Hajj For Minors
Question:
If I want to take my son, who has not yet reached adolescence, with me to Hajj, should I dress him in Ihram (ritual state for Hajj and Umrah) clothes and do all the rituals on his behalf, such as doing Tawaf (circumambulation of the Ka`bah), etc., or should I dress him in regular clothes and not doing anything on his behalf since he is still young and does not have to perform Hajj?
Answer:
If a child has reached the age of discernment but has not yet reached adolescence and his father or guardian wants to take him for Hajj, he should tell him to put on Ihram garments and the child should do all the rituals of Hajj himself, starting with entering the state of Ihram from the Miqat (sites for entering the ritual state for Hajj and Umrah for Hajj and Umrah), until the end of the deeds of Hajj. His father or guardian should stone the Jamarat (stone pillars at which pebbles are thrown during Hajj) on his behalf, if he cannot do it himself. He should tell him to avoid the things that are forbidden whilst in a state of Ihram. But if the child is below the age of discernment, then his father or guardian should make the intention of entering Ihram for Hajj or ‘Umrah on his behalf, and do Tawaf and Sa`y with him, and take him along for all the other rituals, and stone the Jamarat on his behalf.
- Shaykh Abdul-Aziz ibn Baz , Shaykh Abdul-Razzaq al-Afify , Shaykh Abdullah ibn Ghudayyan , Shaykh Abdullah ibn Qa'ud
