The ruling on one who swore that a specific gift would not enter his home, and then it did
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Question:
We now move on to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Amman, via a message received by the program from listener Hammam al-Abadi, it seems. Brother Hammam has a question, saying: A relative of my wife gave us a gift. When I saw it, I said, “I swear by Allah, it will not enter my house.” So they left it with the neighbors. The next day, it was brought into my house, and we used it and benefited from it. What is the expiation for that statement? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
First: This is idle talk that is not permissible. It is not permissible to declare something lawful as forbidden. You must repent to Allah for that.
Second: It depends on your intention. If you intended only to refrain from it, and did not intend to declare your wife forbidden to you, nor to divorce her; then you owe the expiation of an oath, and praise be to Allah. It is feeding ten poor people, or clothing them... ten, each one receiving half a sa' of dates, or rice, or wheat, one and a half kilograms each.
But if you intended to declare the wife forbidden to you; then you owe the expiation of zihar, which is freeing a believing slave. If you are unable to do so; you fast for two consecutive months, sixty days. If you are unable to do that; you feed sixty poor people, thirty sa' before you approach your wife, each sa' shared between two people, meaning: each sa' is three kilograms... one and a half kilograms of the local staple food, from dates, or otherwise, or wheat, or rice.
But if you intended divorce, intending that if it entered your house, your wife would be divorced; then one divorce takes effect if you intended divorce, and you take her back immediately, witnessing two of your good brothers, witnessing them that you have taken back your wife.
Summary: That you have three matters in this:
The first matter: That you intended only to refrain, in which case there is the expiation of an oath when you used it and it entered the house, which is feeding ten poor people, or clothing them, ten, each one receiving half a sa', one and a half kilograms, or clothing... it suffices for prayer.
The second situation: That you intended to declare it forbidden, declaring her forbidden to you, declaring the wife forbidden by that if she entered the house, in which case there is the expiation of zihar, as Allah explained in Surat al-Mujadilah, which is: freeing a believing slave before you touch your wife. If you are unable to do so; you fast for two consecutive months, sixty days before you touch your wife. If you are not able to do this -neither this nor that- then you must feed sixty poor people, thirty sa' each sa' shared between two people, and the amount of that is ninety kilograms, each one receiving one and a half kilograms of the local staple food, from dates, or rice, or wheat, or corn, and the like, along with repentance and seeking forgiveness.
The third situation: That you intended divorce, intending that if it entered your house, your wife would be divorced, in which case this statement effects one divorce, and you have the right to take her back during the waiting period, with the testimony of two, witnessing two from the people of the Sunnah, witnessing two that you have taken her back, if you had not divorced her before with two divorces. We ask Allah for guidance for everyone, yes.
The presenter: O Allah, amen. May Allah reward you with good. If you permit me, Your Eminence the Shaykh, to present what I know about the conditions of people in this matter.
The Shaykh: Yes.
The presenter: In this matter, it is mostly that they want to save the gift for the giver, so that they do not burden themselves. So in that case, Your Eminence must have a comment and another ruling?
The Shaykh: In any case, this is the detail: if he intended to refrain from accepting it to save for him, and out of mercy for him, and not to burden him; then if he accepts it, there is the expiation of the oath, yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good.
We now move on to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Amman, via a message received by the program from listener Hammam al-Abadi, it seems. Brother Hammam has a question, saying: A relative of my wife gave us a gift. When I saw it, I said, “I swear by Allah, it will not enter my house.” So they left it with the neighbors. The next day, it was brought into my house, and we used it and benefited from it. What is the expiation for that statement? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
First: This is idle talk that is not permissible. It is not permissible to declare something lawful as forbidden. You must repent to Allah for that.
Second: It depends on your intention. If you intended only to refrain from it, and did not intend to declare your wife forbidden to you, nor to divorce her; then you owe the expiation of an oath, and praise be to Allah. It is feeding ten poor people, or clothing them... ten, each one receiving half a sa' of dates, or rice, or wheat, one and a half kilograms each.
But if you intended to declare the wife forbidden to you; then you owe the expiation of zihar, which is freeing a believing slave. If you are unable to do so; you fast for two consecutive months, sixty days. If you are unable to do that; you feed sixty poor people, thirty sa' before you approach your wife, each sa' shared between two people, meaning: each sa' is three kilograms... one and a half kilograms of the local staple food, from dates, or otherwise, or wheat, or rice.
But if you intended divorce, intending that if it entered your house, your wife would be divorced; then one divorce takes effect if you intended divorce, and you take her back immediately, witnessing two of your good brothers, witnessing them that you have taken back your wife.
Summary: That you have three matters in this:
The first matter: That you intended only to refrain, in which case there is the expiation of an oath when you used it and it entered the house, which is feeding ten poor people, or clothing them, ten, each one receiving half a sa', one and a half kilograms, or clothing... it suffices for prayer.
The second situation: That you intended to declare it forbidden, declaring her forbidden to you, declaring the wife forbidden by that if she entered the house, in which case there is the expiation of zihar, as Allah explained in Surat al-Mujadilah, which is: freeing a believing slave before you touch your wife. If you are unable to do so; you fast for two consecutive months, sixty days before you touch your wife. If you are not able to do this -neither this nor that- then you must feed sixty poor people, thirty sa' each sa' shared between two people, and the amount of that is ninety kilograms, each one receiving one and a half kilograms of the local staple food, from dates, or rice, or wheat, or corn, and the like, along with repentance and seeking forgiveness.
The third situation: That you intended divorce, intending that if it entered your house, your wife would be divorced, in which case this statement effects one divorce, and you have the right to take her back during the waiting period, with the testimony of two, witnessing two from the people of the Sunnah, witnessing two that you have taken her back, if you had not divorced her before with two divorces. We ask Allah for guidance for everyone, yes.
The presenter: O Allah, amen. May Allah reward you with good. If you permit me, Your Eminence the Shaykh, to present what I know about the conditions of people in this matter.
The Shaykh: Yes.
The presenter: In this matter, it is mostly that they want to save the gift for the giver, so that they do not burden themselves. So in that case, Your Eminence must have a comment and another ruling?
The Shaykh: In any case, this is the detail: if he intended to refrain from accepting it to save for him, and out of mercy for him, and not to burden him; then if he accepts it, there is the expiation of the oath, yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.