The Ruling on Keeping a Promise and Breaking It
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, a questioner whose name is indicated by the letters Ayn, Ayn, and Seen says: We hear some people say that keeping a promise is not obligatory. What is the correctness of this statement if it is true? The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The signs of the hypocrite are three: when he speaks, he lies; when he promises, he breaks his promise; and when he is entrusted, he betrays the trust.”
Answer:
The majority of scholars hold that breaking a promise is not forbidden; it is permissible for him to break his promise, and he has not committed a forbidden act. However, it is better and more preferable for him to keep his promise. A group of distinguished scholars held that keeping a promise is obligatory, so it is not permissible for him to break it, based on the hadith you mentioned, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) made breaking a promise one of the characteristics of the hypocrites. Imitating the hypocrites or doing what the hypocrites do is forbidden.
Honorable Shaykh, a questioner whose name is indicated by the letters Ayn, Ayn, and Seen says: We hear some people say that keeping a promise is not obligatory. What is the correctness of this statement if it is true? The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The signs of the hypocrite are three: when he speaks, he lies; when he promises, he breaks his promise; and when he is entrusted, he betrays the trust.”
Answer:
The majority of scholars hold that breaking a promise is not forbidden; it is permissible for him to break his promise, and he has not committed a forbidden act. However, it is better and more preferable for him to keep his promise. A group of distinguished scholars held that keeping a promise is obligatory, so it is not permissible for him to break it, based on the hadith you mentioned, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) made breaking a promise one of the characteristics of the hypocrites. Imitating the hypocrites or doing what the hypocrites do is forbidden.
Source
نور على الدرب - الفوزان - 02/239 — archive.org (8:02)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.