Women travelling to Hajj
Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say, when he was delivering a sermon, “No woman should travel except with a mahram.” A man stood up and said, "O Messenger of Allah, my wife has set out for Hajj, and I have signed up for such-and-such a military campaign." The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Go and do Hajj with your wife."
Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 3006; Muslim, 1341.
It was narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:"It is not permissible for a woman who believes in Allah and the Last Day to travel for the distance of one day and one night except with her mahram." Narrated by al-Bukhaari (1038) and Muslim (133). According to al-Bukhaari (1139) and Muslim (827), from the hadeeth of Abu Saaeed: "The distance of two days."
Ibn Hajar said:
In the hadeeth of Abu Saaeed it is limited to "the distance of two days" and in the hadeeth of Abu Hurayrah it is limited to "the distance of one day and one night." There are also other reports. In the hadeeth of Ibn "Umar it is limited to "three days" and there are other reports too.
Al-Nawawi said: The apparent meaning of this definition is not what is meant, rather everything that is regarded as travel is forbidden to a woman unless she has a mahram with her. The definition of the limits was in reference to specific incidents. Ibn al-Muneer said: The differences in the definitions arose because there was different questioners in different situations.
End quote.
Fath al-Baari (4/75)
Those who say a women can travel oftrn quote the following hadith:
It was narrated that Adiyy ibn Haatim (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Whilst I was with the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), a man came to him and complained of poverty. Then another came and complained about banditry. He said: "O Adiyy have you seen al-al-Heerah?" I said: "I have not seen it, but I have been told about it." He said: "If you live a long life, you will see a woman travelling from al-Heerah until she circumambulates the Ka’bah, fearing no one but Allaah." … ‘Adiyy said: And I saw a woman travelling from al-Heerah until she circumambulated the Ka’bah, fearing no one but Allaah.
Narrated by al-Bukhaari (3400
However we need to understand that this is an event that the Prophet peace be upon him told would happen in the future. It does not mean he approved of the woman travelling such distances alone without a male mahrem. It is something that was revealed to him that would happened.
It emphasised that Islam will transform the society such that even the most vulnerable humans would not be harmed by bandits let alone the men with swords. Such is the power of Islam to create peace in society
Likewise many things that will happen in the future were revealed to the Prophet peace be upon him such as decline of knowledge, drinking of wine or alcohol, competition in the construction of tall buildings by people who were traditionally bare footed shepherds.
This does NOT mean that it is allowed drink wine or to compete in building the tall buildings to show of who has the taller building and thus squandering money. We know from other hadith that showing of is minor shirk and squandering money is haram nor is decline in knowledge of Islam is allowed or good but it is something which will happen whether it is liked or not.
We see the bare footed shepherds squandering their money which could be used in better ways. We see other signs such as our sisters being clothed yet naked, enemies of Islam calling each other to join in killing the Muslims like someone invites others to a feast on a huge dish. All these are painful for us but at the same time uplifting because they show the signs of Islam. SubhanaAllah look at how true the Prophet peace be upon him was.
This should also be remind us that it is in our best interest to listen to the warnings and advice of the Quran and Sunnah. We can make a rough estimation of which people are against us and which are not but reality is that a person or nation may be so cunning that we don't know their evil plans for us they may be nice to us and some event comes and they start slaughtering us or eating us.
The Christian crusaders for instance went to Arabia and started eating Muslim children. If an event happened such as famine, were there was scarcity of food in Christian countries such as UK, USA, they may start doing the same again.
Most Muslims never imagined that the non Muslims of American would subject Muslim prisoners of war (civilians and combatants) to gang rape and torture Muslims, stop them praying , shave their beards, have their women fondle the Muslim male prisoners, perform Hitler like biological experiments on them. Especially when they said they formulated an agreed policy in which they would not do such things to prisoners of war (i.e Geneva convention). Many Muslims before 20011 believed believed Christian Nato Countries were very kind and civilised and would not do such barbaric things to Muslims. Yet the Nato countries have done is just as worse ,if not worse than their Christian Serbian brethren did to Muslims in the 90's whom in public Criticised but in their heart they may have been overjoyed.
Muslism forgot what Allah says about them
Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):
"O you who believe! Take not as (your) Bitaanah (advisors, consultants, protectors, helpers, friends) those outside your religion (pagans, Jews, Christians, and hypocrites) since they will not fail to do their best to corrupt you. They desire to harm you severely. Hatred has already appeared from their mouths, but what their breasts conceal is far worse. Indeed We have made plain to you the Ayaat (proofs, evidences, verses) if you understand.
Lo! You are the ones who love them but they love you not, and you believe in all the Scriptures [i.e. you believe in the Tawraat (Torah) and the Injeel (Gospel), while they disbelieve in your Book, the Quran]. And when they meet you, they say, "We believe." But when they are alone, they bite the tips of their fingers at you in rage. Say: "Perish in your rage. Certainly, Allah knows what is in the breasts (all the secrets)."
. If a good befalls you, it grieves them, but if some evil overtakes you, they rejoice at it. But if you remain patient and become Al-Muttaqoon (the pious ), not the least harm will their cunning do to you. Surely, Allah surrounds all that they do"
[Aal Imraan 3:118-120]
Allah says:
"Never will the Jews nor the Christians be pleased with you (O Muhammad ) till you follow their religion. Say: "Verily, the Guidance of Allah (i.e. Islamic Monotheism) that is the (only) Guidance. And if you (O Muhammad) were to follow their (Jews and Christians) desires after what you have received of Knowledge (i.e. the Qurân), then you would have against Allah neither any Wali (protector or guardian) nor any helper"
[al-Baqarah 2:120]
"Many of the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) wish that if they could turn you away as disbelievers after you have believed, out of envy from their own selves, even after the truth (that Muhammad is Allah Messenger) has become manifest unto them. But forgive and overlook, till Allah brings His Command. Verily, Allah is Able to do all things"
[al-Baqarah 2:109].
Ibn Katheer (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The words of Allah, "Take not as (your) Bitaanah (advisors, consultants, protectors, helpers, friends) those outside your religion" mean people other than you, the followers of other religions. A manas bitaanah (advisors, friends, etc) are his closest friends who know about his private affairs. Then he narrated the report of Ibn Abi Haatim with his isnaad from Ibn Abil Dahqaanah, who said: It was said to "Umar ibn al-Khattaab (may Allah be pleased with him): There is a slave from the people of Heerah who is literate; why don't you employ him as a scribe? He said: Then I would have taken a bitaanah from people other than the believers. Ibn Katheer said: This report, along with this verse, indicates that it is not permissible to employ ahl al-dhimmah as scribes in a position of authority over the Muslims where they can become acquainted with their private affairs, where there is the fear that they may disclose them to enemies among ahl al-harb. Hence Allah says "since they will not fail to do their best to corrupt you. They desire to harm you severely".
End quote from Tafseer Ibn atheer (1/528).
Al-Qurtubi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, forbids the believers in this verse to take close friends from among the Jews, Christians and followers of whims and desires, and to consult them and delegate their affairs to them... Then Allah explains the reason why He forbids being close to them, which is: "since they will not fail to do their best to corrupt you", i.e., they will not stop striving to corrupt you. In other words, even if they do not fight you openly, they will not stop plotting and planning.
Then he said: The words of Allaah "Lo! You are the ones who love them” mean the hypocrites, as is indicated by the words “And when they meet you, they say, "We believe." This was stated by Abu'l-Aaliyah and Muqaatil. Love here refers to good will, i.e. you, O Muslims, have good will towards them but they do not have good will towards you because of their hypocrisy. And it was said that what is meant is: you want them to become Muslim and they want you to become kaafirs. And it was said that those referred to here are the Jews, and this was the view of the majority. The word Scriptures here is generic. Ibn Abbaas said: What is meant is Scriptures, and the Jews believe in some of them, as Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): "And when it is said to them (the Jews), "Believe in what Allah has sent down," they say, "We believe in what was sent down to us.’ And they disbelieve in that which came after it" [al-Baqarah 2:91].
"And when they meet you, they say, "We believe"( i.e., in Muhammad), and that he is the Messenger of Allah. But when they are alone amongst themselves they bite the tips of their fingers at you in rage and say to one another: Do you not see how these people are prevailing and increasing in number? End quote from Tafseer al-Qurtubi (4/177).
Many of the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) wish that if they could turn you away as disbelievers after you have believed, out of envy from their ownselves, even after the truth (that Muhammad is Allah's Messenger) has become manifest unto them. But forgive and overlook, till Allah brings His Command. Verily, Allah is Able to do all things"
[al-Baqarah 2:109].
Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):"And if any amongst you takes them (as Awliyaa, then surely, he is one of them"[al-Maa'idah 5:51].
This is a sign for Muslims to not hope that the Jews and Christians want to give us freedom of worship,
Today they even say they cannot have existence of two societies in the world. One they call open (i.e Judo-Christian) and closed (they call Islamic).
These are all warning signs.
There are other signs such as earth quakes being more abundant. Therefore Muslims should be the first build earthquake proof buildings even in some areas a light structure such as a tent or something , if it collapses it wont kill you. In some parts of the world many houses collapse on their occupants because of bad construction.
So there are so many Quranic ayats and hadith which act as early warning radar for the benefit of our eemaan and physical and emotional well being.
Going back to hajj issue. Being with a Male mahrem helps protects a woman against physical, emotional and sexual harm.
There are two stories of few centuries ago and one of today.
Some group of Muslim woman travelled from Spain to Makkah. During these two and from journey the captain of the ship would chat them up and they would fall for his charm and end up having sex which is a major sin. And imagine they are taking this difficult journey in old style boats. religious women who never fornicated or adultered with any one and now they are on the way to hajj or coming back and and wanting their sins forgiven.
So they talked about how bad this captain was and how they couldn't resist his charms, how evil he is. Their leader said "Let me show you how to deal with this man, your young and dont know how to deal with such men"
So she hid a knife under her pillows and thought she would stab him with that if he tried it on her. Night fell and he came to her cabin and she slept with him too.
Sometimes Allah protects us from such sins but when we are practising and yet we continue to not heed the warnings we can learn a lesson the hard way.
Another story was in recent times. A woman was travelling to Syria from a nearby Arab country. Her husband gave her his slams and she boarded the plane. The Stewedes noticed that she was very beautiful and informed the pilot, The naughty pilot decided make a fake Emergency landing at another airport. The passengers were placed in hotel rooms and the pilot asked the Stewedes which room she was in so visited her and slept with her.
So wait till you are married and then go Hajj. There many other things for you to do now.
Since you dont have a Male mahrem, Hajj is not compulsory for you at the moment. So it give you time to concentrate on the other essentials.
AbuUbaida
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