A vow to give charity for every prayer one misses, without specifying whether it was missed intentionally or for a valid excuse: what is the ruling?
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Question:
May Allah reward you, Your Eminence, father. The questioner says: I vowed to myself that I would give a specific amount of money in charity for every prayer I do not perform. He says: May Allah reward you, I vowed to myself that I would give a specific amount of money in charity for every prayer I do not perform, but I did not specify the prayer. Is it the one I leave intentionally, or the one I miss due to sleep or a valid excuse? Therefore, I am confused about my situation. Does the vow cover both cases?
Answer:
If your intention was regarding the voluntary prayers, the voluntary prayers, then this is not the purpose of obliging yourself. This is not the purpose of drawing near to Allah through the vow; rather, your intention is to oblige yourself with this prayer. For example, if you pray the Duha prayer, if you pray the Duha prayer, if you pray the night prayer, and if your intention is to oblige yourself with that, then it becomes obligatory upon you. It becomes obligatory upon you. So if you do not perform it, then you make it up, because it became obligatory upon you, so you make it up as a missed obligation. However, if your intention was regarding the obligatory prayers, these obligatory prayers, if you gave away the entire world in charity, it would not expiate your leaving off the obligatory prayer. Nothing expiates it except performing the obligatory prayer. Charity does not expiate leaving off the obligatory prayers. And a vow, if its purpose is not drawing near to Allah, but rather its purpose is to oblige the person, as if he says, "I have a vow upon me with Allah that if I do not give you such and such," this follows the course of an oath, and it has the expiation of an oath, because its purpose is not drawing near. "If I do not do such and such, then upon me is fasting for a year."
This is not the purpose of the vow; its purpose is the oath and obliging yourself. Or, "If I do such and such, then upon me is giving such and such an amount of money in charity." Its purpose is not drawing near through the vow; your intention is to oblige yourself to leave that thing. This follows the course of an oath. The vow is considered a vow if its purpose is compulsion. If its purpose is urging to leave something or urging to do something, it follows the course of an oath, and it is resolved by the expiation. Yes.
May Allah reward you, Your Eminence, father. The questioner says: I vowed to myself that I would give a specific amount of money in charity for every prayer I do not perform. He says: May Allah reward you, I vowed to myself that I would give a specific amount of money in charity for every prayer I do not perform, but I did not specify the prayer. Is it the one I leave intentionally, or the one I miss due to sleep or a valid excuse? Therefore, I am confused about my situation. Does the vow cover both cases?
Answer:
If your intention was regarding the voluntary prayers, the voluntary prayers, then this is not the purpose of obliging yourself. This is not the purpose of drawing near to Allah through the vow; rather, your intention is to oblige yourself with this prayer. For example, if you pray the Duha prayer, if you pray the Duha prayer, if you pray the night prayer, and if your intention is to oblige yourself with that, then it becomes obligatory upon you. It becomes obligatory upon you. So if you do not perform it, then you make it up, because it became obligatory upon you, so you make it up as a missed obligation. However, if your intention was regarding the obligatory prayers, these obligatory prayers, if you gave away the entire world in charity, it would not expiate your leaving off the obligatory prayer. Nothing expiates it except performing the obligatory prayer. Charity does not expiate leaving off the obligatory prayers. And a vow, if its purpose is not drawing near to Allah, but rather its purpose is to oblige the person, as if he says, "I have a vow upon me with Allah that if I do not give you such and such," this follows the course of an oath, and it has the expiation of an oath, because its purpose is not drawing near. "If I do not do such and such, then upon me is fasting for a year."
This is not the purpose of the vow; its purpose is the oath and obliging yourself. Or, "If I do such and such, then upon me is giving such and such an amount of money in charity." Its purpose is not drawing near through the vow; your intention is to oblige yourself to leave that thing. This follows the course of an oath. The vow is considered a vow if its purpose is compulsion. If its purpose is urging to leave something or urging to do something, it follows the course of an oath, and it is resolved by the expiation. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، نذر أن يتصدق عن كل صلاة يتركها، ولم يحدد هل هي المتروكة عمدًا أم بعذر فما حكمه؟ للشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.