Delegating someone to perform ‘umrah on behalf of the deceased

There is nothing wrong with doing ‘Umrah on behalf of the
deceased or on behalf of one who is alive but is unable to do ‘Umrah himself
because he is too old or is sick with a disease for which there is no hope
of recovery. The one who does that is doing a good deed and will be
rewarded, in sha Allah. 

There is nothing wrong with giving money to someone who will
do that, but you should look for one who you think is good, righteous and
has knowledge of the rulings, provided that the deputy will do what he has
been appointed to do himself or will tell the one who appointed him that he
is going to appoint another person to do it, because the one who appointed
him may accept him delegating it to another person because he trusts him,
but he may not agree to delegating it to someone else. 

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked
about a person who appointed someone to do Hajj on behalf of his mother,
then after that he found out that this person had taken on a number of such
appointments. What is the ruling in that case? Please advise us, may you be
forgiven. 

He replied: What a person should do is be firm in his
dealings with people and should not delegate things except to a person whose
religious commitment he feels at ease with in the sense that he is
trustworthy and knowledgeable of what needs to be done for the task for
which he has been appointed. If you want to appoint someone to do Hajj on
behalf of your deceased father or mother, then you have to choose someone
whose knowledge and religious commitment you trust, because many people are
very ignorant about the rulings on Hajj and they do not do Hajj in the
proper manner, even though they may be trustworthy in and of themselves, but
they think that this is what is required of them and they make many
mistakes. Such people should not be appointed to do Hajj on behalf of
others, because of their lack of knowledge. And some people may have
knowledge but they are not trustworthy, so you see them not caring about
what they do or say during rituals of Hajj, because they are not trustworthy
and are lacking in religious commitment. Such people should not be appointed
either to do Hajj on behalf of others. 

The one who wants to appoint a person to do Hajj on his
behalf should choose the best in knowledge and trustworthiness of those whom
he can find, so that he will do what is required of him in the best manner. 

With regard to this man whom the questioner says he appointed
to do Hajj on behalf of his mother and heard later on that he had taken on a
similar task for others, it depends. Perhaps this man who took on the task
of doing pilgrimage for others appointed other people to do them and he
performed Hajj on behalf of the one who appointed him. But is it permissible
for a person to do that, i.e., is it permissible for a person to take in the
task of performing Hajj or ‘umrah on behalf of a number of people, then not
do it himself, rather he delegates it to other people? 

In response to that we say that it is not permissible and is
not allowed, and it comes under the heading of consuming people’s wealth
unlawfully, because a lot of people do business in this manner, so you see
them taking on a number of pilgrimages, whether Hajj or ‘Umrah, on the basis
that they are the ones who will do it, but then they delegate it to other
people for less than the money they received for that, so they earn money in
a haraam way and they give the job of doing these pilgrimages to people who
may not be approved by the people who appointed him to do this task. People
should fear Allah with regard to their brothers and their own selves,
because if they take this money they have taken it unlawfully, and because
if a person is entrusted with something by his brothers on the basis that he
is the one who is going to perform Hajj or ‘Umrah, it is not permissible for
him to delegate that to someone else, when the one who gave him the task of
doing this Hajj or ‘umrah may not approve of this other person. 

End quote from Fataawa al-Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen,
21/154. 

What you are doing by acting as an intermediary between the
person who is delegating the action and the one who is doing ‘umrah on his
behalf, and spending from your own money on the transfer fees — all of that
is righteous deeds for which there is the hope that you will be rewarded, in
sha Allah, because the one who guides others to do good is like the one who
does it. 

And Allaah knows best.