The Ransom of Atonement for doing a prohibited Act, its Types and the Repetition of a prohibited Act.

Question

What is the ransom of atonement for Hajj? What are its types? What is the ruling if the person repeats a prohibited act of one particular type?

Answer

The ransom of atonement is a ransom for doing a prohibited act from the acts prohibited during Ihram. This ransom is of different types.

The first type is that the person has a choice between slaughtering a sheep or feeding six poor people or fasting three days. This is the ransom for shaving the hair - even if it is only three strands of hair, clipping the nails, wearing seamed garments, using perfume and covering the head. Whoever offers a ransom of atonement with any of these things, then that is sufficient.

The second type is the compensation for hunting a game animal. Hence, the person, is given the choice between slaughtering an animal like it from the livestock animals or he may estimate its value in food and give that amount of food in charity or he may fast its equivalent in days. This is by fasting one day for each Mudd (about two ¬thirds of a kilogram) of food.

The third type is the ransom of At-Tamattu' and Al-Qiran (i.e., for combining Hajj with 'Umrah). This requires him to slaughter an animal if he is able. If he is not able he must fast 10 days - 3 days in Makkah and 7 days when he returns to his homeland.

The fourth type is the slaughtering of an animal for compensation if he leaves off something of the obligatory acts of Hajj, like spending the night in Muzdalifah, stoning the pillars, shaving the head, making the Farewell Tawaf and assuming Ihram from the Miqat. So, whoever leaves off any of these things, he must slaughter an animal for the poor people of the Haram. If he repeats a prohibited act of the same type (more than once), he only has to offer one ransom of atonement. An example of this would be him shaving some of his hair every day or covering his head a number of times. However, if he offers the ransom of atonement for the first violation, then he repeats it again, he must offer a second ransom of atonement.


Ash-Shaykh Ibn Jibreen (Rahimahullah)

Reference: Fatawa Islamiyah Volume 4 Pages 259-260