Question:
salaam
My cousin who wants to give money for his parents to do hajj but he yet has not done it himself. Is this permissible?
Answer:
`alaykum salam,
Your cousin’s monetary gift to his parents is birr al-walidayn (doing goodness for your parents) and sadaqa (charity), types of worship that are encouraged in absolute terms and are therefore valid and meritorious regardless of what the money is put to, and even more meritorious if it helps them fulfill the fard of Hajj.
If, however, they have already fulfilled the obligatory Hajj and he has not yet fulfilled it, and he has no other monetary resource to use for that purpose, and they do not need the money for anything else, then he is more entitled to that money for the purpose of fulfilling it. He is entitled to delay it, but if he were to die without performing it after having been able to, he would die in disobedience.
Hajj Gibril
