A Shariah Law researcher and academic at Al-Qassim University has given his support to the view that officials should ban Umrah pilgrims from countries with cases of swine flu from entering the Kingdom. Dr. Abdullah Al-Sehaibani said that Shariah Law permits such a move and that it is the duty of officials to carry it out. Al-Sehaibani said that precedence existed in the Prophet's Sunnah in the action taken by Caliph Omar Ibn Al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) when he traveled to Ash-Shaam but declined to enter the region. Al-Sehaibani further cites the Prophet's saying (hadith): “If you hear of plague in a land do not enter it and if it occurs in a land where you are, do not leave the place.” From this saying, Al-Sehaibani said, religious scholars have derived the principle of health quarantine on a people such that nobody enters or leaves their region. Al-Sehaibani went on to say that the ban would not constitute an attempt to escape destiny or fate (qadar), but it would be instead a precautionary measure that the Shariah of Almighty Allah permits in such cases. It is permissible for an Umrah pilgrim to postpone Umrah. Al-Sehaibani said: “It is permissible for the Umrah pilgrim to postpone his Umrah if there is a risk of danger even after proclaiming the intention (niyyah). What makes completing the Umrah binding is entering the state of consecration (or nusuk) from the Meeqat. However, before this, it is permissible for a person to postpone any act of worship even if he has made the intention (niyyah).” Dr. Abdullah Al-Najjar, a member of the Islamic Research Academy, confirmed that it is permissible for whoever has proclaimed the intention to perform Umrah at the present time to postpone it until the danger is over. Al-Najjar said that protecting lives was of a higher priority than performing Umrah. Al-Najjar also played down the significance of postponing Umrah after making the niyyah. “If the Muslims perish due to this epidemic because of fears of not performing Umrah, then who will defend Islam and develop the world?”
