Firstly, people tend to confuse several issues due to their ignorance of the principles of Islamic jurisprudence, which some scholars also fall into. The details of the matter are as follows: There is a difference between the condition of obligation and the condition of validity:
For example, Friday prayer is not obligatory for a traveler, as one of the conditions for its obligation is residency. However, if a traveler prays it during their journey, their prayer is valid and it fulfills their obligation. Similarly, the passing of a lunar year is a condition for the obligation of zakat, yet it is permissible to pay zakat in advance. This is the difference between situational rulings and rulings of obligation, which many students of knowledge do not understand well.
– One of the conditions for the obligation of Hajj is financial ability, and this ability cannot be fulfilled in case of taking out a loan that must be repaid immediately. If someone has the financial means for Hajj but is also obligated to repay a debt at the time of Hajj, then the obligation of Hajj falls away as the funds are being used to pay off the debt, and the funds for Hajj are considered nonexistent.
– As for the conditions for the validity of Hajj, it is not required that the funds used for Hajj are free from debt. However, being free from debt is a condition for the obligation of Hajj. The conditions for the validity of Hajj include being a Muslim, having sound mind, performing the Hajj during the Hajj months, and performing the Hajj in the designated places of Hajj.
Therefore, whoever performs Hajj while having debt, their Hajj is considered valid if they fulfill the necessary conditions for acceptance and fulfillment of the Hajj. However, they are obligated to pay off their debt afterward.
Secondly, in Islamic jurisprudence, we distinguish between immediate debt and deferred debt, especially long-term debt that extends beyond the usual time frames known in the early Islamic era, such as the debt of purchasing a house for thirty or twenty years, with the installments not taking all the debtor’s money for the duration of the debt.
Therefore, if the debt is due at the time of Hajj, it should be paid off first, but if the debt is deferred and the time for Hajj has arrived, then the Hajj should be performed first, as it cannot be delayed. The same applies to zakat, zakat al-Fitr, expiation, vows, and other obligatory acts.
Fatwa by Dr. Khālid Naṣr