Sarura (one who has not yet performed the pilgrimage for himself: his proxy pilgrimage, and the payment for it)

In the jurists' usage a sarura is one who has not performed the pilgrimage of Islam for himself. Ibn 'Abidin takes the word more widely, to include one who has never made the pilgrimage, one who made it for another, and one who made a voluntary or vowed pilgrimage; some Malikis mean only one who has never made the pilgrimage at all. ¹

al-Shafi'i and Ibn 'Aqil disliked calling a man who had not made the pilgrimage a sarura. Some cite the saying "there is no sarura in Islam", which has a weak transmitter in its chain; al-Nawawi reads it as meaning that no one should remain in Islam without pilgrimage. ¹

The Shafi'is and Hanbalis require a proxy in the obligatory pilgrimage to have performed his own first. If a sarura enters the state of pilgrimage for another, it falls for himself, and he must return the expenses he received. They rely on the report of Ibn 'Abbas about a man who said "I answer for Shubruma" and was asked whether he had made the pilgrimage for himself. ² The Hanafis do not require this, so a sarura's pilgrimage for another is valid with disapproval. For them the disapproval is forbidding for the one commanded who had the means and did not perform his own pilgrimage, and merely disliked for others. They rely on the general wording of the report of the Khath'amiyya woman, who was told "perform the pilgrimage for your father" without being asked whether she had made her own. ^{2 3} The Malikis forbid a healthy, capable person to make a proxy pilgrimage for an obligation, whether the pilgrimage of Islam or a vowed one, and disapprove of a sarura making a pilgrimage for another. ³

The Hanafis forbid taking a fee for pilgrimage on another's behalf; the proxy receives the customary expenses. The prevailing view of Ahmad is the same, and Ibn Qudama says a sarura who makes a pilgrimage for another must return what he took for expenses. The Malikis allow it with disapproval; Zakariyya al-Ansari holds that a sarura has no fee, since he gains nothing from what he did. ³