If a person swears an oath saying, “By the covenant of Allah, I will do such and such,” or “By a vow to Allah, I will do such and such,” and then breaks it and does not fulfill this covenant, is there an expiation upon him?
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The questioner : If a person swears an oath saying: “By the covenant of Allah, I will do such and such, or by a vow to Allah, I will do such and such” and then breaks it and does not fulfill this covenant, is there an expiation upon him? And what is it? Please inform us, may Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment. As for what follows, before answering this question, I would like to alert our brother listeners that the vow which a person commits himself to is disliked, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade it and said:Sahih Muslim 1639c So much so that some of the scholars said that the vow is forbidden, because a person obligates himself to what is not obligatory upon him, thereby making things difficult for himself. He may delay in fulfilling it, thereby exposing himself to the great punishment that Allah the Exalted mentioned in His saying: [At-Tawbah 9:75-77] And Allah Mighty and Majestic hinted at the dislike of the vow and a person obligating himself to it, saying the Exalted: [An-Nur 24:53] Then, we always hear about people who make vows conditioned upon one of the conditions, such as saying, “If Allah heals my sick person, then I have a vow to Allah to fast such and such, or to give such and such in charity,” or “If Allah heals me,” or the like. Then, the condition upon which the vow was conditioned occurs, and he does not fulfill it. As I pointed out earlier, this is a person exposing himself to falling into this great punishment, that Allah will follow it with hypocrisy in his heart until the day he meets Him. If a person is afflicted and makes a vow, if the vow is a vow of obedience, then it is obligatory upon him to fulfill it, and it is not permissible for him to leave it, due to the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): Sahih al-Bukhari 6696 There is no difference between the vow being a vow of obligatory obedience, such as a person saying, for example, “I have a vow to Allah to pay my zakah,” or a vow of recommended obedience, such as saying, “I have a vow to Allah to pray two rak'ahs.” There is no difference between this vow being absolute, not conditioned upon anything, or being conditioned upon something. The first is like saying, “I have a vow to Allah to fast Mondays and Thursdays,” and the second is saying, “If Allah heals my sick person, or if Allah heals me, then I have a vow to Allah to fast Mondays and Thursdays.”
In any case, every vow of obedience, it is obligatory upon him to fulfill it, and it is not permissible for him to leave it and expiate for it. If he did so, he would be sinful. As for if the vow is other than obedience, if it is a vow of disobedience, then it is not permissible to fulfill it, due to the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):Sunan Ibn Majah 2126Sahih (Darussalam) But it is obligatory upon him to pay the expiation of an oath, due to the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): Bulugh al-Maram 1385 This is general, so every vow that you do not fulfill, you have upon you the expiation of an oath. And the expiation of the oath is explained by Allah the Exalted in His saying: [Al-Ma'idah 5:89] And these three are a matter of choice [Al-Ma'idah 5:89].
Based on this rule, this questioner who said, “I have a covenant to Allah, or I have a vow to Allah, to do such and such,” and did not do it, is obligated to pay the expiation of an oath, by feeding ten poor people, or clothing them, or freeing a slave.
Feeding has two methods. The first method is to prepare food for lunch or dinner and invite ten poor people to eat it. The second method is to distribute food to them, such as rice, for example, and it is good to include meat with it to make it a complete meal. The amount, meaning the amount of the obligatory rice if he wants to distribute it without cooking, is a quarter of a sa' by the sa' of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), which is five sa' by our current sa'. If a person gives out ten kilograms for the ten people, one kilogram for each, he would have fulfilled the obligation and more. And Allah knows best.
The questioner : May Allah bless you, Shaykh Muhammad. Is it required to be ten poor people if he does not find these specific poor people? Shaykh, do relatives count in this?
The Shaykh : They do not count, due to the saying of Allah the Exalted:[Al-Ma'idah 5:89] And the poor, whether they are from relatives or not, indeed, if they are from relatives, it is better than others. But if it is estimated that he did not find them, Allah has explained the ruling of that at the end of the verse in His saying: [Al-Baqarah 2:196] The negation of finding here includes the one who did not find food to feed them, and the one who did not find the poor people. Even if he has a lot of money, if he does not find the poor people, he fasts three days. But it is required in the three days, if he fasts them, that they be consecutive. Yes.
The questioner : May Allah bless you. In his second question, he says, O honorable Shaykh.
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment. As for what follows, before answering this question, I would like to alert our brother listeners that the vow which a person commits himself to is disliked, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade it and said:
It does not (necessarily) bring good (in the form of substantial, and tangible results), but it is the meant whereby something is extracted from the miserly persons.
إنه لا يأتي بخير، وإنما يُستخرج به من البخيل(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.
وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ عَاهَدَ اللَّهَ لَئِنْ ءاتَانَا مِنْ فَضْلِهِ لَنَصَّدَّقَنَّ وَلَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ * فَلَمَّا ءاتَاهُمْ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ بَخِلُوا بِهِ وَتَوَلَّوا وَهُمْ مُعْرِضُونَ * فَأَعْقَبَهُمْ نِفَاقًا فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ إِلَى يَوْمِ يَلْقَوْنَهُ بِمَا أَخْلَفُوا اللَّهَ مَا وَعَدُوهُ وَبِمَا كَانُوا يَكْذِبُونَAnd they swear by Allah their strongest oaths that if you ordered them, they would go forth [in Allah 's cause]. Say, "Do not swear. [Such] obedience is known
وَأَقْسَمُوا بِاللَّهِ جَهْدَ أَيْمَانِهِمْ لَئِنْ أَمَرْتَهُمْ لَيَخْرُجُنَّ قُلْ لا تُقْسِمُوا طَاعَةٌ مَعْرُوفَةٌWhoever vows that he will be obedient to Allah, should remain obedient to Him
من نذر أن يطيع الله فليطعهIn any case, every vow of obedience, it is obligatory upon him to fulfill it, and it is not permissible for him to leave it and expiate for it. If he did so, he would be sinful. As for if the vow is other than obedience, if it is a vow of disobedience, then it is not permissible to fulfill it, due to the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):
and whoever vows to disobey Allah, let him not disobey Him.
من نذر أن يعصي الله فلا يعصهThe atonement for a vow (Nadhr) is (the same as) the atonement an oath (Yamin).
كفارة النذر كفارة يمينSo its expiation is the feeding of ten needy people from the average of that which you feed your [own] families or clothing them or the freeing of a slave
فَكَفَّارَتُهُ إِطْعَامُ عَشَرَةِ مَسَاكِينَ مِنْ أَوْسَطِ مَا تُطْعِمُونَ أَهْلِيكُمْ أَوْ كِسْوَتُهُمْ أَوْ تَحْرِيرُ رَقَبَةٍBut whoever cannot find [or afford it] - then a fast of three days [is required]. That is the expiation for oaths when you have sworn. But guard your oaths
فَمَنْ لَمْ يَجِدْ فَصِيَامُ ثَلاثَةِ أَيَّامٍ ذَلِكَ كَفَّارَةُ أَيْمَانِكُمْ إِذَا حَلَفْتُمْ وَاحْفَظُوا أَيْمَانَكُمْBased on this rule, this questioner who said, “I have a covenant to Allah, or I have a vow to Allah, to do such and such,” and did not do it, is obligated to pay the expiation of an oath, by feeding ten poor people, or clothing them, or freeing a slave.
Feeding has two methods. The first method is to prepare food for lunch or dinner and invite ten poor people to eat it. The second method is to distribute food to them, such as rice, for example, and it is good to include meat with it to make it a complete meal. The amount, meaning the amount of the obligatory rice if he wants to distribute it without cooking, is a quarter of a sa' by the sa' of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), which is five sa' by our current sa'. If a person gives out ten kilograms for the ten people, one kilogram for each, he would have fulfilled the obligation and more. And Allah knows best.
The questioner : May Allah bless you, Shaykh Muhammad. Is it required to be ten poor people if he does not find these specific poor people? Shaykh, do relatives count in this?
The Shaykh : They do not count, due to the saying of Allah the Exalted:
So its expiation is the feeding of ten needy people
فَكَفَّارَتُهُ إِطْعَامُ عَشَرَةِ مَسَاكِينَAnd whoever cannot find [or afford such an animal] - then a fast of three days
فَمَنْ لَمْ يَجِدْ فَصِيَامُ ثَلاثَةِ أَيَّامٍThe questioner : May Allah bless you. In his second question, he says, O honorable Shaykh.