Question:
I made a vow last year (fulfilling all the conditions of an oath in Shariah) not to indulge in a particular act of sin for a period of six months (so, for example, if I made the vow on 01 July, it was up to 31 Dec). I stipulated a condition in the vow that if I did engage in that act, I would give X amount of money in charity within 03 days of committing the sin. The exact wording was something like: “I swear by/in the name of Allah that, for the next six months, I will not do such-and-such, and if I do, I will give X amount in charity within 03 days of the same.”
Something else that I am pretty sure I said when taking the oath was that I would give that X amount for “each time” I committed that act within the six-month period. But the thing is, when I took the oath, I spoke out the wordings for it from what I had written down beforehand (to be exactly sure of what I say), and when I just now checked what I wrote, the “each time” bit is not there. However, this is something that has been on my mind ever since I made the vow, so I’m assuming I must have thought of it after I wrote the wordings, and said it. But now that I see that the “each time” part is not there in writing, I am getting confused as to whether I did actually say it or not (after being convinced for the past many months that I did say it).
May Allah forgive me, I engaged in that act during those six months so many times that I lost count. The first time I did it, I did give the X amount in charity within 03 days, but after that I did not. The six-month period has since expired.
My question is:
[1] How many expiations for a broken oath am I to give? One, or for each number of times I did the act?
[2] What is the status of the X amount in charity that I vowed to give? I had already given it for the first time I did that act. Do I now have to guesstimate the number of times I must have done it and calculate the X amount on that?
[3] For the expiation, can I simply estimate the amount it takes to feed 10 poor people twice a day and then give that amount to a charity which, among other activities, also feeds poor people?
[4] Is there anything else I need to be aware of in this regard?
Answer:
Do not repeat such an act. In the absence of your pronouncing the word nadhartu your act was not a vow (nadhr) but an oath (hilf yamin) which is expiated no more than one time and once for all in the terms Allah Most High described in the verse 5:89.
{Allah will not take you to task for that which is unintentional in your oaths, but He will take you to task for the oaths which ye swear in earnest. The expiation thereof is the feeding of ten of the needy with the average of that wherewith ye feed your own folk, or the clothing of them, or the liberation of a slave, and for him who findeth not (the wherewithal to do so) then a three day fast. This is the expiation of your oaths when ye have sworn; and keep your oaths. Thus Allah expoundeth unto you His revelations in order that ye may give thanks. }
Hajj Gibril Haddad
