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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Your Questions Answered (volume 5) Q. 60: More On Dedemonstration At Mecca Mecca Shariff should be protected from such non-Hajj activities because co-ordination therein is impossible vis-a-vis law and order situation: Read the following tradition: Narrated Ibn Abbas...'Abdur Rahman bin Auf...was with 'Umar bin Al-Khattab during 'Umar's last Hajj... 'Abdur-Rahman said... 'O the Chief of Believers!...

the season of Hajj gathers the riffraff and the rubble and it will be they who will gather around you when you stand to address the people. And I am afraid that you will get up and say something, and some people will spread your statement and may not say what you have actually said, and may not understand its meaning, and may interpret it incorrectly.

So you should wait till you reach Madina, as it is the place of emigration and the place of Prophet's traditions, and there you can come in touch with the learned and noble people and tell them your ideas with confidence and the learned people will understand your statement and put it in proper place". On that 'Umar said "By Allah! Allah willing, I will do this in the first speech I will deliver before the people in Medina" (Bukhari No. 817IG, 537lch. 82/Vol. 8). ' A.

The tradition concerns 'Umar ibn al-Khattab and' Abdur Rahman ibn 'Awf both of whom were non-Ma'sum and their views are not binding oh us. Moreover, your quotation does not say or imply that giving lecture in Hajj was not permissible. It only shows that 'Umar was advised not to speak on a certain subject in that gathering, and yet it is clear that if touching on such subjects during Hajj were "forbidden", 'Umar would not have thought of speaking on them in Hajj, in the first place.

That he accepted Ibn 'Awfs advice, is besides the point It shows speaker's own discretion, not religious prohibition. Apart from that, beginning from the time of the Prophet (s.a.w.a.) uptill now Khutbas have been delivered in 'Arafat and/or Mina, during Hajj days, dealing with the matters concerning the Muslim Ummah. 'Umar himself used to deliver lectures in 'Arafat during Hajj. (Vide Kanzul Vmmal,vo. 5, p. 284, hadith No. 12902).

So, why object if some people wanted to express their views on common matters of Ummah before Hajj? Of course, as I have said above, you may argue that it was not "essential"; but none can say that-it was against the sanctity of Hajj.