Praise be to Allah

The husband should not bear the cost of his wife’s pilgrimage, even if he is rich. But it is recommended to him and he will be rewarded for it. However, if he refrains from doing so, he commits no sin. Neither the Book nor the Sunnah requires him to do so.

In Islam, the wife has the right to a dowry, which she must dispose of completely. In addition, Islam allows her to manage her own property.

The religious law obliges the husband to provide proper maintenance for his wife. But it does not require him to pay her debts or to acquire the zakate in her place or to take charge of her pilgrimage expenses etc.

Shaykh Ibn Uthaymin was asked: Will the husband be rewarded (by Allah) if he asks someone to make the pilgrimage to Makkah in place of his wife who has died without making it?

He said: It is better that he does it himself instead of his dead wife so that he performs the rites in the most perfect way. Then he continued: But it is not an obligation for him to do so. Monthly Meeting, 34, question no. 579.

Since he is not obligated to perform the pilgrimage for her after her death, he is not obligated to do it while she is still alive. This relates to the obligatory nature of the act. If it is a simple act of benevolence and good treatment in marriage, it will be accounted for because Allah will not make the benefactors lose their reward.

And Allah will record this pilgrimage on behalf of the wife.

The jurisconsults have stated that the husband must provide the expense to his wife in case he compromises her pilgrimage on purpose such as forcing her to have sexual intercourse before the first desecration (at-tahallul al-awwal) for example.

Shaykh Abd al-Karim Zaydan says: The payment of the wife’s pilgrimage expenses in whole or in part is not one of her rights. See al-Mufassal fii ahkam al-mar’a, 2/177.

The same question was asked to Shaykh al-Albani (May Allah have mercy on him) and he answered it as follows: « The husband does not have to pay for his wife’s pilgrimage. If the wife has enough money to make the pilgrimage, she should make it; if she does not, she does not have to make it. Allah knows best.