Q: 21 – Title: My question is in regards to the money that should be used towards performing the Hajj. I am under the impression (please correct me if I am wrong) that Hajj should be made by money that one has earned,...

Question

My question is in regards to the money that should be used towards performing the Hajj.  I am under the impression (please correct me if I am wrong) that Hajj should be made by money that one has earned, as opposed to inherited or by acquired by some other means.  I would like to ask if the following scheme is acceptable for how to use money towards the Hajj:

I am a young man, who is not yet supporting himself, but Alhamdulillah, my family is well enough off that I am not a burden on them.  As part of my training and education I'm getting a job this summer that will, Insha Allah pay enough money for me to go to Hajj.  Because I earned a sufficiently small amount of money, under the laws here (in U.S.) that money can be placed in a special investment (which from the scholars i have asked, is allowed, not interest etc.) that i can withdraw after retirement with minimal tax penalty.  My father cannot put money on my behalf in such an account, it has to be earned by me.  He has offered that I should give him the money I earn, and he can put that money in the account, for my use in the future insha allah, and he will in place give me a gift of the same amount that I earned for my own use. 

My question is, the money that my father gives me in exchange for my earnings which he will put in the investment, is that allowed to put towards a Hajj?  My hesitation is that the money I am earning is going to an investment for my own future.  My father argues that, as far as I am concerned, I am giving him the rights over my earned money to use as he sees fit (which is, to put it in that special investment) and equally i am exchanged the same sum in liquid funds.  His argument is that, If i had given him a certain amount of money to use as he wants, its up to him whether to spend it on himself or if he wants to put it in an investment towards me.  The fact that that money will ultimately return to me is immaterial, that i can think of it as an inheritance.

Is such money that my father gives me in exchange valid to fulfill the requirements for Hajj?

Answer

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Assalaamu `alaykum waRahmatullahi Wabarakatuh

It is not a prerequisite of Hajj to earn the money through one's own effort. If a person was gifted or inherited an amount of money which he then used to perform Hajj, his Hajj will be valid.

And Allah knows best

Wassalam

Ml. Yusuf bin Yaqub,
Student Darul Iftaa
Checked and Approved by:
Mufti Ebrahim Desai
Darul Iftaa, Madrassah In'aamiyyah