Can he do Hajj before paying off his electricity and telephone bills?

A person
should pay off all his debts before he travels – whether he is travelling
for Hajj or for anything else – or he should leave behind enough money to
pay it off, so that he will have discharged his obligations and will not be
responsible before Allaah for any rights of other people. 

With regard
to a person who has debts travelling for Hajj, it is said that debts are of
three types: 

1 – A debt
that is due where the time for repayment has come and the lender is asking
for repayment. This must be paid off and it is not permissible to delay it
because of Hajj or any other reason, because that comes under the heading of
the kind of delaying payment, which is haraam. 

The Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “For a rich man to
delay payment is wrongdoing.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari (2287) and Muslim
(1564). 

And he
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “If one who can afford it
delays repayment, his honour and punishment become permissible.” Narrated by
al-Nasaa’i (4689), Abu Dawood (3628) and Ibn Maajah (2427); classed as hasan
by al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood. 

What is
meant by “his honour becomes permissible” is that it may be said: “So and so
delayed repayment to me” or “O wrongdoer, O transgressor”, and his
punishment is that he may be jailed. 

If we assume
that paying this debt means that one will not be able to go for Hajj, then
it must still be paid off, and there is no sin in not going for Hajj in that
case, because Hajj is not obligatory unless one is able for it, financially
and physically. 

2 – A debt
for which the lender is easygoing and agrees to a delay in repayment, so he
gives the debtor permission to go for Hajj. There is no problem with this,
but it is better to pay it off so that he will have discharged his
obligation, because even if the lender gives a debtor permission to go for
Hajj, the debtor is still responsible for the debt, and his obligation is
not discharged by his being given this permission. Hence it is said to the
debtor: Pay off the debt first and then if you have enough money left to go
for Hajj, then do so, otherwise Hajj is not obligatory for you. 

If the
debtor who was prevented from going to Hajj because of paying off his debt
dies without having done Hajj, he will meet Allaah with his Islam complete
and not lacking, because Hajj was not obligatory for him. But if he gives
Hajj precedence over paying off the debt and he dies before paying it off,
then he will be in danger, because the martyr is forgiven for everything
except debt, so how about a person other than a martyr? 

3 – A
delayed debt, for which the time for payment has not yet come at the time of
Hajj. This does not prevent the debtor from doing Hajj, unless he knows that
spending money on Hajj will prevent him from paying off the debt, either
because the time for repayment is close or because he does not have a lot of
money, and so on. If he does Hajj in that case he will be negligent with
regard to a duty that he owes. 

It says in
Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah (11/46): One of the conditions of Hajj
is being able to do it, and being able to do it includes being financially
able. If a person has a debt that is being asked for, i.e., the lenders will
not allow a person to go for Hajj until after he has paid it off, then he
should not go for Hajj, because he is not able for it. If they are not
asking for it and he knows that they are easy going, then it is permissible
for him to go for Hajj and it will be valid. Hajj is also permissible if the
debt is not to be paid off at a specific time and he can pay it off when he
can afford to. Hajj may be a cause of good that will enable him to pay off
the debt. And Allaah knows best. End quote. 

It seems
that electricity and phone bills are debts that may be paid off later, as
they stipulate the time within which the bill must be paid, which may be
approximately one month. If a person can do Hajj and then pay the bill when
he gets back, there is nothing wrong with that, but if the time for paying
it will end before he comes back, then he should pay the bills first, then
if he has enough money left for Hajj, then praise be to Allaah, and if he
does not, he should delay Hajj until Allaah makes it easy for him. 

And Allaah
knows best.