Is it permissible for a person to swear an oath over another person to do something?
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Question : May Allah reward you. He asks: Is it permissible for a person to swear an oath over someone to do a specific thing, such as attending a wedding feast or the like? And if the invitee does not come, does the one who swore break his oath and owe an expiation?
Answer : As for the first part of the question, which is that some people want to honor their brother by swearing an oath over him to attend the feast, for example, this is a mistake. Because honoring a person is done with what he loves, not with what you love. For this reason, there is a well-known proverb: "Honor your brother with what he loves." So it is not befitting for a person to swear an oath over another, thereby putting him in a difficult position and causing him hardship. But suppose he did swear, and the other person did not comply with them; is the expiation obligatory on the one who swore?
The answer is yes. If a man says to another, for example, "By Allah, you will eat from this food," and he did not eat, then it is obligatory on the one who swore to pay the expiation for an oath, which is[Al-Ma'idah 5:89] consecutively. And I advise my brothers that if they want to swear an oath over someone, they should link the oath to the will of Allah. So he says, "By Allah, if Allah wills, you will do it." Because linking it to the will of Allah has two great benefits. The first benefit is that this is among the causes of achieving the desired outcome. The second is that if the desired outcome does not happen, there is no expiation on the one who swore. Did you understand what the benefit is? Yes. Perfect.
And listen to a story narrated to us by the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Sulayman ibn Dawud, who is one of the noble prophets, said, "By Allah, I will go around to ninety women tonight, and each one of them will give birth to a boy who will fight in the cause of Allah." He said that out of desire for jihad and love for it. So it was said to him, "Say, 'If Allah wills.'" But he did not say "If Allah wills." So he went around to ninety women that night. None of them gave birth to anything except one. She gave birth to a half-person, a half of a human being, so that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) would show His servants that the matter is in His hand. So what did the Messenger (may the prayer and peace be upon him) say?
Sunan an-Nasa'i 3856Sahih (Darussalam) Meaning, if he had said "If Allah wills," he would have gone around to ninety women and each one would have given birth to a boy who would fight in the cause of Allah. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, Bulugh al-Maram 1378 For this reason, I advise my Muslim brothers that when they swear an oath over something, let them say "If Allah wills." But one might say, "If I say to the person, 'By Allah, you will do this, if Allah wills,' he will not do it; it will be of no consequence to him." So I say, "Praise be to Allah, Allah has made an exit for every tightness. Say 'If Allah wills' without him hearing it. Is it possible or not possible? By Allah, you will do such and such, and you say 'If Allah wills' in such a way that he does not hear it. If you say that, the desired outcome will be achieved."
Answer : As for the first part of the question, which is that some people want to honor their brother by swearing an oath over him to attend the feast, for example, this is a mistake. Because honoring a person is done with what he loves, not with what you love. For this reason, there is a well-known proverb: "Honor your brother with what he loves." So it is not befitting for a person to swear an oath over another, thereby putting him in a difficult position and causing him hardship. But suppose he did swear, and the other person did not comply with them; is the expiation obligatory on the one who swore?
The answer is yes. If a man says to another, for example, "By Allah, you will eat from this food," and he did not eat, then it is obligatory on the one who swore to pay the expiation for an oath, which is
the feeding of ten needy people from the average of that which you feed your [own] families or clothing them or the freeing of a slave. But whoever cannot find [or afford it] - then a fast of three days
إِطْعَامُ عَشَرَةِ مَسَاكِينَ مِنْ أَوْسَطِ مَا تُطْعِمُونَ أَهْلِيكُمْ أَوْ كِسْوَتُهُمْ أَوْ تَحْرِيرُ رَقَبَةٍ فَمَن لَّمْ يَجِدْ فَصِيَامُ ثَلَاثَةِ أَيَّامٍAnd listen to a story narrated to us by the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Sulayman ibn Dawud, who is one of the noble prophets, said, "By Allah, I will go around to ninety women tonight, and each one of them will give birth to a boy who will fight in the cause of Allah." He said that out of desire for jihad and love for it. So it was said to him, "Say, 'If Allah wills.'" But he did not say "If Allah wills." So he went around to ninety women that night. None of them gave birth to anything except one. She gave birth to a half-person, a half of a human being, so that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) would show His servants that the matter is in His hand. So what did the Messenger (may the prayer and peace be upon him) say?
If he had said: 'If Allah wills,' he would not have broken his vow, and this would have been a means to help him to get what he wanted.
قال لو قال إن شاء الله لم يحنث وكان دركا لحاجته(ﷺ) said: "Whoever swears an oath, and then says: "If Allah Wills", he is not held accountable if he breaks it.
صلى الله عليه وسلم من حلف على يمين فقال إن شاء الله فلا حنت عليه،
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، لقاء[106من 219] هل يجوز للإنسان أن يحلف على غيره أن يفعل شيئاً؟!! ابن عثيمين - مشروع كبار العلماء — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.
