What is the ruling on a man who made a vow conditional on the recovery of his child, but the child did not recover?

The questioner : This is a question from Abu Ahmad. He says: A man made a vow conditional on the recovery of his child, but the child did not recover. Is he required to fulfill it?

The Shaykh : Repeat it, repeat it.

The questioner : One of the students of knowledge answered that he is not required to fulfill it, so he objected to him. Which of the two opinions is correct?

The Shaykh : Bring it so we can see. Repeat the question from the one who has no news, Abu Ahmad.

The questioner : A man made a vow conditional on the recovery of his child, but the child did not recover. Is he required to fulfill it? One of the students of knowledge answered that he is not required to fulfill it, so he objected to him. Which of the two opinions is correct?

The Shaykh : What did he object with?

The questioner : He said he is required to fulfill it.

The Shaykh : No, that answer is wrong.

The questioner : From whom?

The Shaykh : From the one who said he is required to fulfill the vow.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : From the one who said he is required to fulfill the vow. If a man makes a conditional vow, then if the condition upon which the vow was made occurs, he must fulfill it. If it does not occur, he is not required to fulfill the vow. But here is something very important that Muslims must know: according to the scholars, vows are divided into two categories: a vow of obedience and a vow of disobedience. This is known to everyone. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . Then the first vow, the vow of obedience, is divided into two categories. In principle, vows are divided into two: a vow of obedience and a vow of disobedience. This one must be fulfilled, and it is not permissible to fulfill the other. The vow of disobedience—this one that must be fulfilled—is itself divided into two categories. One is called a vow of devotion; that is, drawing near to Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). The other is called by the old jurists a vow of exchange, and we can call it today, in the language of the present age, a vow of barter. The first vow, the vow of devotion, a vow of obedience, is not made with a condition as came in the question. Rather, the Muslim feels that he is shortcoming. He says: "It is upon me for Allah to pray two rak'ahs before the true dawn of every night." "It is upon me for Allah to pray two rak'ahs." The timing is not important, but this is an example. If he said between Dhuhr and Asr, or if he said before Dhuhr, or whatever, the important thing is that it is a time that is not disliked. "It is upon me for Allah to pray two rak'ahs" other than the prescribed sunnahs and other than the known voluntary prayers. It becomes obligatory for him to fulfill this vow. This is called a vow of what? Devotion, meaning drawing near to Allah. This is the vow for which its maker is praised, and it is what is intended by such as His saying (Glorified and Exalted is He): . The second vow is the vow of exchange or the vow of barter. This is the vow where one of them says: "If Allah heals my sick person, then it is upon me to slaughter a sacrificial animal for Allah." "It is upon me to give charity of such and such." This is called exchange, barter, like one person saying to another: "You gave me this, so I will give you that." This vow-maker treats his Lord as he treats his servants. His Lord who created him and was aware of every blessing, as He said: . He comes and says to Him: "If You grant me health, if You heal my sick person, if You return to me my lost one, or whatever, then it is upon me such and such, otherwise You have nothing from me." Do you see? This is a disliked vow. This is a disliked vow. But do not forget that this must be fulfilled because it is obedience. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade this vow in his saying, as in "Sahih al-Bukhari": . This man who made this vow, the vow of exchange or the vow of barter, without doubt this man is stingy. Because if he were not so, he would have presented the charity he intended to vow in case his Lord healed him, directly, without making a vow. And as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the authentic hadith: . If he does not do this, and this is the righteousness, meaning and the obedience, but rather he conditioned the fulfillment of the vow upon Allah fulfilling what he asked of Him, this is the stingy, miserly man. . So the vow of obedience has two categories: a vow of devotion, meaning increasing nearness to Allah. This is the desirable one and the one for which one is thanked. The second vow is the vow of exchange or barter. This is not thanked for. This indicates that the one who made this type of vow is stingy. But if he made it, it must be fulfilled because it is a vow of obedience and not a vow of disobedience. But it is disliked because it indicates his stinginess and his miserliness. We return to the vow of disobedience, and with that the discussion of vows ends. If a man makes a vow of disobedience, we know that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade fulfilling this vow. Many students say, for example, "If we pass the exam, by Allah we will make it a red night." This is what they do, unfortunately. It is not permissible for them to fulfill it because this is disobedience. But did they become pure and their conscience clear simply because they did not fulfill this vow, which is a great sin? No. Rather, this is a type of vow, a vow of disobedience, for which there is an expiation. For the one who vows to disobey Allah, two things are upon him: one is negative and the other is positive. The negative is that he must stop fulfilling this vow because it is disobedience. The positive is an expiation: he must feed ten poor people because he covenanted with Allah for something, but this thing is disobedience and it is not permissible to fulfill it. He remains obligated to expiate for this covenant, which is in the position of an oath. So he must feed ten poor people if he is able and capable. And it is not permissible, on this occasion, to give money and dirhams as an oath expiation, as some oath-takers do. This is a mistake. The oath expiation, by the text of the Noble Qur'an, is feeding ten poor people, or clothing them, or freeing a slave. Freeing a slave today does not exist. So either he clothes ten poor, needy people, or he feeds them. And it is not permissible for him to reach into his pocket, especially if he is full and rich, and look at ten dinars and not feel anything for them, and his soul is not trained by any of that at all. Whereas a little effort, he strains himself, he prepares food for them, and especially if he invites them to his home, which perhaps a poor person has never entered. This is training for this soul which Allah (Mighty and Majestic) commanded to expiate for the oath. So this is what is upon the one who made a vow of disobedience, as we said, two things: one is negative and the other is positive. The negative is that he does not commit the disobedience he vowed. The positive is that he expiates for his oath by feeding ten poor people, feeding them food and drink as he and his family eat. If he is unable, he fasts three days.

The questioner : As for the vow of disobedience... give him the answer.