If one vows to fast a specific day but merely thinks about breaking the fast without intending to?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Shaykh, if one vows to fast a specific day, for example, it is obligatory for him to fast. But if he merely thinks about breaking the fast, just a passing thought and not an intention, does that invalidate it?
The Shaykh : The correct view is that hesitation does not invalidate the vow. Because the default is that one remains in the state of fasting until he intends to break it. As for mere hesitation about whether to break the fast or not, the correct view is that he does not break it. However, if he intends to do a prohibited act, intending to eat, but then abandons that intention, he does not break his fast.
The questioner : He does not break it.
The Shaykh : He does not break it, because he only intended to do the prohibited act but did not do it. This is even the well-known position in the school of jurisprudence: if one intends to do a prohibited act but does not do it, his worship is not invalidated. For example, if one intends to speak during the prayer but does not speak. An example of this is a man who is praying and hears the door being knocked, and the person asking to enter persists in knocking, so he intends to invalidate his prayer in order to respond to him, intending to speak to him, but he did not do so, and his prayer is valid. The conclusion is that hesitation in intention does not harm, according to the stronger opinion, and intending to do a prohibited act does not invalidate the worship before it is done, because the invalidation of the worship is contingent upon doing the prohibited act, and he did not do it.
The questioner : Shaykh, what is his ruling if he intended to exit it?
The Shaykh : He intended to exit.
The questioner : Okay, a prohibited act is not exiting the prison.
The Shaykh : No, no, exiting the worship is when he does the forbidden act.
The questioner : We looked at the authentic one, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The Shaykh : The correct view is that hesitation does not invalidate the vow. Because the default is that one remains in the state of fasting until he intends to break it. As for mere hesitation about whether to break the fast or not, the correct view is that he does not break it. However, if he intends to do a prohibited act, intending to eat, but then abandons that intention, he does not break his fast.
The questioner : He does not break it.
The Shaykh : He does not break it, because he only intended to do the prohibited act but did not do it. This is even the well-known position in the school of jurisprudence: if one intends to do a prohibited act but does not do it, his worship is not invalidated. For example, if one intends to speak during the prayer but does not speak. An example of this is a man who is praying and hears the door being knocked, and the person asking to enter persists in knocking, so he intends to invalidate his prayer in order to respond to him, intending to speak to him, but he did not do so, and his prayer is valid. The conclusion is that hesitation in intention does not harm, according to the stronger opinion, and intending to do a prohibited act does not invalidate the worship before it is done, because the invalidation of the worship is contingent upon doing the prohibited act, and he did not do it.
The questioner : Shaykh, what is his ruling if he intended to exit it?
The Shaykh : He intended to exit.
The questioner : Okay, a prohibited act is not exiting the prison.
The Shaykh : No, no, exiting the worship is when he does the forbidden act.
The questioner : We looked at the authentic one, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : Yes.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، 2090 - لونذر صيام يوم معين لكن حدثته نفسه أن يقطع الصيام وليس بعزم؟ ابن عثيمين — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.