When is a hajj pilgrim permitted to have someone else stone on his behalf?

Translated by Hamza Karamali

It is permitted for someone who is unable to stone to appoint someone else to stone on his behalf. One is deemed unable to stone if one becomes insane, unconscious, or if one is so ill that stoning the pillars would entail a hardship that is normally unbearable. As for mere crowdedness without such a hardship, it is not an excuse that permits one to have someone else stone on one’s behalf.

The great scholar Ibn al-Qasim was asked that if an ill person is able to ride an animal to the place of stoning and perform the stoning on his own or have someone else carry him [to the place of stoning] and perform the stoning himself, and is also able to appoint someone else to stone on his behalf, [then is he allowed to appoint someone to stone on his behalf]? He responded that it seems that he must perform the stoning himself and may not appoint someone else to stone on his behalf if [performing the stoning himself] would not entail a hardship that is normally unbearable and someone else’s carrying him would not be inappropriate to his social standing (Transmitted from Ibn Qasim by Shirwani in his Hashiya, 4.135).

It is necessary to point out that a condition for the validity of having someone else stone on one’s behalf when one is unable to perform the stoning oneself is that one deem it impossible to perform the stoning oneself during the [entire] time [appointed for] stoning. The time during which one may validly stone the pillars is during the three days following Eid al-Adha (refer to the Tuhfa and the Hashiya of Shirwani, 4.135). Accordingly, if one is unable to stone on the day of Eid and believes that one will be able to [perform the stoning oneself] the next day, it is not permitted for him to appoint someone else to stone on his behalf. Rather, he must wait and until he is able to perform the stoning himself during the three days following Eid al-Adha.

The great scholar Ramli said in [his commentary on the Minhaj al-Talibin], the Nihaya, “Their words imply that if one believes that one will be able to [perform the stoning oneself] on the third day [following Eid al-Adha], and one follows the stronger opinion that one may stone on any of the days of stoning, then one may not appoint someone else [to stone on one’s behalf].”

From the above, it becomes clear that those who say that women may always appoint someone else to stone on their behalf based on the claim that crowdedness entails hardship for them are mistaken. Rather, stoning is an obligation that is only lifted if one has one of the excuses [that render one unable to stone].

To give general, unqualified fatwas of this nature is not the way of precision. The right approach is to examine the situation of the questioner and base the ruling on that.

And it is Allah who guides to what is correct.

السؤال : متى يجوز للحاج أن ينيبَ غيره عنه في رمي الجمار ؟
الجواب : يجوز للعاجر عن الرمي أن يستنيبَ غيره ليرمي عنه ، ويكون العجزُ بنحو جنون أو إغماء أو مرض يشق معه الرمي مشقة لا تحتمل عادة ، أما مجرد الزحمة دون تلك المشقة فليست بعذر يُجَوِّز الإنابةَ في الرمي . وقد سُئل العلامةُ ابن قاسم عن مريض يمكنه ركوب دابة إلى المرمى والرمي عليها أو أن يحمله أحد ويرمي بنفسه أو أن يستنيب ؟ فأجاب بأن الذي يظهر أن عليه الرمي بنفسه وتمتنع عليه الاستنابة إن لم تلحقه بذلك مشقة لا تحتمل عادة ولاق به حمل الآدمي بحيث لا يخلُّ بحشمته . اهـ نقله عنه الشرواني (4/135)
ولا بد من التنبيه على أن شرط صحة الاستنابة بسبب العجز عن الرمي هو أن ييأس الشخص من القدرة على الرمي في وقت الرمي ولو ظناً ، ووقت الرمي هو أيام التشريق الثلاثة كما صرحوا به ، وانظر التحفة وحاشية الشرواني (4/135) وعليه فمن كان عاجزاً عن الرمي يوم النحر وظنَّ أنه يقدر عليه بعد يوم مثلاً لم تجز له استنابة غيره عنه ، بل يصبر حتى يقدر خلال أيام التشريق الثلاثة فيرمي الجمرات التي لم يقدر على رميها في وقتها .
قال العلامة الرملي في “النهاية” :” كلامهم يفهم أنه لو ظنَّ القدرة في اليوم الثالث وقلنا بالأصح أن أيام الرمي كيوم واحد أنه لا يجوز الاستنابة “. اهـ
ومما تقدم يُعلم غلطُ من يُعمم الفتوى بجواز استنابة النساء مطلقاً بدعوى أن في الزحمة مشقة عليهنَّ، فإن الرمي واجب لا يسقط إلا عند تحقق العذر وليس من التحقيق في شيء أن تطلق الفتاوى هكذا ، فالصوابُ أن ينظر في حال السائل ويبنى الحكم عليه ، والله الهادي إلى الصواب .