The Expiation for Swearing to One’s Brothers to Come to a Meal
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. The questioner says: Sometimes I invite some of my brothers to a meal and I say to them, “By Allah, you must come.” Then they also swear and say, “We cannot.” If they do not come, is an expiation obligatory upon me?
Answer:
Yes, an expiation is obligatory upon you. However, Shaykh Taqi al-Din says that if you swear that someone will sit in this place or eat from this food, an expiation is not obligatory upon you, because your intention is to honor him. By saying “sit here” or “eat from this,” the honor has been achieved, and there is no need for an expiation. Yes. The majority do not say that if the oath is violated, an expiation is due. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. The questioner says: Sometimes I invite some of my brothers to a meal and I say to them, “By Allah, you must come.” Then they also swear and say, “We cannot.” If they do not come, is an expiation obligatory upon me?
Answer:
Yes, an expiation is obligatory upon you. However, Shaykh Taqi al-Din says that if you swear that someone will sit in this place or eat from this food, an expiation is not obligatory upon you, because your intention is to honor him. By saying “sit here” or “eat from this,” the honor has been achieved, and there is no need for an expiation. Yes. The majority do not say that if the oath is violated, an expiation is due. Yes.
Source
شرح كتاب فتح المجيد في شرح كتاب التوحيد [ صالح الفوزان ]، باب : من الشرك : النذر لغير الله — islamhouse.com (1:03:17)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.