Can I travel for Hajj or ʿUmrah, or travel to another city or country, during my iddah?
The four schools agree that a widow does not set out on Hajj, ʿUmrah or another journey during the iddah of death; Hajj can be made in another year, while the iddah at home cannot be made up.12 They differ on what she does if he died while she was already on the way or already in iḥrām.
What the four schools say
The schools agree she does not start a journey during the iddah of death. They differ when the death comes while she is already traveling or already in iḥrām.
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Ḥanafī الحنفية
A woman may perform Hajj only if she is in no iddah of any kind at the time her town’s pilgrims set out.3 If he died while she was traveling, she returns if home is less than a journey away, and continues if her destination is the nearer one (more cases follow on the next page).4
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Mālikī المالكية
If she set out for the obligatory Hajj and he died while she was within about three days’ travel of home, she returns with a trustworthy companion to finish the iddah at home; beyond that she continues.5 If she was already in iḥrām she continues; if she enters iḥrām after the death, she continues in it but has sinned by leaving her home.6
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Shāfiʿī الشافعية
If she enters iḥrām for Hajj or ʿUmrah after he has died, she may not go out for it, whether or not she fears missing it; the same page gives other rules if she was already in iḥrām before he died.7
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Ḥanbalī الحنابلة
The widow may not go out for Hajj or anything else (reported from ʿUmar and ʿUthmān; also Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī and the Ḥanafīs). Even if she owes the obligatory Hajj, she keeps the iddah at home, because Hajj can be made another year.12 Any journey the books do require of her (for example returning home) is conditional on a maḥram with her and on her safety.8
What can change this
- If he died while you were already traveling, the schools give detailed rules by distance and by whether you were in iḥrām. Ask before you decide whether to go home or continue.
- Moving to stay with family in another city or country is travel during the iddah; the books do not list it among the reasons to leave the home (see the page on moving home).
Sources
- 1
Ibn Qudāmah, al-Mughnī (Ḥanbalī), Maktabat al-Qāhirah edition, 8:167
- 2
Ibn Qudāmah, al-Mughnī (Ḥanbalī), Maktabat al-Qāhirah edition, 8:168
- 3
Ibn ʿĀbidīn, Radd al-Muḥtār ʿalā al-Durr al-Mukhtār (Ḥanafī), 2:465
- 4
Ibn ʿĀbidīn, Radd al-Muḥtār ʿalā al-Durr al-Mukhtār (Ḥanafī), 3:538
- 5
al-Dasūqī, Ḥāshiyah ʿalā al-Sharḥ al-Kabīr of al-Dardīr (Mālikī), 2:485
3 more sources, 6 to 8
- 6
al-Dasūqī, Ḥāshiyah ʿalā al-Sharḥ al-Kabīr of al-Dardīr (Mālikī), 2:486
- 7
al-Khaṭīb al-Shirbīnī, Mughnī al-Muḥtāj (Shāfiʿī), 5:109
- 8
Ibn Qudāmah, al-Mughnī (Ḥanbalī), Maktabat al-Qāhirah edition, 8:169