I hold a strong opinion on Hajj. It is a personal journey, prescribed once in a life time for every Muslim that has the means and health to undertake it under peaceful passage conditions. If any of the three conditions is not met, the obligation of Hajj drops automatically. Jurists have discouraged people falling into burdensome debts, theft, begging, etc, for the purpose of Hajj. It is a personal journey, as a said. Umra, the lesser Hajj, is not compulsory at all, but voluntary.
I am surprised that to date no man of religion has described sponsoring of Pilgrims from public coffers as innovation (bid'ah) after condemning every thing in worship that was not practiced by the Prophet (PBUH) or his rightly guided Caliphs as so. It is obvious that the men of religion that we await to issue such fatwa are among the forefront beneficiaries of this largesse at a time when corruption is rife, our resources are lean and social services are down.
The Hajj, Umrah and Jerusalem sponsorahips have become an industry for which ministries are created, public funds are looted and citizens are defrauded.
The beneficiaries are not the ordinary Nigerians that do not ever dream of performing Hajj but rich politicians and civil servants who have repeatedly performed Hajj many times in their life time. Please do not make any effort to convince me that it is not a waste of public resources. I will not even listen. The truth is if innovation I'd accompanied by money, it is sweet and no longer an innovation.
The case of Jerusalem is worse, where state sponsorship is 100%, meaning if not for it, not a single Christian will undertake the holy trip in many States.
Among my heroes are governors who stopped the practice in their states. My Sule Lamido was the first, I think in 2007; then Kwankwaso in 2011 and now, Kaduna and Yobe State Governors. There could be others and may also follow.
Governments should nevertheless continue to smoothen the trip through the necessary consular activities and arrangements on accommodation that must be corrupt free.
And nothing will happen to any governor for abolishing State sponsorship of pilgrims. Nothing. In fact, doing so will even earn him admiration among the masses. And in the era of card reader especially, the pleasure of the masses must be the major preoccupation of every administrator, not rhat of the fat cats that are living on the expense of the ordinary man for decades now.
This is only my opinion.
Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde
Postscript:
Ok. Someone in the comments below has noted that my friend, Dr. Zubair Madaki has condemned it in strong terms, and so did our late Sheikh Jafar Adam (rahimahullah). But my question still remain: Has any of the ulama called it Bid'ah. This is an issue religion, not a secular matter.
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