Which of them should be given precedence: having children or doing the obligatory Hajj?
Question

                My wife and I were planning to go for Hajj this year, but it seems that we may have no choice but to delay it until next year. But next year we have another plan, which is to have children. My wife is insisting on that, and we cannot delay it any longer, because it has already been more than two years since we got married, and it is not wise to delay having children for longer than that. To sum up: we can either focus on doing Hajj or focus on having children. I am trying to convince her to wait another year until we have done Hajj, because it is obligatory, but she thinks that having children is also an obligation, and that is something on which I agree with her, undoubtedly. Which of the two obligations should be given precedence?
Praise be to Allah.
		Firstly: 

	Whoever is able to do Hajj, both physically and financially, 
	must hasten to do Hajj and it is not permissible for him to delay it. This 
	has been explained in fatwa no. 41702. 

	Secondly: 

	Having children is one of the basic aims of marriage, which 
	leads to many benefits. The Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon 
	him) encouraged us to have children in more than one hadith. 

	So what we advise you to do is to hasten to have children, 
	and do not delay it for any longer than you have already done, as you stated 
	that you delayed it for two years. Children are one of the greatest 
	blessings that Allah can bestow upon a person. 

	Although it is obligatory to do Hajj right away – as 
	explained above – it is permissible to delay it if there is a valid reason 
	for doing so. You do not know when Allah may bestow upon you the blessing of 
	children. Allah may bless you with children and that may not be an obstacle 
	to your doing Hajj if Allah makes a means of doing it easily available to 
	you. 

	Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) was 
	asked: A woman is asking: I want to do the obligatory Hajj for the first 
	time. I am married and I have small children, the youngest of whom is five 
	months old, and I am breastfeeding, but the baby is able to eat other food 
	besides milk. My husband did not let me go for Hajj on the grounds that I am 
	still breastfeeding, and I do not want to take the baby with me because I am 
	afraid that she may get sick and be affected by the change in climate. 
	Moreover, she would distract me and take up my time. Is this one of the 
	things that make it permissible for me not to do Hajj this year? 

	He replied:

	There is nothing wrong with this woman who is in this 
	situation delaying her Hajj until another year, firstly because many 
	scholars say that it is not obligatory to do Hajj immediately, and it is 
	permissible for a person to delay it even if he is able to do it. Secondly, 
	this woman needs to stay and look after her children, and looking after her 
	children is a great good deed. The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be 
	upon him) said: “The woman is the shepherd of her husband’s household and is 
	responsible for her flock.” So I say: She should wait until next year, and 
	we ask Allah to make things easy for her and decree what is good for her.

	End quote from Majmoo‘ Fataawa wa Rasaa’il al-‘Uthaymeen 
	(21/66). 

	There is another reason for hastening to have children, and 
	not delaying it any longer, which is your wife’s desire to have children. 
	Having children is the right of both spouses. If one of them wants that, the 
	other does not have the right to refuse or delay it, unless there is a valid 
	excuse for doing so. 

	With regard to Hajj, even though it is undoubtedly 
	obligatory, it is only obligatory for the one who is able to do it. If she 
	becomes pregnant and has children, that will be an impediment to doing Hajj. 
	It should be understood that striving to become able to do it or to meet the 
	conditions that make Hajj obligatory is not something that is required of 
	the accountable individual. So it is not obligatory for him, if he is poor, 
	to go and accumulate money that will make him financially able to do Hajj. 

	If he is sick, it is not obligatory for him to seek medical 
	treatment for the sake of Hajj and take measures to improve his health so 
	that he will be physically able to do it, and so on. 

	The conditions of being able to do it. and so on. come under 
	the heading of that without which an obligatory duty cannot be done. What 
	this means is that the obligation to do the act of worship is not 
	established in an individual’s case unless these conditions are met, and the 
	scholars stated that meeting these conditions is not obligatory for the 
	accountable individual. 

	Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) 
	said: This issue is referred to by the phrase: Whatever is essential to the 
	performance of an obligatory duty is also obligatory. 

	Some people made a mistake concerning that, and divided it 
	into:

	·       
	that which the accountable 
	individual is not able to attain, such as good health in his limbs, and the 
	minimum number of people required for Jumu‘ah to be valid, and similar 
	things that he is not able to attain,

	·       
	and that which he is able to 
	attain, such as travelling the distance to go for Hajj, washing part of the 
	head when doing wudoo’, refraining from eating for part of the night when 
	fasting, and so on. 

	And they said: That without which an obligatory action cannot 
	be done, and which the accountable individual is able to do, is also 
	obligatory. 

	This categorisation is incorrect, because the things that 
	they mentioned are conditions of it being obligatory, without which it does 
	not become obligatory. Whatever is essential to something becoming 
	obligatory, the individual is not obliged to strive (to meet these 
	conditions), according to Muslim consensus, whether he is able to do it or 
	not, such as having the ability to do Hajj, or earning enough wealth to meet 
	the minimum threshold at which zakaah becomes due. If a person is able to do 
	Hajj, he must do Hajj, and if he owns enough wealth to meet the minimum 
	threshold for zakaah, then zakaah becomes obligatory for him. It does not 
	become obligatory unless these conditions are met, so he does not have to 
	make himself become able to do Hajj or to own wealth that meets the minimum 
	threshold. 

	Therefore, those who say that being able to do Hajj means 
	(already) possessing sufficient wealth, as is the view of Abu Haneefah, ash-Shafaa‘i 
	and Ahmad, do not say that it is obligatory for him to strive to earn that 
	wealth. 

	End quote from Dar’ Ta‘aarud al-‘Aql wa’n-Naql 
	(1/211-212). See also: al-Musawwadah fi Usool al-Fiqh (1/52) 

	Ibn Muflih (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

	That which is essential to doing an obligatory duty is not 
	obligatory according to consensus, whether the accountable person is able to 
	fulfil that condition, such as striving to earn sufficient money to go for 
	Hajj and offer expiation… or not [?], such as the presence of the imam and 
	the quorum for Jumu‘ah prayer. 

	End quote from Usool al-Fiqh by Ibn Muflih (1/211)

	And Allah knows best..