By Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde
So if the Saudis and the Maliki scholars, strict as some would consider them to be, can permit delegation for fear of suffering, sickness, or even violation of honour, what do we say about delegation in the face of possible death?
I sincerely believe that delegation especially on the first and third days of stoning will avert deaths of both the weak and the strong which emanates from congestion. Interestingly, the only texts which Saudi scholars cited to permit delegation are the two verses that emphasize ease in religion, which we quoted above.
Time
Can the time of stoning be extended beyond the 6-7 hours or so that is responsible for so much hardship today? The answer from the scholars is, again, a unanimous yes.
First, let me emphasize that stoning the devil between sunrise and the meridian is the practice that the Prophet (PBUH). So it is a strong sunnah and more rewarding but not a compulsory one. Every pilgrim, in the absence of incapacitating reasons, should endeavour to stone the devil at this time, in deference to the sunnah of our Holy Prophet (PBUH).
Broadly speaking, the stoning period can be extended both backwards and forward once done within the day beginning after the midnight preceding that morning (daren sallah in Hausa) up to sunset and beyond into the following night before the next dawn, and stoning is valid according to majority of scholars. Among early scholars, Ibnul Mundhir was the only one that took a strong stand on this. His position is quoted in a number of popular volumes like the Nailul Awtar of Imam al-Shaukani, the Fiqhus Sunnah of Sayyid Sabiq, the Mudawwanatul Fiqhil Maliki which we quoted earlier, etc. He resents delaying stoning up to sunset. In documenting that resentment, he said:
“The sunnah is that a pilgrim should not stone before sunrise, as the Prophet (PBUH) has done. And stoning is not permitted before dawn (fajr) because it violates the sunnah.”
Yet, Ibnul Mundhir fell short of prohibiting stoning in those times and thus concluded his resentment by saying.
“Who stones it during that time does not carry the obligation of repeating it, since I am not aware of any (scholar) that said, “It is does not suffice him.”
Ibn Hazm has restricted the permit of stoning can be done before dawn to only women, “excluding men, whether strong or weak.”
However, “What the Hadith points to”, concluded Sayid Sabiq in a section he called Relief For The Weak And Those With Excuses On Stoning After Midnight Of The Day Of Sacrifice, “is that who has an excuse dash at night and stone at night.” (Fighus Sunnah. Darul Fikr. 1992. Vol. 1: 619)
The Hadith that the scholar was referring to were the two hadiths of Ummu Salma and Asma (May God be pleased with them). The one reported by Aisha on Umm Salma was narrated by Abu Dawud and authenticated by Al-Bayhaqi, saying, “Its chain of transmission is good and without blemish.” In it, Aisha reported that “the Prophet (PBUH) sent Ummu Salma the night of Nahr (sacrifice). So she stoned before dawn and did Tawaf.” In a footnote of the Mudawwanah (pg. 148) though, the author reported that Al-Tahawi has “defected” this hadith in his book “Ma’ani Al-Athar (Vol. 2, pg 219 and 159).
The one reported by ‘Urwa was narrated by Shafi’i and Al-Bayhaqi. Imam Tabari said it was on the basis of this hadith and that of Asma that Shafi’i opined the permission of (Tawaf) Ifadah after midnight. (Tawaf al-Ifadah is done after the first stoning)
The hadith of Asma’ as reported by Abu Dawud says: “Ata said, “Someone told me that Asma has stoned the Jamra. I said, ‘We have stoned the Jamra during the night.’ She said, ‘We used to do so during the time of the Prophet (PBUH).”
In a nutshell, from the above, where there is a reason, stoning can be adjusted backward but not before the midnight preceding the day of sacrifice. If they were doing it during the time of the Prophet as Asma’ (RA) said, I see no reason why it cannot be practiced today if necessary.
Now, what of extending it forward, say to sunset or even beyond?
In his treatise, the author of Mudawwanatul Fiqhil Maliki said that the period for stoning the Jamratul ‘Aqabah is after sunrise and it extends until sunset. Based on the Hadith reported by Ibn Abbas in which the Prophet instructed him not to stone until morning, the author indicated that it is permissible to stone between dawn and sunrise. The best time, he said, is after sunrise based on another hadith in which the Prophet (PBUH) said, “Do not stone until sunrise.”
The author added: “The time of stoning extends until sunset based on what came in a hadith that a man asked the Prophet (PBUH) saying, ‘I stoned in the late afternoon.’ He (the Prophet) said, “No problem.” This hadith was reported by Bukhari.
So one could clearly see that if the Prophet were alive today, he would have approved the delay of the extension of stoning until sunset or simply said that there is no problem in doing so.
The import of all these is simple. If pilgrims perceive a daunting congestion, they can delay stoning until when they think it is safe to do it.
An additional six hours are there during the day from meridian until sunset and into the following night until daen as we shall see from the suggestion of Sheikh Uthaymin below.
So, taking the totality of these reliefs will, in my understanding, go a long way in averting disasters that result from congestions at the Jamrah. With a flexible time, it is left to the organizers and individual pilgrims to use their best judgements to remain safe.
To conclude this section, I will reproduce here what Muhammad Bin Saleh Al-Uthaimin said about the issue of difficulties in stoning due to congestion in his Commentary of Muwatta of Imam Malik: “If congestion is intense when people throng (in the morning) to Mina from Mustadalifa, it will not be so at the end of the day; neither will it be at night. So if you miss stoning during the day, do it at night because night too is a time for stoning even though the day is better.
For a person to perform the stoning at night in calm, quiet and humility is better than doing it during the day when he will be wrestling with death as a result of intense congestion, anguish and severity. It is possible that (under such conditions) he throws and the pebbles will not fall in the target area. The crux is whoever complains about congestion just tell him: God has spaced out the time; so stone at night.” (Page 509)
Our scholars in Nigeria, therefore, have their job already cut for them when they sit down to consider the suggestion by the Amirul Hajj that pilgrims can be advised to stone the devil at night for purposes of safety.
Accommodation
The Amirul Hajj has touched on the problem of distant accommodation from the Jamrat and suggested that pilgrims can stay in Mecca instead of Muna in order to avoid exhaustion, a key factor that facilitated their collapse when the congestion became unbearable. He averred that the Prophet (PBUH) has granted relief to some shepherds because of their camels.
Someone refuted that Hadith on my Facebook wall, saying that it does not exist anywhere! Well, the hadith is there in the Muwatta of Imam Malik. Issues related to stoning did not feature for elaboration in the Al-Mudawwanatul Kubra of the Imam. How I wished they did. If other suggestions are considered, especially when the option of stoning in the afternoon and at night are utilized, the need for staying in Mecca and forfeiting the stay at Muna and sacrificing a ram instead will be needless or, at best, left for the extreme of situations.
God knows best.
Conclusion
The answer to the problem of disasters resulting from congestion during stoning lies not only on increased infrastructure but also on utilizing reliefs that Islamic jurisprudence provides. As we have seen above, the reliefs are of various kinds, ranging from timing to delegation. The deliberate refusal to stone and opt for sacrificing a ram seems extreme, though not damaging to hajj.
I do not see any need for formal fatwas at the national level on this issue because the evidence is overwhelming. What we need is for our preachers to educate pilgrims on the existence of these reliefs such that they can decide on their own when to perform the stoning ritual.
There is no need, in my view, to do it in an organised way, unless officials for some reasons perceive the performance of the ritual in group as essential.
May God guide the Ummah to the ease that will please Him. May He forgive those who died in the course of the last stampede and accord them an eternal rest in his Garden. May He bring quick relief to the injured. May the missing, like our Alhaji Abdullahi Saleh Yakmut, be seen. And may He make this Ummah always a nation of knowledge, intellect, wisdom and moderation.
If I go to Hajj next year, God willing – I have not been there for twenty-one years – I will stone the devil, definitely. But I will do so in the less congested hours of the afternoon or in the calm and quiet atmosphere of the night – and pray that the devil does not hit back when I return home.
And our last prayer is all praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds.
Dr Tilde writes from Bauchi
