Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

My mother will go for Hajj, insha Allah. Please clarify with whom she can go other than husband and son.

Can she go with my first cousin

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Who can accompany woman to hajj

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith 2.194 Narrated by Abu Huraira

The Prophet (saws) said, "It is not permissible for a woman, who believes in Allah and the Last Day, to travel for one day and night except with a Mahram."

Firstly, we would like to clarify that the prohibition of a believing woman travelling alone is not only for Hajj, but applies to any and all travel which exceeds a time period of one day and one night.

A believing woman is at liberty to travel with any of her adult ‘mehram’ relatives, and the list of ‘mehram’ relatives of a woman in Shariah are:

1. Her husband
2. Her father (includes grand father, great grand father, great great grand father, etc.)
3. Her sons (includes sons’s and daughter’s sons, grand sons, and so on)
4. Her brother ( includes brother’s sons, their sons, and so on)
5. Her sister’s sons (includes sister’s son’s sons, their sons, and so on)
6. Her paternal and maternal uncles
7. Her son in law
8. Her father in law
9. Her step father (from the day the step father conjugates with one’s real mother)
10. Her step sons (from the day the wife conjugates with the real father of the step sons)
11. All the males who sucked the woman she sucked.

Your Question: Can she go with my first cousin

Your maternal male cousins would indeed be amongst the ‘mehram’ relatives of your mother, thus she is at absolute liberty to undertake a journey with them; but your paternal male cousins might not necessarily be her ‘mehrams’, and if no ‘mehram’ relationship is established between your mother and your paternal male cousins, it would not be permissible for her in Shariah to undertake a journey lasting for more than a day and a night with them.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan