One who vows to stand in night prayer for the rest of his life if Allah grants him health
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh! I was afflicted with an illness, and I vowed that if Allah cured me, I would stand in night prayer for the rest of my life. Praise be to Allah, He has cured me, but I have not been able to fulfill the vow. What should I do?
The Shaykh:
What?
The questioner:
Say: I was afflicted with an illness, and I vowed to Allah that if He cured me of this illness, I would stand in night prayer for Allah for the rest of my life. Then He cured me, praise be to Allah, but I have not been able to fulfill the vow.
The Shaykh:
If the vow was to stand in prayer for the entire night for the rest of his life, this is not obligatory. It is like if one vowed to fast for the rest of his life; he is not required to do so, because this is something a person cannot bear. However, if the vow was to stand in prayer during the night for the rest of his life, then he is required to do so. He must stand in prayer during the night as much as is easy for him, similar to the standing of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who would pray eleven rak'ahs at night. He is required to do that because it is something he can manage and is capable of. Therefore, it is a vow of obedience, and he is required to fulfill it.
Honorable Shaykh! I was afflicted with an illness, and I vowed that if Allah cured me, I would stand in night prayer for the rest of my life. Praise be to Allah, He has cured me, but I have not been able to fulfill the vow. What should I do?
The Shaykh:
What?
The questioner:
Say: I was afflicted with an illness, and I vowed to Allah that if He cured me of this illness, I would stand in night prayer for Allah for the rest of my life. Then He cured me, praise be to Allah, but I have not been able to fulfill the vow.
The Shaykh:
If the vow was to stand in prayer for the entire night for the rest of his life, this is not obligatory. It is like if one vowed to fast for the rest of his life; he is not required to do so, because this is something a person cannot bear. However, if the vow was to stand in prayer during the night for the rest of his life, then he is required to do so. He must stand in prayer during the night as much as is easy for him, similar to the standing of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who would pray eleven rak'ahs at night. He is required to do that because it is something he can manage and is capable of. Therefore, it is a vow of obedience, and he is required to fulfill it.
Source
شرح بلوغ المرام من أدلة الأحكام [ صالح الفوزان ]، تتمة كتاب الأيمان والنذور — islamhouse.com (54:04)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.