Ruling on Distributing the Feeding in the Expiation for an Oath
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Q: One of the expiations for an oath is feeding ten poor people. Is it permissible to feed one of them now and the others after a week, because there may not be ten poor people available at once? And if I feed one person ten times, does that count as feeding ten poor people?
A: It is necessary to seek out ten people, so if you feed one person and repeat that, it is not sufficient; rather, ten are required, as Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) said in His Noble Book in Surat al-Ma'idah:[Al-Ma'idah 5:89] the verse [al-Ma'idah:89]. Therefore, you must seek out ten people, even if the days are spread out, but you must hasten to do so as much as possible. If feeding them is spread over different days, there is no harm, but you must strive to find ten and hasten to pay the expiation, or clothe them with clothing that is sufficient for prayer, or provide them with a lunch or dinner, for this is sufficient according to the aforementioned verse.
A: It is necessary to seek out ten people, so if you feed one person and repeat that, it is not sufficient; rather, ten are required, as Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) said in His Noble Book in Surat al-Ma'idah:
Allah will not impose blame upon you for what is meaningless in your oaths, but He will impose blame upon you for [breaking] what you intended of oaths. So its expiation is the feeding of ten needy people from the average of that which you feed your [own] families or clothing them or the freeing of a slave
لا يُؤَاخِذُكُمُ اللَّهُ بِاللَّغْوِ فِي أَيْمَانِكُمْ وَلَكِنْ يُؤَاخِذُكُمْ بِمَا عَقَّدْتُمُ الْأَيْمَانَ فَكَفَّارَتُهُ إِطْعَامُ عَشَرَةِ مَسَاكِينَ مِنْ أَوْسَطِ مَا تُطْعِمُونَ أَهْلِيكُمْ أَوْ كِسْوَتُهُمْ أَوْ تَحْرِيرُ رَقَبَةٍ
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.