Hajj Rituals by Ayatollah Sayyid Ali al-Husayni al-Sistani

It is clear from the Holy Qur’an and the traditions that performance of Hajj (Pilgrimage) is obligatory on every person who has attained puberty and has the means mentioned below.

Hajj is one of the basic principles of Islam; its performance is one of its essentials, and its non-performance is a grave sin. Denial of the obligatory nature of Hajj is blasphemy (kufr). Allah states in the Holy Qur’an, “.. and pilgrimage to the House is incumbent upon men for the sake of Allah, (upon) everyone who is able to undertake the journey to it; and whoever disbelieves, surely Allah is Self-sufficient, above any need of the worlds”. (3/97).
Sheikh Kulayni has reported that Imam as-Sadiq (a.s.) has said, “Whoever dies without having performed obligatory pilgrimage when he was not prevented by lack of means, illness, or force, dies a Jew or a Christian”. Indeed, there are many hadiths (traditions) on pilgrimage being obligatory and on its importance, but the brevity of this work does not permit setting them all out.
In religion the performance of pilgrimage is obligatory on a person once only; it is known as ‘Hajjatul Islam’.

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