The ruling on one who swore by divorce to quit smoking and then returned to it

The question: This man says that he tried to get rid of smoking, so he finally swore by divorce before he entered upon his wife?
The Shaykh: Repeat the question from the beginning.
The presenter: He says: I was afflicted with smoking, and I tried by all means to quit it, to the point that I told myself that I would either pronounce the divorce or swear by divorce that I would not smoke it. So I said: O Lord! If I smoke, my wife is divorced three times. This was after the marriage contract was concluded but before I entered upon her. The purpose of making this oath was to restrain myself from this calamity, which is smoking. But after half an hour, I could not hold back and I smoked. All of this was between me and Allah; no one knew about it. After a while, I prepared for my wife and married her, and she bore me children. Then I tried to quit smoking again and said to myself: I will swear by divorce, hoping that I will succeed in quitting it this time. So I said: O Lord! If I smoke, my wife is divorced, then divorced three times. This was in one place and in one phrase, with only one word separating them. I did not know what this meant in the Arabic language. At that time, I was in a foreign land and had no one but Allah. I did not inform the wife or anyone else. My goal and desire was to restrain my soul, which commands evil, from smoking. But the next day, I relented and smoked a second time. Then, by the will of Allah, I quit smoking, and it has been fifteen years since I left it. My wife is still with me. I ask for a fatwa from Allah, then from the honor of Shaykh Abdul Aziz ibn Baz, as my goal in all of this is to restrain myself from this calamity, which is smoking. What expiation is obligatory upon me? May Allah prolong your life in the service of Islam and Muslims, and may Allah guide you?
The answer: There is no doubt that smoking is forbidden, an evil, and has many harms, as established by a group of scholars. Whoever reflects on the condition of smokers and what scholars, medical experts, and those with experience in smoking have mentioned will know for certain the harm of smoking and that it is among the forbidden things and the evils that every person who uses it must leave and avoid. Allah, Glorified and Exalted, has clarified in His noble Book that it is forbidden and an evil, not by naming it specifically, but by clarifying what He has made lawful for His servants and what He has forbidden for them. Indeed, He, Glorified is He, said: and [Al-Ma'idah: 4].
So He, Glorified is He, clarified that He has not made lawful except good things, and [Al-Ma'idah: 4]. So Allah, Exalted and Majestic, has made good things lawful for His servants, and smoking is not among the good things, but rather it is among the bad things and the destructive things, for the good is that which benefits you and nourishes you without harm.
As for this, it is harmful and painful in its taste, its bad effects, and its foul smell, so its harms are innumerable. And He, Exalted and Majestic, said in describing His Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him): [Al-A'raf: 157].
And there is no doubt that it is bad due to its many harms, as scholars have clarified, as doctors have clarified, and as everyone who has tried this bad thing has clarified.
So it is obligatory for every Muslim to beware of this affliction and to have sincere determination and strength to leave it and avoid it; perhaps Allah will save him from its evil.
As for the questioner, he owes the expiation of an oath for his divorce in the first and second instances; because this is in the ruling of an oath, as long as his intention was to restrain himself from smoking and not his intention was to part with his family, then it is in the ruling of an oath in the most correct of the scholars' opinions, as Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) and his student, the scholar Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him), issued a fatwa in this manner in such cases. So the questioner must expiate the oath for the first divorce and for the last divorce. The expiation of an oath is feeding ten poor people or clothing them, for each poor person a sa' of dates, wheat, or rice, meaning: from the staple food of the country of the one who divorced, or clothing them with a garment that suffices them in prayer, like a shirt for each one or a waistcloth and a cloak for each one. This is the expiation.
So in this case, he owes ten sa' measures: five for the first oath of the first divorce and five for the last divorce. Ten sa' measures for ten poor people, each poor person is given a sa' of rice or dates or other staple food of the country, half of it for the first divorce and half of it for the last divorce. And we ask Allah to keep us all firm upon the truth, and to protect us and all Muslims from the whispers of Satan.