The Expiation for an Oath for One Who Repents and Then Returns to Sin
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: A person looks at forbidden things and does some of them, then he repents. He swears that if he returns to it again, he will pay an expiation, for example two hundred riyals. He says: Then I return and return, and I repent after that. What is required of me?
Answer:
Avoid the causes, avoid the causes that lead you to sin and returning to it. Avoid the causes, such as sitting with people of evil, looking at what Allah has forbidden. Avoid the causes that lead to sin so that you are safe from it. As for you engaging in its causes and saying, "I repent," no, that is not permissible. But you swore that if you fall into sin, you will expiate the oath. Along with repentance, you must expiate the oath. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: A person looks at forbidden things and does some of them, then he repents. He swears that if he returns to it again, he will pay an expiation, for example two hundred riyals. He says: Then I return and return, and I repent after that. What is required of me?
Answer:
Avoid the causes, avoid the causes that lead you to sin and returning to it. Avoid the causes, such as sitting with people of evil, looking at what Allah has forbidden. Avoid the causes that lead to sin so that you are safe from it. As for you engaging in its causes and saying, "I repent," no, that is not permissible. But you swore that if you fall into sin, you will expiate the oath. Along with repentance, you must expiate the oath. Yes.
Source
شرح إغاثة اللهفان من مصائد الشيطان لابن القيم، فصل في القلب المريض — islamhouse.com (1:07:09)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.