Is it permissible to make a vow to stay away from sin?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
I made a vow and said, "If I look at what is forbidden, I will blind a group of people." Is this vow permissible?
The Shaykh:
This is not a vow; this is not a vow. A vow is an act of obedience, obedience to Allah the Mighty and Majestic. You make a vow to Allah the Mighty and Majestic to give charity, or you make a vow to Allah to pray. A vow is a type of worship, and it is not made for anyone but Allah. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh.
The Shaykh:
If he said, "I vow to give charity to the needy," that is a vow. But if he said, "I vow to love so-and-so and so-and-so," that is not a vow. Yes.
I made a vow and said, "If I look at what is forbidden, I will blind a group of people." Is this vow permissible?
The Shaykh:
This is not a vow; this is not a vow. A vow is an act of obedience, obedience to Allah the Mighty and Majestic. You make a vow to Allah the Mighty and Majestic to give charity, or you make a vow to Allah to pray. A vow is a type of worship, and it is not made for anyone but Allah. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh.
The Shaykh:
If he said, "I vow to give charity to the needy," that is a vow. But if he said, "I vow to love so-and-so and so-and-so," that is not a vow. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، هل يجوز النذر للابتعاد عن معصية؟ لمعالي الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.