Being unsure whether or not two or three pebbles fall into the pit

05/12/2009| IslamWeb

Question

Allah The Almighty blessed me with Hajj last year. With regards to the day of slaughtering, I still harbor doubts that while throwing pebbles at the Kubra Jamrah (the big pillar), two or three pebbles did not fall in the pit; although my colleague confirmed the opposite: that the pebbles did indeed fall in the pit and that my doubts are only caused by satanic whispers. Please advise.

 

Fatwa

All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His Slave and Messenger.

 

If you had these doubts after you had finished throwing the pebbles, then you are not liable to anything. Your throwing is valid because having suspicions after completing an act of worship does not affect it.

However, if you had doubts while throwing the pebbles that two or three of them did not fall in the pit, then you should have thrown them again to make sure that the seven pebbles reached the pit. This is because indecisive throwing is inconsiderable under Sharee‘ah, for liability cannot be cleared unless with certainty as indicated by a Sharee‘ah rule.

That being said, missing three pebbles or more entails that a sheep is to be slaughtered in the sacred precincts and its meat is distributed to the poor who live there. You can authorize someone to do that on your behalf.

On the other hand, there are points of view expressed by scholars as to missing one or two pebbles. An-Nawawi detailed these opinions, saying

We have mentioned that the soundest view of our school is that one missed pebble can be compensated for by giving out one Mudd (handful of food), two missed pebbles by two Mudds, and three missed pebbles by a sacrificial animal. This view has also been declared by Abu Thawr. Ibn Al-Munthir said that Ahmad and Is’haaq said that the pilgrim is not liable for anything for missing one pebble. Mujaahid said that the pilgrim is not liable for anything for missing one or two pebbles. ‘Ataa’ said that whoever throws six pebbles only should feed with one date or one mouthful of food. Al-Hakam, Hammaad, Al-Awzaa‘i, Maalik and Al-Maajishoon said that a sacrificial animal is to be slaughtered for missing one pebble. ‘Ataa’ said about the person who misses one pebble that a well-off pilgrim should slaughter a sacrificial animal and the ordinary pilgrim should fast three days.

If your colleague is upright and trustworthy, you can depend on his confirmation. Some scholars mentioned that it is valid to accept the confirmation of an upright and trustworthy person as regards completing the rounds of Tawaaf if the pilgrim is uncertain about their number.

Allah Knows best.