The Expiation for an Oath and Giving It to One Person
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Is the expiation of an oath to be performed in a specific order, or is there a choice? And am I allowed to give it to a single person?
The Shaykh:
The expiation of an oath involves a sequence, and it involves a choice. There is a choice between three things: freeing a slave, feeding ten poor people, or clothing ten poor people. One is given the choice to do any one of these. If he does not find any of these three, he moves on to fasting. Allah the Exalted said:[Al-Baqarah 2:196] The sequence only applies after one is unable to perform any of these three: freeing a slave, feeding, or clothing. As for a single person, that does not suffice for the ten; it is obligatory to have ten poor people. So if he gives it to one person, it does not suffice except for that one person, and nine remain upon him.
The questioner:
Or does he mean, Shaykh, that he gathered the ten people and gave them food and fed them?
The Shaykh:
Whatever is sufficient, we said, is enough. What is sufficient for one person is enough for himself, for one person. He owes nine more, yes.
Is the expiation of an oath to be performed in a specific order, or is there a choice? And am I allowed to give it to a single person?
The Shaykh:
The expiation of an oath involves a sequence, and it involves a choice. There is a choice between three things: freeing a slave, feeding ten poor people, or clothing ten poor people. One is given the choice to do any one of these. If he does not find any of these three, he moves on to fasting. Allah the Exalted said:
And whoever cannot find [or afford such an animal] - then a fast of three days
فَمَن لَّمْ يَجِدْ فَصِيَامُ ثَلَاثَةِ أَيَّامٍThe questioner:
Or does he mean, Shaykh, that he gathered the ten people and gave them food and fed them?
The Shaykh:
Whatever is sufficient, we said, is enough. What is sufficient for one person is enough for himself, for one person. He owes nine more, yes.
Source
الفوزان -أشرطة- أسئلة وأجوبة من دروس التوحيد - الفوزان - أسئلة وأ،جوبة - 07 — archive.org (45:36)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.