Opinion Editorials, November 2003, www.aljazeerah.info
Human Price of the Israeli Occupation of Palestine
Israeli daily aggression on the Palestinian people
Mission and meaning of Al-Jazeerah
Cities, localities, and tourist attractions
Things to Do Before Pilgrimage
Adil Salahi
Arab News, 11/23/03
Q. What are the things that one must do before embarking on the journey of pilgrimage? What are the conditions for married women to do the pilgrimage?
A. Saleem
A. There are some religious requirements and some administrative ones. The government in one’s own country and the Saudi Embassy/Consulate outlines the latter. These must be fulfilled so that one’s journey could be smooth. They are meant to facilitate the journey for the pilgrims.
As for the religious requirements, they are very simple. One must repay any outstanding debt, unless his creditor allows him to do the pilgrimage before settling his debts. Suppose a person has borrowed a large amount of money to buy a house, and the agreement specifies that he should pay a certain amount every month over a period of ten years or more, he does not have to settle all this debt first. He can do the pilgrimage as long as he is able to pay his installments. One must also clear him of anything owing to others. If he had done anything wrong to another person, he should rectify that. He must choose his best, legitimately earned money to pay for the trip. If he has made some unlawful earnings, he cannot use these to pay for his pilgrimage.
A prospective pilgrim must also meet the condition of ability, which is both physical and financial. The physical ability means that he should be able to withstand the physical demands of the journey and that his travel should be safe. The financial ability means that he should be able to meet all the expenses of the journey, which nowadays include all the fees he needs to pay in addition to his ticket and living expenses while on his journey. He should also leave his family and dependents with enough money for their living expenses and any possible emergencies during his absence. If he does not have enough for all this, he does not meet the condition of ability. As such, the pilgrimage is not required of him as a duty.
Family Claims and Rights
Q. Could you please explain if a man’s parents, brothers and sisters have a priority claim on a man, ahead of his wife? May I cite the case of a man who had been jobless for a year, during which his wife was the only wage earner, though her wages barely managed to cover the family expenses. Her husband wanted to lend half of their savings to his sister in order to help her with building a house. However, his wife objected in the light of their own conditions and the probability that they would have to dip into their savings to cover their own expenses unless the man finds a job. He considers her selfish for such refusal.
A. Javed
A. A person’s children, parents and spouse are his relatives of the first degree. They have the first claim on him. If they are poor, they are his dependants. If he is poor, they are the ones to look after him. This applies equally to men and women. If you take the case of a man who has young children, old parents and a wife, and all of them are unable to work and earn a living. They are all entitled to be supported by him and they are his partners in his earnings. When he looks after them, he does not do this as a favor, but as a duty he owes to them by virtue of God’s order that has given him his means and required him to look after them. We note that these are a man’s heirs who are never deprived of their inheritance. It is not possible to imagine a situation in which the rights of inheritance of any of these are forfeited.
Brothers and sisters are not in the same degree. None of them inherits anything if a man is survived by one son or by his father. They are not his dependants, even when they are poor. Of course they have a strong claim on him, but their claims come second to that of his first-degree relatives.
When both man and wife work and share their earnings and their savings, neither of them should decide on the use of their money alone. They should do so on the basis of consultation. The case the reader cites is a very good example. When the man was jobless, his wife’s salary paid for the family expenses. It is not up to him to decide alone on the use of their savings, without reference to her. Since she contributes to the savings and earnings, she has as much say with regard to their use as he.
A man should realize that, by nature, a woman gives first consideration to her own family, i.e. her children and her husband. She does not want anyone to get anything from her family before her children have been seen to. In a precarious situation, such as this family finds itself in; her first preoccupation is to protect the family means. Hence, it is not surprising that she objects to lending a part of the family savings, even to her husband’s sister. She is simply being careful and thinking of the unexpected.
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python. (Alquds,10/25/03). |
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