Mentioning the benefits of the verses: Explaining the dislike of vows and their rulings.

The Shaykh : In any case, we take a benefit from this verse, which is: the dislike of vows. The dislike of vows is that a person obligates himself to an act of obedience to Allah, whether it is in exchange for something or not.
An example of a vow is: to say, "I have a vow upon me to Allah that I will fast every Monday and Thursday." This is a vow that must be fulfilled. If he does not do it, let him prepare for this punishment and retribution, which is that Allah will follow it up with hypocrisy in his heart until the day he meets Him, may Allah protect us from that. This vow is called an absolute vow, which is to say, "I have a vow upon me to Allah that I will fast every Monday and Thursday." We say that if he says that, he is obligated to fast every Monday and Thursday. The evidence for that is the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) .
There is a conditional vow, as in this verse. A conditional vow is when one says, "If Allah enriches me, I will certainly give charity of one thousand riyals every month." This is a vow, but it is closed or conditional. Conditional on what? Brother, on what? Here.
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : On singing. May Allah bless you. It is conditional on singing. He says, "If Allah enriches me, I will certainly give charity of what? One thousand riyals every month." This is a conditional vow, just as the hypocrites vowed here: . And from that, some people, when they despair of something and consider its occurrence unlikely, make a vow regarding it. A man had a patient with a severe illness, so he said, "If Allah cures my patient, I will certainly give charity of one thousand riyals." This is a vow conditional on what? Brother.
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : On the cure of the patient. May Allah bless you. If Allah cures his patient, he is obligated to give charity because he made a covenant with Allah, so he is obligated to fulfill what he covenanted with Allah. If he does not do it, let him expect this great punishment and retribution, that Allah will follow it up with hypocrisy in his heart until the day he meets Him.
We see some people take this path. If they have a patient, they say, "If Allah cures my patient, I will certainly do such and such." Or they get sick and say, "If Allah cures me from the illness, I will certainly do such and such." And this is prohibited. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited it. And I ask you: does the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) prohibit his Ummah from what is good for them? No, by Allah, by Allah, he does not prohibit us from anything that is good for us; he only prohibits us from what is evil for us. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited vows and said: . Listen to the word: "It does not bring good." And the Prophet (may Allah's prayer and peace be upon him) spoke the truth. Then he said: . This is regarding one who vows for the occurrence of something he loves. Does a person think that if he vows, Allah the Exalted will bring him what he loves? No, it may come to him, and it may not. Then, does he think that if he vows while sick, if he makes a vow regarding cure, does he think that this will remove death? No, if Allah intends to kill him, he will die, even if he vows. And for this reason, he (may Allah's prayer and peace be upon him) said: . This is regarding one who vows to give charity, because some people are stingy. Some people are stingy; they do not give charity unless what? Unless they vow. Because their soul refuses to give charity, so they vow in order to give charity. The Messenger (may Allah's prayer and peace be upon him) said: . So this explanation from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) clarifies that vows are of two types: a type where a person wants to compel himself to good, and another type where a person wants to ward off evil from himself. He clarified that a vow does not change the divine decree, but rather it extracts from the stingy person. Since the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), who is the most sincere of people to creation, prohibited vows, how do we vow? Many young people read— I am busy— May Allah bless you. Many young people read, and the English language is difficult for them. They fail in the first round, they fail in the second round, they fail in the second year, they fail in the second round of the second year. How many times? Four times. So he says, "I have a vow upon me to Allah that if I succeed in the English subject, I must fast ten days of every month." He succeeded. Was the cause of his success the vow? No, because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . And he said: . And the Prophet (may Allah's prayer and peace be upon him) spoke the truth. That is, the one who vows regarding a disliked act or leaving a feared thing, yes, it is as if he is saying, "Allah does not bestow favor unless I honor Him." This is the meaning of his words. And Allah the Glorious and Exalted bestows favor upon the person by His grace and generosity. I say, this man who vowed regarding success in the English subject succeeded. What is required of him? He is required to fast ten days every month. It is necessary. What do you imagine the state of this person to be? Will he be regretful and say, "I wish I had not vowed," or will he be broad-chested about it? Tell me what you believe, not what I want, but what you believe? Will he be regretful?
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : There is no doubt he will be regretful. And for this reason, you find him knocking on every door, to every scholar, hoping to get rid of this vow. We say: it is obligatory for you, because you have now covenanted with Allah, and Allah has fulfilled His covenant with you, so you must fulfill your covenant with Allah. So reflect on how the vow embarrasses its owner until he seeks dispensations or until he refuses, and at that time, it becomes dangerous for him to be afflicted with what Allah mentioned here: . Okay, my brothers, with this speech and with what others of the scholars say regarding the prohibition of vows, we find many people insist on making a vow. So this one who insists on making a vow is opposing the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in his prohibition and guidance, and he has burdened himself with what he may not be able to bear. You have now heard our speech and heard its evidence. I hope you will convey to your brothers not to make vows regarding anything, and to ask Allah for His bounty if they are in need, and to ask Allah for cure if they are sick. As for the vow, it is as our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), the truthful and veracious, the kind and advising one, said: . Did you understand, my brothers? Okay.
My advice to you is to disseminate this among the general public, to prohibit them from making vows, because if you do that, you have fulfilled the obligation of conveying the message. And the scholars are the heirs of the prophets; they convey the messages of Allah the Glorious and Exalted to His servants.