I have made a vow to fast five days every time I smoke a cigarette
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Question: I made a vow to fast five days every time I smoke a cigarette. This was with the intention of resolving to abstain from it and desiring to quit it forever. Days and years passed, and then I returned to it and smoked it again. I remembered the vow, so I performed the expiation and fasted the five days I had vowed. Does this expiation I performed suffice and cancel the vow, like an oath taken three times that occurs once if it is for a single matter? Or is it obligatory for me to fast five days for every single cigarette, as I specified in my vow? I have now smoked a great deal. If I am required to fast five days for every cigarette, that means I will fast approximately more than a thousand days. How can I do that? What is the solution? Is there a way out of this expiation through charity or the like?
Answer: First: We advise the questioner and others who have been afflicted with smoking to repent to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) and to leave this filthy thing that harms them in their religion and worldly affairs, and in their health and bodies; because it is pure harm with no benefit in any way, and it is a filthy thing among the filthies. And Allah the Exalted says in describing His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): [Al-A'raf: 157] ,
And there is no one in the world, even among those who use this thing, who proves that there is a single benefit in it, while it has many harms and great dangers. It is obligatory for the Muslim to have resolve, strength, chivalry, and strong faith, to leave what Allah has forbidden him, even if it were the most precious thing to him. How much more so when it is a trivial and filthy thing? It is obligatory for the Muslim to repent to Allah from it and to leave it to preserve his health, his wealth, and his religion; because it does not bring any good.
As for the vow you made to leave it, and that if you smoke it you will fast, you have vowed to leave a forbidden thing, and this is obligatory upon you. When a person vows to leave a forbidden thing, it is obligatory for him to fulfill his vow; because if a person vows to do an obligatory act or vows to leave a forbidden thing, he has vowed something obligatory upon him, and he must fulfill it. And it is obligatory for you to leave it even if you had not vowed, so how much more so since you have vowed? It is incumbent upon you to leave it, as advice to yourself and fulfillment of your vow. [Al-Talaq: 2, 3] .
This is what we advise you to do, and we see nothing else for you, ever. We do not see that you should break the oath and continue to use this tobacco; because it is a crime and a harm. So you must repent to Allah and leave it, and proceed with your resolve, and free yourself from its harms.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: .
Question: But he asks whether fasting five days is sufficient for merely returning to it, or whether he is required, as he specified, to fast five days for every cigarette?
Answer: No, this vow follows the course of an oath; because his intention with it is to prevent himself from this thing. According to the choice of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, it follows the course of an oath, and there is an expiation for an oath in it, and he has already performed the expiation.
And he said: Every time he smokes, he fasts five days,Its meaning is: That the vow remains and has not been dissolved, and that every time he smokes a cigarette, he is required to fast five days. So it remains and has not been dissolved. He must leave smoking, even if he had not vowed, so how much more so since he has vowed? If he does it, he is required to fast five days. Every time he does it, he is required to fast five days for each instance;Because he said: Every time you smoke, for every cigarette,We tell him: Fast five days. And this means that the vow repeats upon him every time he consumes a cigarette. And this is what emphasizes for him leaving this filthy thing.
So he is required to fast five days for every cigarette as he vowed.
Answer: First: We advise the questioner and others who have been afflicted with smoking to repent to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) and to leave this filthy thing that harms them in their religion and worldly affairs, and in their health and bodies; because it is pure harm with no benefit in any way, and it is a filthy thing among the filthies. And Allah the Exalted says in describing His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):
makes lawful for them the good things and prohibits for them the evil
وَيُحِلُّ لَهُمُ الطَّيِّبَاتِ وَيُحَرِّمُ عَلَيْهِمُ الْخَبَائِثَAnd there is no one in the world, even among those who use this thing, who proves that there is a single benefit in it, while it has many harms and great dangers. It is obligatory for the Muslim to have resolve, strength, chivalry, and strong faith, to leave what Allah has forbidden him, even if it were the most precious thing to him. How much more so when it is a trivial and filthy thing? It is obligatory for the Muslim to repent to Allah from it and to leave it to preserve his health, his wealth, and his religion; because it does not bring any good.
As for the vow you made to leave it, and that if you smoke it you will fast, you have vowed to leave a forbidden thing, and this is obligatory upon you. When a person vows to leave a forbidden thing, it is obligatory for him to fulfill his vow; because if a person vows to do an obligatory act or vows to leave a forbidden thing, he has vowed something obligatory upon him, and he must fulfill it. And it is obligatory for you to leave it even if you had not vowed, so how much more so since you have vowed? It is incumbent upon you to leave it, as advice to yourself and fulfillment of your vow.
And whoever fears Allah - He will make for him a way out (3) And will provide for him from where he does not expect.
وَمَنْ يَتَّقِ اللَّهَ يَجْعَلْ لَهُ مَخْرَجًا وَيَرْزُقْهُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لَا يَحْتَسِبُThis is what we advise you to do, and we see nothing else for you, ever. We do not see that you should break the oath and continue to use this tobacco; because it is a crime and a harm. So you must repent to Allah and leave it, and proceed with your resolve, and free yourself from its harms.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
You will not leave anything for Allah (Mighty and Majestic) except that He will replace it with something better than it
إنك لن تدع شيئًا لله عز وجل إلا بدلك به ما هو خير منهQuestion: But he asks whether fasting five days is sufficient for merely returning to it, or whether he is required, as he specified, to fast five days for every cigarette?
Answer: No, this vow follows the course of an oath; because his intention with it is to prevent himself from this thing. According to the choice of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, it follows the course of an oath, and there is an expiation for an oath in it, and he has already performed the expiation.
And he said: Every time he smokes, he fasts five days,Its meaning is: That the vow remains and has not been dissolved, and that every time he smokes a cigarette, he is required to fast five days. So it remains and has not been dissolved. He must leave smoking, even if he had not vowed, so how much more so since he has vowed? If he does it, he is required to fast five days. Every time he does it, he is required to fast five days for each instance;Because he said: Every time you smoke, for every cigarette,We tell him: Fast five days. And this means that the vow repeats upon him every time he consumes a cigarette. And this is what emphasizes for him leaving this filthy thing.
So he is required to fast five days for every cigarette as he vowed.