is without any colour of bleeding at all, i.e. when it is white.  So, the clear kind of discharge that follows would be sufficient to regard the end of menstruation and do not need to wait a few more days for the discharge to become more intense opaque white, Allah knows best.

[Aslam AbuIsmaeel]

With regards to her habit.. Sometimes it varies.. but she has cessation of blood a few days before her discharge becomes clear... During these days she may have some drops of brown or yellowish discharge. Once her discharge is clear, about 2 or 3 days later a white thicker discharge comes.

The sister perfomed ghusl on the fajr of the day before she performed the tawaf..

As mentioned in the previous post, your menstruation would have finished not when the cessation of blood flow occured (where sometimes you may get browinsh etc discharge after it) but it finishes a couple of days or so after that when the clear discharge appears with no sign of any more remnants of bleeding.  You do not need to wait for a few days even after that for more intense white discharge.

So, if you did your ghusl for completion of menstruation at the fajr when the clear discharge had come then the discharge thereafter would no longer be menstruation/impure.  However, it seems from your two previous posts that you did ghusl in those days after cessation of blood but before clear discharge.  If that is what you did, then the discharge that came on the day of tawaf ifaadah is part of menstruation - the purity is only when the clear discharge comes later.  If this was the case then you did the tawaf at time of impurity from menstruation.

In any case, because you took fatwa from some sheikhs then and they gave you a fatwa based on the opinion of a minority of scholars that taharah of such sort is not needed for tawaaf, although that opinion is the weaker opinion with respect to evidences and arguments but is an opinon based on ijtihad, so given that you sought the fatwa then and that is what you were given by qualified sheikhs, then the responsibility lays with them and your Haj would be considered to have been completed as you did what you knew best from the scholars avalialble to you then.   This is also what Sheikh Muhammad Sa'ad Al-Yubi said to me with regards your case when I discussed this with him recently.  And Allah knows best.

Wassalamu alaikum

[new]

May Allah reward you for your response.

The sister didnt perform ghusl after cessation of blood.. She waited for a day or so (when she would check to see if she had brown discharge) and perfomed ghusl when she thought that the piece of cotton she used externally had a small bit of clear discharge but no brown/yellow/blood traces.

I had another question regarding a woman's usual (pure) discharge which she has outside of menses. This can often come at any time and it could be difficult while performing tawaf to maintain wudu as sometimes as soon as a woman makes wudu she may discharge again or when she starts praying etc.

Would it be ok for a woman to prevent this from coming out (by the use of a tampon for eg) even if she does not have continous discharge?

[Aslam AbuIsmaeel]

Assalamu alaikum
 
According to Sheikh Muhammad ibn Salih al-Utheimeen (rahimahullah), the pure discharge that comes out of the uterine passage is taahir (pure) but breaks wudu.   Likewise, according to almost all scholars, the discharge does break wudu and she needs to do wudu again.

As you mentioned, if it is continuous discharge or quite continuuous, then a wudu at beginning of each prayer time is sufficient for prayers and tawaaf in that time.   This is all same for a male madhy coming out which can come out any time and break wudu or in some people continually, except that the male has to wash it off prior to wudu as it is Najid not Taahir.

As for a tampon, it is only to prevent the fluid from soiling the Masjid floor or clothes, as for wudu breaking, once the fluid flows down into the vagina and is about to exit, stopping its final exit via a tampon will not stop wudu breaking so long as it has passed all the way down to the exit, and Allah knows best.

If that pure liquid in female or the madhy in male is not continual but may occur sometimes only just after a wudu, then it is the decree of Allah and a chance for a lot of reward in doing wudu again and sabr over having to do it.

Wassalam

[new]

Assalamu Alaykum,

May Allah reward you for your reply.

I wanted to know what is classed as continuous.

Also could you please elaborate more about why preventing the discharge from exiting would not prevent the breaking of the wudu'. If nothing exits, and there is no certainty that discharge was to occur, would we not go by what is certain and that is that wudu is still valid?

May Allah reward you once again for taking the time to answer these questions

[Aslam AbuIsmaeel]

Wa alaikumusalaam wa rahmatullah

Continuous discharge is one that either flows non-stop or - with continuous urine for example - dribbles out every few seconds or minutes.  Opposite of continuous discharge would be that which is 'now and then' only - as it may be with some young males with respect to madhy flowing out and breaking wudu - as was the case with Ali ibn Abi Talib who asked his friend to ask the Prophet (s) about very frequent - but not continous - discharge of madhy. 

If the liquid flowed from its origin into the vaginal passage and thereafter the tampon only prevented the final exit into the 'outside world', then there is a strong case to suggest that the liquid has come this far and only the last part was blocked deliberately and the liquid is nevertheless present on the other side of the tampon.  This is similar to menstrual blood, if it flows all the way to the vaginal passage, then a tampon prevents its final exit, this does not classify the woman as Taahir not menstruating - the menses and its blood is there and she is regarded as menstruating.  Likewise, with this white liquid and the tampon.   Therefore, I believe, it is the safer view point to do wudu in this case.

Someone else may view that the final exit has been blocked and did not occur, so the wudu is not broken.  Although this view has some basis and some arguments to support it, however, it seems to me that the safer view and the stronger is the one in previous paragraph for the similarity with menstrual blood as stated above, and Allah knows best.

The flowing of this liquid breaking wudu is a difficulty for women to whom this happens but this also did happen with men at the time of the Prophet (s) with madhy and was quite a hassle for them to do wudu again and again but the Prophet (s) directed them to do wudu again if required.  Allah promised reward for wudu - sins being forgiven of those body parts etc, so it is something to look for.  The patience is also another means of Allah's test and reward. 

Wassalamualaikum