That is if they do not perform Hajj in the year of...

That is if they do not perform Hajj in the year of capability the omitted Hajj will become incumbent on them every year till the end of their lives.’” For further explanation of this statement the book Urwathul Wuthqa can be referred. ‘Ali Ibn Ja’far says: I asked Imam (a.s.) whether those of us who did not perform Hajj would become infidels? Imam (a.s.) said, “No, but the one who denies Hajj and does not give it due importance.

He shall be a Kafir.” Zarih Muharibi writes in his Sahih a tradition from Imam Ja’far as-Sadiq (a.s.): “If a person dies without performing the obligatory Hajj while there was nothing that prevented him from doing so, that is, he was not having any need or problem and neither was he sick and nor any strong person stood in his way, then Allah shall raise him in Qiyāma with the Christians or Jews.”[^1] Imam (a.s.) also said, “A person who delays Hajj intentionally till such a time that he dies, will be raised by Almighty Allah on the day of Qiyāma in the form of a Jew or a Christian.”[^2] Muhaddith Faiz says in the book Wafi regarding above tradition that “need” means a necessity that impoverishes or that which will impoverish him in the future.

Also, Imam (a.s.) has said that a person who fails to perform Hajj without a valid excuse will die as a Christian or a Jew. This implies that he has no faith in this important Islamic tenet. Otherwise in the absence of any obstruction he would have performed it immediately, considering the possibility that he may not be alive the next year.

Ishaq Ibn Ammar narrates from Imam Ja’far as-Sadiq (a.s.) that he said, “One who dies (without performing Hajj) while he was healthy and wealthy is like the one regarding whom Allah says that, ‘We shall raise him blind in Qiyāma.’” Ishaq was surprised and he asked Imam (a.s.) whether that person will be actually blind in Qiyāma? Imam (a.s.) said, “Yes!

Allah will blind him from seeing the path to Paradise.”[^3] Muhammad Ibn Fuzail says that he asked Imam Mūsa Ibn Ja’far (a.s.) regarding the ayat, “And whoever is blind in this, he shall (also) be blind in the hereafter and more erring from the way.” (Surah al-‘Isrā’, 17: 72) Imam (a.s.) said, “It is the one who delays Hajj even in the event of his being financially capable.