I hope you will clarify the following for me: When I was in middle school, I vowed to fast a full month if Allah would bless me and I achieved a good overall score.

The questioner : I hope you will clarify the following in this message: When I was in middle school, I vowed to fast a full month if Allah would bless me and I achieved a good overall score. I succeeded, praise be to Allah, with the score I had hoped for, and I entered high school, succeeded, entered university, and obtained the bachelor's degree. I got married, and my marriage has been successful, praise be to Allah. This was one year and five months ago, and I have not yet had children. You ask if it is possible for me to fast the month in installments, since fasting a full month is difficult for me? And is it possible for me to spend money, i.e., give charity for each day, or what should I do? Guide us, may Allah reward you.

The Shaykh : Before answering this question, I would like to say: Vowing is disliked, and in fact, some scholars have forbidden it, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited it and said . Also, many of those who make vows become burdened by what they vowed, and perhaps they abandon what they vowed because it is difficult for them. How often does regret occur for those who vow regarding a specific thing they considered unlikely or were very eager for, vowing to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) that if He makes it easy for them, they will fast, give charity, or do something similar. So I say: It is necessary for a person to know the limits of what Allah has revealed to His Messenger and to stop from what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) has prohibited. So do not vow, O brother listener. Do not ever vow, neither for the healing of a sick person, nor for the attainment of a desire, nor for anything else. Ask Allah the Exalted for ease and hold a good opinion of Allah. Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) does not need a condition you make for Him when He bestows a benefit upon you or removes a harm. Rather, He needs from you gratitude and acknowledgment of His favor, and seeking His help with what He has given you to obey Him.
This is advice I direct to every listener to abandon vows so that they do not bind themselves to something while they are in well-being, and so that laziness does not take hold of them later, causing them to be negligent in what they vowed, and thus they would be struck by the great punishment that Allah the Exalted mentioned in His saying: . Look at how Allah punished those who covenanted with Him to give charity and be among the righteous when they did not fulfill what they covenanted with Allah. Allah followed it up with hypocrisy in their hearts until the Day they meet Him. That is, hypocrisy in the heart regarding creed, not practical hypocrisy, but rather a hypocritical, creedal heart until they die. This is a severe warning, and may Allah protect us, for one who covenants with Allah regarding something, and among that is the vow. For the vow is a covenant between the person and his Lord, and he did not fulfill what he covenanted with Allah.
As for what concerns the question of this questioner, we say: It is obligatory for her to fast the month as she vowed. If it was her intention when she vowed that it be consecutive, it is obligatory for it to be consecutive. Likewise, if she specified that with her tongue and said "a consecutive month." But if there was no specification and no intention, she has the option to separate it, fasting one day and breaking the fast one day, or fasting one day and breaking the fast two days, or fasting two days and breaking the fast one day, according to what is easy for her, since she did not specify consecutiveness with her tongue and did not intend it in her heart. Yes.

The questioner : May Allah bless you. From Jordan, the listener Karim says in his question.