The ruling on one who is in doubt about having sworn an oath or made an exception
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The Shaykh : I have the letters and the rights, and in it is the first chapter on the virtue of students of law, and in it is the year of entry, the first chapter on walking between religion and attendance.
The questioner : I have, I have, I have it all.
The Shaykh : Ha. We have someone. We have a chapter.
The questioner : Okay. The second section, the rulings. First, the rights of Allah, second, the rights of people. The first chapter is the limits of Allah and His rights, and in it are eight chapters. The first chapter is the definition of the limits of Allah. Again.
The Shaykh : No, this is the matter.
The questioner : May Allah reward you. If one is in doubt whether he swore or did not swear, or if he is in doubt whether he made an exception or did not make an exception, does he return to the original state?
The Shaykh : Return to the original state in everything, except if there is something that contradicts it. For example, if he is in doubt whether he swore or not? In the original state, he did not burn. He did not delete. If he is in doubt whether he made an exception or not? He did not make an exception. So the original state is that he did not make an exception, but if this original state is contradicted by an apparent matter.
Stronger than what is presented to it, if this original state is contradicted by an apparent matter stronger than it, then that is given precedence over it. For example, if it is his habit that whenever he swears he makes an exception, but this time doubt occurred to him whether he made an exception or not, it is attributed to the habit, because the apparent matter here is stronger than the original state, which is that this man’s habit is not to swear except that he makes an exception. And returning to the habit is established in the Book and the Sunnah, to the extent that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said regarding the woman with irregular bleeding that she returns to her habit, even though she is not certain that the valid menstruation coincides with the habit. This is the statement in this issue.
The questioner : I have, I have, I have it all.
The Shaykh : Ha. We have someone. We have a chapter.
The questioner : Okay. The second section, the rulings. First, the rights of Allah, second, the rights of people. The first chapter is the limits of Allah and His rights, and in it are eight chapters. The first chapter is the definition of the limits of Allah. Again.
The Shaykh : No, this is the matter.
The questioner : May Allah reward you. If one is in doubt whether he swore or did not swear, or if he is in doubt whether he made an exception or did not make an exception, does he return to the original state?
The Shaykh : Return to the original state in everything, except if there is something that contradicts it. For example, if he is in doubt whether he swore or not? In the original state, he did not burn. He did not delete. If he is in doubt whether he made an exception or not? He did not make an exception. So the original state is that he did not make an exception, but if this original state is contradicted by an apparent matter.
Stronger than what is presented to it, if this original state is contradicted by an apparent matter stronger than it, then that is given precedence over it. For example, if it is his habit that whenever he swears he makes an exception, but this time doubt occurred to him whether he made an exception or not, it is attributed to the habit, because the apparent matter here is stronger than the original state, which is that this man’s habit is not to swear except that he makes an exception. And returning to the habit is established in the Book and the Sunnah, to the extent that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said regarding the woman with irregular bleeding that she returns to her habit, even though she is not certain that the valid menstruation coincides with the habit. This is the statement in this issue.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، 245- حكم مَن شكَّ في الحلف أو الاستثناء - ابن عثيمين — youtube.com (0:10)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.