Umrah Badal for a Deceased Parent: How It Actually Works

Someone you loved has gone. Maybe a parent. Maybe a spouse. Maybe a sibling who never got to make Umrah in their lifetime. And now, sitting with that absence, you want to do something meaningful in their name. Something that reaches them where they are now.

Umrah Badal is one of the most quiet, profound things a Muslim can do in memory of someone who has passed. This page explains how it actually works, what the scholars say, what proof you receive, and what the day-to-day reality looks like when you order one through Gifts For Haramain.

What Umrah Badal actually is

Umrah Badal means "Umrah performed on behalf of someone else." A living person, qualified to make Umrah themselves, enters Ihram in Makkah with the intention of performing the rites for the named person. They complete the Tawaf around the Kaaba, the Sa'ee between Safa and Marwa, and the haircut. The reward of those actions, in sha Allah, reaches the person whose name was placed at the start.

The Prophet ﷺ approved this practice directly. A woman came to him and asked about performing Hajj on behalf of her deceased mother, who had vowed to perform Hajj but died before fulfilling it. He told her to do it, and added: "What do you think? If your mother had a debt, would you not pay it? Pay back the debt owed to Allah, for Allah is most deserving of having His debts paid." (Sahih Bukhari)

The same principle, applied with scholarly consensus, extends to Umrah for someone who has passed away.

Who you can do Umrah Badal for

The clearest, most universally accepted cases:

• A parent who has passed away
• A parent who is alive but physically unable to travel (extreme age, terminal illness, severe disability)
• A spouse who has passed away
• A sibling or close relative who has passed
• Yourself, before or after your own passing, if you have already performed your own Umrah at least once

The requirement that the performer must have completed Umrah for themselves first comes from a hadith narrated by Ibn Abbas (radiyAllahu anhuma), in which the Prophet ﷺ heard a man saying "Labbayk on behalf of Shubrumah" and asked who Shubrumah was. The man replied that it was his brother or relative. The Prophet ﷺ asked if he had performed Hajj for himself, and when he said no, the Prophet ﷺ told him to perform it for himself first and then for Shubrumah.

This applies to the performer of the Umrah Badal, not to the sender. As the sender, you are simply commissioning the act in the name of someone you love.

How an Umrah Badal order actually works

From the time you place the order to the time you receive video confirmation, here is what happens on our side:

1. You place the order online. You enter the name of the person the Umrah is for in the order notes at checkout. If there are several people in your family (a parent and a grandparent, for instance), most orders are arranged for one named person per Umrah Badal.
2. We confirm the order by email. Within a business day or two, you'll hear back from us with the realistic timing for that month and any clarifying questions.
3. Our local performer in Makkah enters Ihram. The performer is a Muslim brother who has completed his own Umrah and who regularly performs Umrah Badal arrangements for our senders. He travels to the Miqat, enters Ihram with the intention "Labbayk Allahumma 'an [the name you chose]," and begins the rites.
4. The full Umrah is performed. Tawaf around the Kaaba seven times, Sa'ee between Safa and Marwa seven times, the cutting of the hair, and the release from Ihram. The full duration is usually three to four hours of physical performance.
5. You receive video proof and a written confirmation. A short video clip is captured at one or more points in the rite, where it is practical to do so. The written confirmation arrives with the date completed and the name recorded.

What the cost actually covers

The cost of an Umrah Badal at Gifts For Haramain covers the performer's time, his transport to and from Miqat, the formal Ihram arrangements, the documented completion, and the video proof. Pricing is per Umrah, per named person.

We do not include peripheral arrangements (like a duaa-recitation session afterwards or a printed certificate) by default. If you want any addition, mention it in the order notes and we will confirm whether it is possible before charging extra.

What proof you actually receive

Two pieces of documentation reach you after the Umrah Badal is completed:

• A written confirmation stating that the Umrah was performed in [the name] on [the date], including a short summary of what was completed.
• A short video clip, usually 15 to 60 seconds, captured at one moment during the rite. Where the Mataf or Mas'aa is crowded and recording is impractical, we share what we can.

The proof is not the point. The intention is the point. But for many families, the video is meaningful in a way that's hard to put into words. You see the place where it happened. You see that it actually happened. That's often what closes the loop for the family.

What people send Umrah Badal for, in practice

From the orders we coordinate every month, the most common scenarios:

For a parent who has passed away. By far the most common. The child who never got to take the parent for Umrah while they were alive sends one now in their name. Sometimes once. Sometimes every year on the anniversary of the parent's death.

For a parent who is alive but cannot travel. An elderly mother or father whose health no longer allows the journey. The Umrah Badal is performed and the confirmation is sent to them while they are still alive. We have seen this bring real comfort to elderly parents in their final years.

For a spouse who has passed. A widower or widow whose spouse never made Umrah, performed in their name as an act of continuing love and rememberance.

For oneself, while one is still alive. Some senders, particularly older Muslims who have already performed their Umrah, commission another Umrah Badal in their own name as Sadaqah Jariyah, so the rewards continue beyond what they could complete in this life.

The intention you record

In the order notes at checkout, write the name of the person the Umrah is for. Use the Arabic spelling if you have it, in either Arabic script or English transliteration. If there is a specific dua or intention you want noted (for example, that the Umrah is in fulfillment of an unfulfilled vow your parent made), add that too.

The performer carries that name with them through the rites. It is the only thing that travels from your screen to the Kaaba.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to have done my own Umrah first?

No. The requirement is on the performer, not the sender. The performer has already completed his own Umrah many times. You, as the person commissioning the Umrah Badal, do not need to have completed yours.

How long after I order does it actually happen?

Usually two to four weeks, depending on Makkah crowd conditions and the season. During Hajj season (early Dhul Hijjah) and the final ten days of Ramadan, the Mataf is too crowded for a full Umrah Badal to be completed cleanly, so we schedule outside those windows.

Can I send one Umrah Badal for both my mother and my father at once?

One Umrah Badal carries one named person. Most senders who want to honor both parents place two separate orders, one for each parent. The performer enters Ihram fresh for each.

Is the performer named on the confirmation?

For privacy and operational reasons we do not publish the performer's name. If you have a specific reason to know it, email us before the order is processed and we will discuss.

What if I have a specific intention I want included in the dua?

Write it in the order notes. We pass intentions through to the performer where practical. Note that we cannot guarantee the performer will recite a specific dua in a specific moment of the rite; the intention sits at the entry into Ihram and that is what carries through.

One moment that stays with us

A sender wrote to us last year, asking for an Umrah Badal in her late father's name. He had vowed, decades earlier, to make Umrah with her when she came of age, and had passed away before they could do it. She was now in her thirties, with her own children, and felt the weight of an unfulfilled vow.

The performer carried her father's name through Ihram, Tawaf, and Sa'ee. The video clip we sent was forty seconds. She wrote back that night, just to say thank you, and that her father's vow had been completed, by his daughter, through someone he never met, in a city he never reached.

That is the work. Quiet, specific, sincere.

If you'd like to send one

The order page is here: Umrah Badal in Makkah on Behalf of a Loved One.

If you have a question before ordering, email giftsforharamain@gmail.com. A real person reads it.

Related: Umrah Badal: The full process explained, Meaningful gifts for parents in Makkah and Madinah, What is Sadaqah Jariyah.