An Evaluation of the Fiqh Views on the Muzdalifa Waqfa and its Time

The hajj is an act of worship that contains various challenges. One of the places where people experience difficulties during the hajj is Muzdalifa. Although there are different opinions among the schools of Islamic law, the waqfa of Muzdalifa is a religious duty that must be fulfilled according to most scholars. It requires penalty to abandon it unless there is a valid excuse. Even though the Prophet himself performed the waqfa of Muzdalifa between the fajr al-sādiq and sunrise, he allowed the old, sick and weak, as well as those having difficulty in walking, including her wife Hadrat Sawda, to go from Muzdalifa to Minā at night. The rationale for this practice, according to most Islamic jurists, is the stampede. Given that approximately three million people perform the hajj every year and that a certain area is allocated at Muzdalifa for each country, the stampede is relatively greater today. Therefore, those who are considered as excused people, as well as those with concerns about the stampede, can act according to the opinion of Shāfiʻī and Hanbalī schools and perform the waqfa of Muzdalifa after midnight. Due to some obligatory cases or necessities, it is possible to perform the waqfa before midnight in line with the opinion of Mālikī scholars. This study aims to reveal whether the waqfa of Muzdalifa can be performed during a period other than its usual time and identify the effects of the stampede, which is commonly experienced today sometimes resulting in loss of life, during the waqfa of Muzdalifa. We believe that the present study could contribute to the elimination of concerns about the validity of the waqfa of Muzdalifa.