Delegation on Behalf of Others in Umrah
Complete Religious Guidelines Before Requesting Delegated Umrah
What is meant by delegation on behalf of others?
Delegation on behalf of others means a person undertakes a specific act of worship with the intention of delivering its reward to someone else, due to their inability to perform it themselves. In the specific context of Hajj and Umrah, this delegation is confined to exactly two situations: delegation for the deceased, or delegation for the living who are permanently incapacitated.
Delegation for the deceased
Whoever dies without having performed their obligatory Umrah — its reward is not cut off by their death; any Muslim may perform it on their behalf, whether or not they left instructions to do so. The foundation for this is the hadith of the woman who asked the Prophet ﷺ about her mother, who had vowed to perform Hajj but died before fulfilling it. He ﷺ told her: "Pay off what is owed to Allah, for Allah is most deserving of repayment" (agreed upon). An act of worship left unfulfilled by the deceased is exactly like a debt — settled on their behalf by whoever loved and honored them.
Delegation for the incapacitated
As for the living, delegation on their behalf is only valid if they are permanently incapacitated with no expectation of recovery, such as advanced old age or chronic illness. The evidence is the hadith of the man who told the Prophet ﷺ that his father was an elderly man unable to perform Hajj or Umrah, to which the Prophet ﷺ replied: "Perform Hajj on behalf of your father, and Umrah as well" (narrated by Abu Dawud and Al-Tirmidhi). As for someone capable of performing it themselves, delegation on their behalf is not valid, even if they wish to do so voluntarily.
The condition often overlooked
The person undertaking the delegation (the performer) is required to have already completed their own personal Umrah first — based on the hadith of Ibn Abbas regarding the story of "Shubrumah," in which the Prophet ﷺ told him: "Perform Hajj for yourself, then for Shubrumah." Whoever has not performed Umrah for themselves cannot validly perform it on behalf of someone else.
How do you request delegated Umrah with confidence?
If the conditions above are met, requesting delegated Umrah has today become straightforward, requiring neither travel nor complexity. Rather than searching for a performer on your own with no guarantee of their commitment to the religious conditions, you can, through the Moneeb app, request delegated Umrah on behalf of your deceased or incapacitated relative, through verified performers in Makkah al-Mukarramah, with complete photo and video documentation of every stage of the ritual, and live tracking of your request's status from the first moment until the last.
Related articles
The ruling on Umrah by proxy for the deceased, the incapacitated, and the ill — the general ruling and evidence
Delegation in Umrah: the complete jurisprudential issues — an in-depth scholarly treatment
