What is the ruling on making a vow for something impossible?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : What is an unintentional vow? I mean, there is a story I told you about regarding my sister’s family. Her young son’s hand got stuck in the elevator, and he could not pull it out. They brought iron tools and such, and out of her fear and panic, she said, “By Allah, O Muhammad, if your hand comes out safe, I will pray a million rak’ahs.” What is the ruling on this?
The Shaykh : Did the hand come out safely?
The questioner : Yes, praise be to Allah.
The Shaykh : That is the important point.
Al-Halabi : If someone asked you about the million rak’ahs, do you remember?
The Shaykh : Yes, I must feed ten poor people. It is the expiation for a vow that cannot be fulfilled.
The questioner : Feeding ten poor people?
The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : Did the hand come out safely?
The questioner : Yes, praise be to Allah.
The Shaykh : That is the important point.
Al-Halabi : If someone asked you about the million rak’ahs, do you remember?
The Shaykh : Yes, I must feed ten poor people. It is the expiation for a vow that cannot be fulfilled.
The questioner : Feeding ten poor people?
The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.