Voluntary Hajj

wa`alaykum as-salam

All Praise is to Allah. Blessings and peace on the Messenger of Allah.

1. If I hajj on behalf of my terminally ill grandmother, will I get rewarded — or should I do a nafl Hajj instead?

If you have already performed your own fard hajj, or if hajj is not fard on you, then you may perform hajj on behalf of your grandmother. InshaAllah, you would be rewarded.

2. If I felt that I spoiled my fard Hajj through an impure heart and impure deeds then should I do a nafl Hajj?

If your primary intention was for hajj at that time, and you fulfilled the integrals (arkan) of hajj, then technically, the obligation has been discharged, even if you performed some improper or sinful actions during the hajj. However, it would be praiseworthy for you to perform hajj again because:

a) It is praiseworthy � in general � to seek to compensate for defects in a deed of worship by doing extra worship of that type.
Abu Hurayra reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “The first action which the slave will be called to account for on the Day of Rising is his prayer. If it is in order, he will have success and win through. If it is not in order, he will be disappointed and lose out. If any of his obligatory prayers are lacking, the Lord, the Mighty and Exalted, will say, ‘See if My slave has any supererogatory actions and use them to complete his obligatory prayer.’ Then the rest of his actions will be assessed in the same way.” [Narrated by at-Tirmidhi; see Riyad al-Salihin]

b) It is good to perform hajj and `umrah repeatedly, based on one interpretation of the hadith:
“Perform hajj and `umrah repeatedly, for they expel poverty and sins just as a bellows expels the scum of iron, gold and silver, and the righteous hajj has no reward other than Heaven.””[Narrated by Tirmidhi (who graded it hasan sahih), Ibn Khuzaymah and Ibn Hibban, as in Tahdhib al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib, p. 202]

Note also that some improper actions related to the rites can be compensated by specific forms of expiation. See “Transgressions in the Pilgrimage” from Mukhtasar al-Quduri at http://webpages.marshall.edu/~laher1/hajj.html#6

(3) If you vow to go to Hajj does this make the Hajj fard? Should we vow right before we do Hajj to make it fard and more rewarded?

A vow (nadhr), is a type of undertaking or promise to Allah to do a particular good deed. A vow may be either conditional (e.g. saying that if you pass your exam, you will do �) or unconditional (which is to declare something to be binding on yourself without any condition). It is wajib to perform the deed you promised in a conditional vow, if the condition you had specified takes place. It is unconditionally wajib to fulfill an unconditional vow to do specific acts of worship.

Therefore, if you have already performed your fard hajj, and then you vow to perform hajj, then another hajj becomes wajib on you, even though it would otherwise have been only nafl. It is permissible, in the Hanafi school, to vow hajj with this intention. One could potentially even vow to perform a hajj which is already fard. Imam al-Tabari has narrated that Qatadah said, about the people of Heaven mentioned in verses 5-7 of Surah al-Insan (al-Dahr), that they (i.e. the Sahabah) used to vow to do good deeds, such as salah, fasting and hajj which Allah had made obligatory on them, and they were consequently described in these verses as righteous. [See: I`la al-Sunan, 11/383]

It is worthwhile to note, however, that breaking a vow � even if it was due to something outside your control � typically requires a kaffarah (expiation) to be paid. It is therefore prudent to be cautious about making vows that one might fail to keep. You should also first make sure that you performing all that Allah has obligated you to do, before you think of obligating additional things on yourself.

And Allah knows best.