The man who swore many oaths and did not expiate them, then repented: what must he do?

The questioner : The second question concerns a man who has many oaths upon him, numbering in the thousands, and he has not expiated them. Now he has repented to Allah, so what does he do?

The Shaykh : He must combine his repentance with righteous deeds. Righteous deeds are divided into two categories: obligatory and voluntary. The obligatory is that he performs the expiation for the oaths that accrued upon him over that long, extended period. One might say that they are so numerous that it is impossible to count them, or that they are so numerous relative to his situation that he cannot perform these expiations because he is poor or of moderate means. The answer is that he must always stand by Allah’s saying in this matter or in any other: And by the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) which confirms this Qur’anic text in his well-known, authentic saying: . There is a difference between a command and a prohibition. A command requires positive action; a prohibition does not require positive action, but rather that you stand still and do not commit the prohibited act. Therefore, the Wise Lawgiver, with His perfect wisdom, distinguished between what He commanded and what He prohibited. Commands must be carried out within the limits of one’s capacity The well-known example among all people is that one of the five pillars of Islam is the pilgrimage to the House of Allah, the Sacred. Although it is a pillar, Allah the Mighty and Majestic qualified it with capacity, saying the Exalted: In this manner and according to this system, the Muslim must perform everything that Allah the Mighty and Majestic has commanded within the limits of his capacity. As for the expiations that accrued upon him due to his breaking of dozens or hundreds of oaths, he performs what he is able to, for Allah does not burden a soul beyond its capacity. However, to turn away from performing any expiation on the claim that they are too numerous is a legal stratagem that is not hidden from Allah.

The questioner : And what is the minimum expiation? I mean, what is the least that suffices in the expiation?

The Shaykh : This returns to the one who broke his oath; because he must expiate with what he and his family eat, and there is no cash payment. This is a common misconception. Feeding ten poor people: this feeding varies according to the one who is expiating. If he is poor, for example, barely able to eat with bread a side dish like cheese or falafel or something similar, then he offers what he eats to ten poor people. If he is in a better situation, he eats, for example, some vegetables cooked with oil or meat, or so on. This food is what he should offer to the poor people to whom the expiation is given. So, there is no limited limit prescribed by the Shari’ah for the expiation.

The questioner : Is it a matter of choice here, or not?

The Shaykh : No, it is a matter of sequence. If he cannot afford the expiation, he fasts for three days.

Another questioner : Is it permissible for a man to marry his son’s divorced wife, provided he has not consummated the marriage?

The Shaykh : By Allah, the jurists have a principle here which I do not recall at the moment. You can ask any specialist in Shari’ah judgment; there is no disagreement on this issue, and I do not remember the text now.