Fulfilling a vow is required after the condition for it is met
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you with good and do you well. A listener from Jeddah, whose name is spelled with the letters Ayn and Ya, says: I made a vow upon myself that if Allah grants me a certain matter, I will install a refrigerator to cool water, which will serve as a means of benefit and charity for the sake of Allah the Exalted. Until now, the matter for which I made the vow has not been realized. What do you advise me to do now? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
As long as the matter to which the vow was conditional has not been realized, then you are not required to perform this vow because the condition is absent. However, if the condition to which you attached the vow is met, then you are required to fulfill this vow because it is an act of obedience. Providing cold water for people to drink is a righteous deed that carries great reward; it is obedience and a means of drawing near to Allah Mighty and Majestic. So if the condition to which you attached the provision of this water is met, it is obligatory to fulfill the vow. And the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:Sahih al-Bukhari 6696.
And in His saying, the Exalted:[Al-Insan 76:7], and His saying, the Exalted: [Al-Baqarah 2:270], meaning He will reward you for it, He paired the vow with financial maintenance, which indicates that fulfilling it is obligatory and that fulfilling it is prescribed, because it is obedience to Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He. However, it should be noted that entering into a vow initially is disliked or forbidden, due to the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): "Indeed, a vow Sahih Muslim 1639c" Because compelling a person to do something that is not obligatory upon him by the original law of the Shari'ah involves hardship and difficulty for him, and it may become burdensome. Before making the vow, he is in a state of well-being, and the door to doing good is open to a person without him compelling himself to do what Allah has not made obligatory upon him; it is open to him to do it if it is easy for him, and to leave it if it is not easy. But if he makes a vow, it becomes binding upon him, and it is obligatory for him to fulfill it.
May Allah reward you with good and do you well. A listener from Jeddah, whose name is spelled with the letters Ayn and Ya, says: I made a vow upon myself that if Allah grants me a certain matter, I will install a refrigerator to cool water, which will serve as a means of benefit and charity for the sake of Allah the Exalted. Until now, the matter for which I made the vow has not been realized. What do you advise me to do now? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
As long as the matter to which the vow was conditional has not been realized, then you are not required to perform this vow because the condition is absent. However, if the condition to which you attached the vow is met, then you are required to fulfill this vow because it is an act of obedience. Providing cold water for people to drink is a righteous deed that carries great reward; it is obedience and a means of drawing near to Allah Mighty and Majestic. So if the condition to which you attached the provision of this water is met, it is obligatory to fulfill the vow. And the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
Whoever vows that he will be obedient to Allah, should remain obedient to Him
من نذر أن يطيع الله فليطعهAnd in His saying, the Exalted:
They [are those who] fulfill [their] vows and fear a Day whose evil will be widespread.
يُوفُونَ بِالنَّذْرِ وَيَخَافُونَ يَوْمًا كَانَ شَرُّهُ مُسْتَطِيرًاAnd whatever you spend of expenditures or make of vows - indeed, Allah knows of it
وَمَا أَنفَقْتُم مِّن نَّفَقَةٍ أَوْ نَذَرْتُم مِّن نَّذْرٍ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ يَعْلَمُهُIt does not (necessarily) bring good (in the form of substantial, and tangible results), but it is the meant whereby something is extracted from the miserly persons.
لا يأتي بخير، وإنما يستخرج به من الرجل البخيل،
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 4872- الوفاء بالنذر يكون بعد وقوع المنذور به - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.