Woman can perform Hajj ‘sans mehram’

The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) has given conditional permission to women to perform Hajj without a mehram (a close male relative).

The council said that according to Fiqah-e-Jafria and Maliki and Shafi'i schools of thought, there was provision in Shariat for a woman to perform the annual Islamic pilgrimage without a mehram.

The Ministry of Religious Affairs had sought the opinion of the council on the matter.

The CII spokesperson observed that a woman, whose parents or husband allow her, could go for Hajj without a mehram.

According to the Hanafi and Hanbali schools of thought, a woman could not perform Hajj without a mehram.

The CII spokesperson noted that a woman who enjoyed company of reliable women and the one who did not feel insecure while travelling or during the pilgrimage could perform Hajj without a mehram.

He stressed that the group with which the woman was going on Hajj should be investigated by the religious ministry, and only after satisfaction should be allowed to proceed on the religious journey.

In October last year, Saudi Arabia allowed women from all over the world to perform Umrah and Hajj without a mehram.

Dr Tawfiq Al-Rabiah, the Saudi minister for Hajj and Umrah, told reporters at a news conference at the Saudi embassy in Cairo that women who want to go to the kingdom for Umrah or Hajj no longer need a mehram.

Faten Ibrahim Hussein, a writer and former adviser to the minister for Hajj, said that letting women perform Umrah without a mehram makes their lives easier because many of them live in hard social situations and might not be able to find a mehram or may cost them a lot, even though they want to perform Umrah.

Prior to this, women could only go on the Hajj or Umrah pilgrimage if they were accompanied by a male guardian. There were some exceptions to the rule. For example, women could join large groups of other women on the Hajj or Umrah pilgrimage.