[Leaving Ḥajj due to an excuse, the ruling on medical treatment, and the ruling on wishing for death]

Answer—and Allah is the Granter of success: There is no doubt that illness is among the legal excuses by which it is permitted to omit obligations or delay them. The jurists of the madhhab said among the conditions for Ḥajj’s obligation is: “health by which one can remain steady upon the mount.” Thus, if one who possesses provisions and a mount is afflicted with an illness such that he cannot remain steady upon the mount, Ḥajj is not obligatory upon him. Accordingly, if what befalls the elderly woman mentioned in the question upon riding reaches a degree where she cannot keep herself seated upon the mount, then the performance of Ḥajj falls from her—or if it reaches a degree equal to that in severity and hardship.
What I deem appropriate for such a woman is that she may delay, and that the obligation of Ḥajj does not fall from her. The vertigo and retching caused by riding in the car is a transient illness that has a treatment; therefore, because the illness is present we said: she may delay, and because treatment is possible we said: the obligation does not fall.
If, however, the woman despairs of ever being able to perform Ḥajj due to a persistent illness, then she may hire someone to perform Ḥajj on her behalf. If thereafter she becomes able and the ailment is removed, then it is obligatory for her to perform Ḥajj herself, provided she possesses the funds required for Ḥajj. It has been said that it would not be obligatory upon her; however, what is preferable and more cautious for her is that she perform it herself.
If it be said: Is it obligatory upon one who suffers such an illness when riding in a car to take treatment so as to be able to perform Ḥajj?
We say: From His saying, Exalted is He, “And [due] to Allah from the people is a pilgrimage to the House—for whoever is able to find thereto a way” [Āl ʿImrān:97], it is understood that treatment is obligatory; for the sick person who is able to treat the vertigo is thereby able to reach the Sacred House.
It may also be said: Illness is a legal excuse—Allah has excused the sick—since He said: “There is no blame upon the blind, nor is there blame upon the lame, nor is there blame upon the sick.” [al-Nūr:61], and He said: “And whoever among you is ill or on a journey—then [let him fast] a number of other days.” [al-Baqarah:184], and other verses wherein Allah the Exalted grants concession to the sick.
We have neither seen nor heard that any scholar obligates medical treatment upon the sick for the sake of fasting, or for the sake of completing purification and prayer, or for jihād, or for attending Jumuʿah, or the like.
If it be said: Treatment is not obligatory for performing obligations, but it is obligatory because it repels harm from oneself,
We say: Treatment is unquestionably legislated; as for its obligatoriness, there is—as appears to me—detail: If the illness afflicting the patient is feared to lead to death, or to the loss of a faculty such as blindness or deafness or insanity, or the like, and the patient expects recovery through treatment, and is able to undergo treatment—then treatment is obligatory upon him.
But if the illness is of those that are not feared to cause any of that, and only involve a slower recovery—then treatment is not obligatory. All of this returns to the patient’s own considered judgment. The proof for this is His saying, Exalted is He: “And do not throw yourselves, by your own hands, into destruction” [al-Baqarah:195], and what sound reason has settled upon regarding the obligation to repel harm from oneself.
If it be said: Allah, Exalted is He, has called to patience and contentment when affliction descends, and encouraged it in His saying: “And give glad tidings to the patient—those who, when calamity strikes them, say, ‘Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return.’ Those are the ones upon whom are blessings from their Lord and mercy; and those are the rightly guided.” [al-Baqarah:155–157], and He did not mention treatment; rather He called to entrusting matters to Allah, patience, contentment, and the like—much indeed.
We say: Treatment and seeking remedies do not contradict patience, contentment, and entrusting matters to Allah. A patient can combine those qualities with seeking treatment; the Messenger of Allah—May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace—used to seek treatment, and so did the Companions and the scholars up to this very day.
Yes—what is fitting to mention here is this: Some people upon whom affliction and the use of treatment is prolonged may grow weary and feel severe constriction, so they wish for death and refuse treatment. Does that contradict patience, contentment, and entrusting matters to Allah?
We say: Weariness, vexation, and constriction are human traits from which one cannot be completely free. If the afflicted person becomes weary, is vexed by the prolongation of the affliction, and therefore wishes for the coming of death—then, as appears to me, there is no sin in that; nor does it contradict patience, contentment, and entrusting matters to Allah. The believer, in such severe circumstances, only wishes for death because of the relief it contains for him: he is freed thereby from intense pains; it relieves his family from the burden of nursing him; and it brings him to the meeting with Allah and His reward. The Commander of the Faithful—peace be upon him—as in some of his sermons in Nahj al-Balāghah—would voice complaint over what he faced from his subjects, show vexation toward them, wish to part from them, and supplicate accordingly—saying, in substance: “O Allah, replace them for me with those worse than me, and replace me for them with one better than them.” He would show impatience for the coming of “the wretch of the ummah Ibn Muljam—may Allah curse him.” , and so forth. None of that—such as his saying, “O Allah, I have grown weary of them and they have grown weary of me”—was a deficiency in patience, contentment, or entrusting matters to Allah; and likewise is what we have mentioned.
As for the Prophet’s—May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace—saying: “Let none of you wish for death due to harm that has befallen him,” the discussion of it is as follows: Wishing for death is of two types:
The first type is what we mentioned regarding the believer: he wishes for death because of the relief and rest it brings, the meeting with reward, and the easing of the burden upon his family when he senses they are weighed down by the length of his nursing—this together with his good opinion of Allah’s pardon and mercy, strong hope in that, and contentment with Allah regarding what He has decreed.
The second type is that the afflicted one wishes for death out of panic at the shock and severity of the affliction, without considering anything beyond that—merely to escape the affliction. This is the type concerning which the prohibition has been narrated.
If you say: The two types are close to each other, for in both cases wishing for death is to escape affliction,
I say: In the first type, wishing for death is for several matters that make such a wish praiseworthy when present: (1) relief and mercy; (2) his sense that his family is weighed down by the length of his nursing; (3) meeting the reward, together with strong hope for forgiveness and mercy.
As for the second type, wishing for death is only to escape the affliction, with no consideration of anything else.
We say this second type is what the prohibition addresses—because seeking death upon the arrival of harm contains grumbling and dislike for Allah’s decree and measure in place of patience and contentment with what Allah the Exalted has decreed and measured.
Among examples of this is what we hear from many people, when something upsetting occurs, of cursing themselves with death.
Source : Min Thimār al-ʿIlm wa al-Ḥikmah vol.1