The Vow of Disobedience and Its Ruling, and a Discussion on Backbiting.

The Shaykh : The third section: The Vow of Disobedience. An example of this is a man who says, "By Allah, I will backbite so-and-so today." Do you know what backbiting is? Please, tell us about it? Stand up.
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : I am not asking you about its ruling; I am asking you what backbiting is?

The questioner : It is to mention one's brother with what he dislikes.

The Shaykh : Well done, that is complete. Rest now. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) defined backbiting as Whether that is in a congenital defect or a behavioral defect, even if you say, "So-and-so is short," intending to mock him while he is not present, that is backbiting. Even if you say, "So-and-so is quick-tempered and a fool," while he is not present, what is that considered? It is considered backbiting. So, if you criticize him in his character, his appearance, his religion, or his dealings, that is backbiting. If he is not present, it is backbiting. If he is present, it is not backbiting, but it is insult. Pay attention to the difference between backbiting and insult. The common people call backbiting insult. "So-and-so was there and started insulting so-and-so." No, insult is face-to-face, and backbiting is what? It is in his absence. That is why it is called backbiting; it is called backbiting because it is a defect in a person in his absence. That is why Allah likened backbiting to a man who eats the flesh of his dead brother, because the dead person is in the position of the absent one who cannot defend himself, is that not so? Where did He describe it? Where did Allah liken it to eating the flesh of a dead brother?
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : Well done, rest. .
Do we like it or not? We do not like it. If you dislike eating the flesh of your dead brother, then dislike backbiting him. And generally, when a person takes advantage of Allah's servants and backbites them, generally Allah allows someone to backbite him, so it becomes a present punishment, may Allah protect us from that. Good.
I say, a man vowed to backbite his brother on this day. A vow of disobedience, is it permissible to fulfill it? No. The evidence is the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) And because if fulfilling a vow of disobedience were permissible, this would be a means to violating the prohibitions through vows. But what does one do when one has vowed disobedience? We said, do not do it. What does one do? Brother, stand up. Yes, stand up. Where were you daydreaming? Where did you go? Yes, what?
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : Yes, good. If you do not speak Arabic well, you do not understand it well. And therefore, you must be fully present in mind. Do not wander in your thoughts. Rest now. Good. What does one do if we said it is not permissible to fulfill a vow of disobedience? What does one do?
This is a matter in which the scholars differed. Some said: He is obligated to expiate with the expiation of an oath.
And some said: He is not obligated to do anything. And the correct view is that he is obligated to expiate with the expiation of an oath, because this is a vow that was not fulfilled, so he is obligated to expiate with the expiation of an oath. Yes, did the sleepiness leave you?

The questioner : I did not sleep.

The Shaykh : Did you not sleep last night? Answer?

The questioner : I did not sleep.

The Shaykh : If you did not sleep, when sleep comes to you today, it will come to you now to make up for what you missed. What did we say last? Come on, my brother, hey, what did we talk about? What did you tell the brother about?
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : The vow of disobedience.
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : Or what?
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : Rest, perhaps the sleepiness has left you, if Allah wills. Now, good, listen.
The vow of disobedience. What did we say? It is not permissible to fulfill it. The evidence is the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) The reasoning is that if fulfilling a vow of disobedience were permissible, it would be a means to violating sins through what? Through vows. So everyone who wants to violate a sin would vow, and this is not correct. So, it is obligatory for one who vows to disobey Allah not to disobey Allah, and what else, according to the stronger opinion? And to expiate with the expiation of an oath. How many sections did we mention? Three sections.