A man asked the Prophet ﷺ, "My father has reached the age of Hajj, but he is an elderly man who cannot remain steady on his mount. If I tie him to it, I fear he will die. May I perform Hajj on his behalf?"The Prophet ﷺ replied, "Tell me, if your father owed a debt and you paid it off for him, would that be acceptable?"The man said, "Yes."The Prophet ﷺ said, "Then perform Hajj on behalf of your father."
أن رجلا سأل النبي ﷺ أن أبي أدركه الحج وهو شيخ كبير لا يثبت على راحلته فإن شددته خشيت أن يموت أفأحج عنه؟ قال: أرأيت لو كان عليه دين فقضيته أكان مجزنا؟ قال: نعم. قال: فحج عن أبيك.
Nasai (2640, 5393) narrated it from Mujahid bin Musa, from Hushaym, from Yahya bin Abu Ishaq, from Sulayman bin Yasar, from Abdullah bin Abbas, who said, then he related it.Imam Ahmad (1812) also narrated it from Hushaym, with his chain of transmission, except that he said, from Ibn Abbas or Fadl bin Abbas, then he related it. This is because there was disagreement over Yahya bin Abu Ishaq, who narrated it in this way as mentioned above. Amr bin Dinar also narrated it, from Abu Shatha, from Ibn Abbas, in the same manner.Shubah narrated it, from Yahya bin Abu Ishaq, who said, I heard Sulayman bin Yasar say, Fadl told us, "I was riding behind the Messenger of Allah ﷺ when a man asked him, saying, 'My father, or my mother, is a very old man who is unable to perform Hajj.'" He then mentioned Hajj. Imam Ahmad (1813) narrated it through his chain. Nasai narrated it through two routes, through his chain (5395), and through the chain of Muhammad, that is, Ibn Sirin, (2643, 5394), both of them from Yahya bin Abu Ishaq.Nasai said, "Sulayman did not hear from Fadl bin Abbas." I say, this is as he said, because Fadl bin Abbas died in the year 18 AH in the plague of Amwas, while Sulayman bin Yasar was born during the caliphate of Uthman. So the correct view is that there is an intermediary between them, namely Ibn Abbas. Sometimes Ibn Abbas narrates it from Fadl, and other times without him.Tirmidhi (3/259) said, I asked Muhammad about these narrations, and he said, "The most sahih thing in this matter is what has been narrated from Ibn Abbas, from Fadl bin Abbas, from the Prophet ﷺ." He also said, "It is possible that Ibn Abbas heard it from Fadl and others who heard it from the Prophet, and then he himself narrated it from the Prophet directly, omitting the intermediary, without mentioning the one from whom he had heard it."