Council of Islamic Ideology gives ‘conditional permission’ for women to perform Hajj without mehram

In response to a query from the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) has given conditional permission to women to perform Umrah without mehram, The News has reported.

The detailed response from the CII states that Jafria, Maliki, and Shafi’i schools of thought allow women to perform Hajj or Umrah without a mehram while Hanbali and Hanafi schools of thought do not consider Hajj and Umrah an obligation for women if their mehram is not available.

Last year in October, the Saudi government allowed women from across the world to perform Haj and Umrah without a male relative.

The CII, however, has said the performance of Hajj for a woman without a mehram should be in the company of trustworthy women in a group. It also asserted that the Ministry of Religious Affairs should properly scrutinise a Haj group in which a woman wants to perform Haj without a Mehram.