Qualification and conditions for an agent

Issue 79: The person who performs hajj on the behalf of another person should enjoy the following qualifications:

1. Adulthood on the basis of obligatory caution:

If a person who has not reached the age of shar‘ī puberty perform hajj on behalf of another person, it does not fulfill the obligation of ḥajjat ul-Islam or any obligatory hajj in general.

2. Intellect:

This refers to the fact that performance of hajj on behalf by an insane person is not valid. The same rule applies to recurrent insanity if he performs hajj in a state of insanity.

3. Belief (to be a Twelver Shiite):

On the basis of obligatory caution, the person should be a Twelver Shiite; the agency of Non-Twelver is not sufficient.
4. Basic Knowledge of hajj Rites:

The person must be well-acquainted with practices and rules of hajj so that he can perform the hajj rites correctly. This is important even if he does that with a guide who teaches him each practice at its time.
5. No other hajj is obligatory for the agent during the same year:

If the agent does not know that hajj is obligatory for him, it is not remote to say his hajj on behalf of another person is valid.

6. The agent is not excused from some hajj practices (the details will be discussed from issue 90 onwards).

Issue 80: To suffice with hajj on behalf, one should be confident that the agent has performed hajj on behalf of the represented person. But, once it is certain that he has performed hajj, it is not a condition to investigate its correctness. It is sufficient to rule it as correct.

Essential Criteria of the Represented Person

Issue 81: The represented person should enjoy the following characteristics:

1- Being a Muslim; performing hajj on behalf of an infidel is not valid.

2- The represented person should be dead or unable to perform hajj due to old age, sickness or extraordinary hardship and has no hope to regain power to perform hajj rites without being unbearably hard for him in the coming years of his life. As to mustaḥabb hajj, it is permissible to do it on behalf of another person in all cases.

Issue 82: Sanity and maturity are not categorized as a condition in the represented person.

Issues Regarding Hajj on Behalf

Issue 83: A woman may perform hajj on behalf of a man and vice versa.

Issue 84: It is permissible for a ṣarūrah (person who has not performed hajj in his life) to represent a ṣarūrah/non- ṣarūrah whether the representative or represented person is a man or a woman.

Issue ‌‌‌‌‍‍‍‍‍‍‍85: The intention of r‍‍epresentation and identification of the represented person are termed as necessary conditions for hajj on behalf. However, it is not a condition for the agent to mention the name of the represented person.

Issue 86: It is incorrect to hire a person whose duty is to perform hajj ifrād, due to lack of time. However, if he is hired and accidentally he faces shortness of time, it is obligatory for him to turn to hajj ifrād. This deed will compensate for hajj tamattu‘, and surely he deserves to get the wages for this deed.

Issue 87: If an agent dies after wearing the iḥrām and entering Ḥaram and he is hired so that the represented person's duty is fulfilled, he deserves a full wage. In this case, the hired person deserves the full wage and it should be given to his heirs.

Issue 88: If a person is hired to perform hajj for certain amount of money but that amount is insufficient to meet the expenditures, it is not obligatory for the hiring person to pay more. Similarly, if the amount exceeds, he has no right to claim it back.

Issue 89: In case the performed hajj on behalf is ruled insufficient to fulfill the duty of the represented person while he has been hired to perform hajj the same year, it is obligatory for him to return the amount to the hiring person. If the year is not specified, he must perform the hajj on behalf in the coming years.

Issue 90: The person who is unable to perform some rites of hajj cannot be hired as a representative. By being unable, it is meant a person who cannot perform normal rites of hajj such as a person who cannot recite talbiyah or say the ṭawāf prayer in a correct manner or is unable to walk for ṭawāf and sa‘y, or ramy (stoning) at Jamarāt with his own hands, stay in ‘Arafāt and Mash‘ar at the specified time, stay in Minā during required nights so that it amounts to defect in some hajj rites. However, if it does not amount to defect in any hajj ritual but he is excused from avoiding some prohibited acts of iḥrām, his representation is valid.

Issue 91: If a representative becomes disabled during hajj and his disability results in imperfection of some rites, it is not remote that the hire deed becomes invalid. So, by caution, hajj should be performed again and there should be reconciliation between the representative and the represented person.

Issue 92: Representation by those who are unable to have normal stay in Mash‘ar ul-Ḥarām is invalid and if they are hired, they would not deserve the wages e.g. caravan's servants who are forced to accompany the weak people or to perform some services for the caravan and as a result they leave Mash‘ar for Minā before sunrise. If these individuals are hired for hajj on behalf, they should have normal stay (wuqūf ikhtiyārī) and perform hajj.

Issue 93: As far as insufficiency in hajj on behalf by an excused person is concerned, it makes no difference, whether he is paid or volunteered to perform it, whether the representative is ignorant of his excuse or the hiring person is ignorant about this issue. Likewise, it makes no difference, whether the representative or the represented person is ignorant about the fact that this excuse makes representation invalid, e.g. the representative does not know that urgent stay is not sufficient for him.

Issue 94: It is obligatory for the representative to perform hajj in accordance with his own duty by following his own mraji‘ or by acting upon his own fatwā if he is a mujtahid.

Issue 95: If a pilgrim on behalf dies after wearing iḥrām and entering the Ḥaram, that act compensates for the hajj of the represented person. However, if he dies after wearing iḥrām and before entering into Ḥaram, on the basis of obligatory caution his deed is not sufficient. It does not matter, whether his representation is for free or not, whether he is performing ḥajjat ul-Islam or another obligatory hajj.

Issue 96: He who performed hajj as a representative without performing his own ḥajjat ul-Islam earlier to this, performs, by mustaḥabb caution, ‘umrah mufradah on his own behalf before leaving the city of Mecca, if possible.

Issue 97: After performing hajj on behalf, a representative is allowed to perform ṭawāf or ‘umrah mufradah for himself or on behalf of others.

Issue 98: On the basis of obligatory caution, the condition of being a Shi‘a, which is necessary in hajj representation, is also necessary in a person who performs the rites of hajj such as ṭawāf, stoning, animal slaughtering A on behalf of others.

Issue 99: The pilgrim on behalf must perform rites of hajj, including ṭawāf nisā, intending on behalf of the represented person.