Is it permissible to break a promise for a reason that necessitates it?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, I promised a man that I would bring him from his country to work for me, because I had heard that he was truthful and trustworthy. Then it became clear to me afterwards that he is a man who is not trustworthy. He is now demanding that I fulfill my promise and bring him over. The question is: what should I do about my promise? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
Since it has become clear that he is not as you thought, he has no claim against you. However, prove that he did not meet the requirements; establish this.
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, I promised a man that I would bring him from his country to work for me, because I had heard that he was truthful and trustworthy. Then it became clear to me afterwards that he is a man who is not trustworthy. He is now demanding that I fulfill my promise and bring him over. The question is: what should I do about my promise? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
Since it has become clear that he is not as you thought, he has no claim against you. However, prove that he did not meet the requirements; establish this.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [2696 -2802] هل يجوز إخلاف الوعد لسبب يقتضي ذلك؟ - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.