The ability to undertake the journey depends on various circumstances. There may be a physical disability, such as renders a man unable to bear the hardships of the long journey. For instance, a very aged man was deemed to be exempt from the obligation (Bu. 25:1). Or, the disability may be due to financial reasons, as when a man has not got sufficient provisions for the journey as well as for the dependents whom he leaves behind. The condition of taking sufficient provisions for the journey is laid down in the Holy Qur’ān: “And make provision for yourself, the best provision being to keep one’s duty” (2:197). It is related that people from Yaman used to come for pilgrimage without any provisions with them, saying that they were mutawakkil (people trusting in God), and when they came to Makkah, they resorted to begging (Bu. 25:6).
There is also an express prohibition against vowing to go for pilgrimage on foot. When the Holy Prophet saw such a man performing the journey in distress, and was told that he had vowed to make the pilgrimage on foot, he said, Allāh does not need that this man should punish himself thus, and ordered him to get on the back of an animal (Bu. 28:27). Similarly a vow to walk barefooted to Makkah was annulled by the Holy Prophet (AD. 21:19). This shows that a man must have sufficient provisions to reach Makkah comfortably. Danger to life may also be a reason for freeing a man from the obligation of ḥajj. The Holy Prophet himself and many of his companions could not perform a pilgrimage after the flight to Madīnah, because their lives would not have been safe at Makkah. And when ultimately the Holy Prophet undertook a pilgrimage (‘umrah) with about 1,400 Companions in the sixth year of Hijrah, he was not allowed to proceed beyond Ḥudaibiyah which was outside the limits of the Ḥaram, and had to come back without performing a pilgrimage.
The word ‘umrah is derived from ‘amara meaning he inhabited a place or paid a visit to it, and in the terminology of Islām ‘umrah means a visit to the Ka‘bah. It differs from ḥajj in two respects. In the first place, ḥajj cannot be performed except at the fixed time, while ‘umrah may be performed at any time; Shawwāl, Dhi-l-qa’d8 and ten
8 The two lunar months immediately preceding the month in which ḥajj is performed.