Quora Answer: Are Non-Sunni Muslims Allowed to Go to Makkah?

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “Are non-Sunni Muslims allowed to go to Makkah, such as Shi’ah and Khwarij Muslims?” 

In the history of Islam, very few groups have been banned from the haj.  Certain Khwarij groups were banned, but not every Khwarij sect.  The Ibadhi sect, which some claim to be descended from the same grouping of sects, was never banned from the haj.  They were never involved in violence against Muslims, and for the most part, lived distinct from them. 

The Mu’tazilah sects, every one of them, were never banned from the haj either.  Many of these Mu’tazilah followed the Hanafi madzhab.  Related sects such as the Qadariyyah, Jabariyyah, and the Murji’ah were never banned.  They are all, mostly extinct. 

The major Shi’ah sects were never banned from the haj.  This includes the various Isma’ili groups, the Zaydi, and the Itsna’ ‘Ashari.  Of the many Shi’ah sects, only the ghuluw sects were ever banned from haj.  One of these groups evolved into the ‘Alawi Shi’ah, which had a distinct, polytheistic conception of the divine.  This precluded them from the haj.  They eventually evolved into a group that is merely politically distinct, but for the most part, are Itsna’ ‘Ashari in theology. 

Another famous ghuluw sect that was banned from the haj is the extinct Qaramathiyyah.  This sect was unique in that it viewed the haj as a pagan ritual, and the Ka’bah as a pagan temple.  They attacked pilgrims, and massacred thousands of them.  They burned the Ka’bah, and stole the Hajr al-Aswad, which they damaged, breaking it into two parts.  They then fled to what is now Bahrain.  It was over a hundred years later before the Hajr al-Aswad was recovered. 

The Baha’is, and the Sikhs do not perform the haj, although both Baha’ullah and Guru Nanak Nankana Swahib were said to have been born Muslims.  Guru Nanak is on record to have visited Makkah twice. These faiths are syncretic, distinct faith from Islam. 

The most famous sect ever banned from the haj is the Wahhabi sect.  They go by many names, but mainly calling themselves “Salafi”.  Their founder, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab an-Najdi, engaged in atrocities and outrages.  These include the sack of Karbala and the massacre of Tha’if.  The Wahhabi sect was banned from the haj for three hundred years until the British intervened, and helped the Saudis conquer the Haramayn.  Were it not for that fact, they would still be banned from the haj, and declared apostate. 

We must never forget that three hundred years ago, the Muslims, Sunni, Shi’ah and others, unanimously agreed, based on their theology and their actions, the Wahhabis were kafirun, out of Islam.  It is not coincidence that groups such as ISIS and Al Qaeda follow this ideology.  What they did, from their murders, to taking of slaves, to the destruction of tombs and places of worship; these are all the actions that the Wahhabis have been doing from their founding.