A woman says: I made a vow in one of the years out of my ignorance of vows, and when I made that vow I was of age, where I said
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : This is a message that reached us from your sister in Allah, N. from al-Qassim, in which she says: I made a vow in one of the years out of my ignorance of vows, and when I made that vow I was of age, where I said: When I succeed in this year, I vow to Allah that I will fast, and I do not know if I said two months or three, consecutive or not. She says: And I assumed it was just a word that is said and has no importance, so I hope you, O honorable Shaykh, will guide me?
The Shaykh : First, we are still repeating in this program that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade vows and saidSunan an-Nasa'i 3801Sahih (Darussalam) And the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) spoke the truth, for a vow does not bring good, nor does it bring benefit, nor does it ward off harm, nor does it change divine decree. How many are the vow-makers who make vows and do not fulfill them, and how great is the punishment of the vow-makers who make vows and do not fulfill them. Allah the Exalted says: [At-Tawbah 9:75-77] So reflect on this story: they covenanted with Allah that if He gave them of His bounty, they would give charity from what He gave them and would reform themselves. But when Allah gave them of His bounty, they were stingy and turned away, so they did not give charity and did not reform themselves. So the punishment was that Allah the Exalted caused hypocrisy to enter their hearts until death, until the Day they meet Him. And this is a severe warning that a person fears if he violates what he covenanted with Allah.
And how many are those who say: If Allah heals my sick person, I have a vow to Allah to give such and such in charity, or to fast such and such. Or they say: If I succeed, I have a vow to Allah to do such and such. So Allah the Exalted gives them what they vowed for, and they do not fulfill it to Allah, so they have broken their promise to Allah and lied, thus combining the breaking of the covenant and treachery with lying, may Allah protect us from that.
And if a person has been decreed good by Allah, then the good will come to him even if he does not make a vow. And if Allah has decreed the removal of evil for him, then the evil will be removed even if he does not make a vow. So let him be patient and ask Allah the Exalted for the good he hopes for, and ask Allah to ward off from him the evil he fears.
This woman who is asking says that she vowed that if she succeeded, she would fast, and she did not know what she said regarding the number of fasts, whether it was one month, two months, or three. Then she did not know the meaning of a vow. So we say: If she did not know the meaning of a vow and did not know whether a vow is a binding commitment or not, then she owes nothing, because Allah the Exalted does not burden her with something she did not commit to. And if she did not know the meaning of a vow, then she did not know the meaning of commitment either. However, I consider it unlikely that she would make a vow while not knowing the meaning of a vow, because every person intends a statement, and it is most likely that he knows the meaning of this statement and that he will not speak nonsense whose meaning he does not know. So she is accountable to herself in this matter. If at that moment she did not know what a vow is—whether it is a commitment? whether it is this? whether it is that?—then she owes nothing. And if she knew that it is a commitment, but it was unclear to her how many months she specified, then she is only obligated to the minimum estimate, because the original state is the purity of her conscience. So if she says: I do not know if it is one month, two months, or three, we say: She is only obligated to one month, because this is the certain part, and what is beyond it is doubtful, and the original state is the purity of the conscience.
And finally, I advise my brothers the listeners, I advise them regarding vows not to make them. And if they make a vow of obedience, let them fulfill it, based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):Sahih al-Bukhari 6696 Yes.
The questioner : May Allah bless you.
The Shaykh : First, we are still repeating in this program that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade vows and said
They do not bring any good
إنه لا يأتِي بخير(75) And among them are those who made a covenant with Allah, [saying], "If He should give us from His bounty, we will surely spend in charity, and we will surely be among the righteous." (76) But when he gave them from His bounty, they were stingy with it and turned away while they refused. (77) So He penalized them with hypocrisy in their hearts until the Day they will meet Him - because they failed Allah in what they promised Him and because they [habitually] used to lie.
ومنهم من عاهد الله لئن ءاتانا من فضله لنصدقن ولنكونن من الصالحين * فلما ءاتاهم من فضله بخلوا به وتولوا وهم معرضون * فأعقبهم نفاقا في قلوبهم إلى يوم يلقونه بما أخلفوا الله ما وعدوه وبما كانوا يكذبونAnd how many are those who say: If Allah heals my sick person, I have a vow to Allah to give such and such in charity, or to fast such and such. Or they say: If I succeed, I have a vow to Allah to do such and such. So Allah the Exalted gives them what they vowed for, and they do not fulfill it to Allah, so they have broken their promise to Allah and lied, thus combining the breaking of the covenant and treachery with lying, may Allah protect us from that.
And if a person has been decreed good by Allah, then the good will come to him even if he does not make a vow. And if Allah has decreed the removal of evil for him, then the evil will be removed even if he does not make a vow. So let him be patient and ask Allah the Exalted for the good he hopes for, and ask Allah to ward off from him the evil he fears.
This woman who is asking says that she vowed that if she succeeded, she would fast, and she did not know what she said regarding the number of fasts, whether it was one month, two months, or three. Then she did not know the meaning of a vow. So we say: If she did not know the meaning of a vow and did not know whether a vow is a binding commitment or not, then she owes nothing, because Allah the Exalted does not burden her with something she did not commit to. And if she did not know the meaning of a vow, then she did not know the meaning of commitment either. However, I consider it unlikely that she would make a vow while not knowing the meaning of a vow, because every person intends a statement, and it is most likely that he knows the meaning of this statement and that he will not speak nonsense whose meaning he does not know. So she is accountable to herself in this matter. If at that moment she did not know what a vow is—whether it is a commitment? whether it is this? whether it is that?—then she owes nothing. And if she knew that it is a commitment, but it was unclear to her how many months she specified, then she is only obligated to the minimum estimate, because the original state is the purity of her conscience. So if she says: I do not know if it is one month, two months, or three, we say: She is only obligated to one month, because this is the certain part, and what is beyond it is doubtful, and the original state is the purity of the conscience.
And finally, I advise my brothers the listeners, I advise them regarding vows not to make them. And if they make a vow of obedience, let them fulfill it, based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):
Whoever vows that he will be obedient to Allah, should remain obedient to Him
من نذر أن يطيع الله فليطعهThe questioner : May Allah bless you.