22. Vows and Oaths

Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab from Ubaydullahibn Abdullah ibn Utba ibn Masud from Abdullah ibn Abbas that Sad ibnUbada questioned the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and granthim peace, and said,"My mother died while she still had a vow whichshe had not fulfilled." The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless himand grant him peace, said, "Fulfill it for her." Yahya related to me from Malik from Abdullah ibn AbiBakr that his paternal aunt related that her grandmother made a vow towalk to the Quba mosque. She died, and did not fulfill it, so Abdullahibn Abbas asked her daughter to walk for her. Yahya said thathe had heard Malik say, "No one walks for anyone else." Yahya related to me from Malik that Abdullah ibn Abi Habiba said,"I said to a man, when I was young, 'A man who only says that he mustwalk to the House of Allah and does not say that he has vowed to walk,does not have to walk.' A man said, 'Shall I give you this smallcucumber?' and he had a small cucumber in his hand and you will say,'I must walk to the house of Allah?' I said, 'Yes' and I said it, forat that time I was still immature. Then, when I came of age, some onesaid to me that I had to fulfill my vow. I went and asked Said ibn al-Musayyab about it, and he said to me, 'You must walk.' So I walked." Malik said, "That is the custom among us." Yahya related to me from Malik that Urwa ibn Udhayna al-Laythisaid, "I went out with my grandmother who had vowed to walk to theHouse of Allah. When we had gone part of the way, she could not go on.I sent one of her mawlas to question Abdullah ibn Umar and I went withhim. He asked Abdullah ibn Umar, and Abdullah ibn Umar said to him,'Take her and let her ride, and when she has the strength let her rideback, and start to walk from the place from which she was unable to goon.'~ Yahya said that he had heard Malik say, "I think thatshe must sacrifice an animal." Yahya related to me from Malikthat he had heard that Said ibn al-Musayyab and Abu Salama ibn Abd ar-Rahman said the same as Abdullah ibn Umar. Yahya related to me from Malik that Yahya ibn Said said, "I vowedto walk, but I was struck by a pain in the kidney, so I rode until Icame to Makka. I questioned Ata ibn Abi Rabah and others, and theysaid, 'You must sacrifice an animal.' When I came to Madina Iquestioned the ulama there, and they ordered me to walk again from theplace from which I was unable to go on. So I walked." Yahyasaid that he had heard Malik say, "What is done among us regardingsomeone who makes a vow to walk to the House of Allah, and then cannotdo it and so rides, is that he must return and walk from the placefrom which he was unable to go on. If he cannot walk, he should walkwhat he can and then ride, and he must sacrifice a camel, a cow, or asheep if that is all that he can find." Malik, when askedabout a man who said to another, "I will carry you to the House ofAllah", answered, "If he intended to carry him on his shoulder, bythat he meant hardship and exhaustion to himself, and he does not haveto do that. Let him walk by foot and make sacrifice. If he did notintend anything, let him do hajj and ride, and take the man on hajjwith him. That is because he said, 'I will carry you to the house ofAllah.' If the man refuses to do hajj with him, then there is nothingagainst him, and what is demanded of him is cancelled." Yahyasaid that Malik was asked whether it was enough for a man who had madea vow that he would walk to the House of Allah a certain (large)number of times, or who had forbidden himself from talking to hisfather and brother, if he did not fulfil a certain vow, and he hadtaken upon himself, by the oath, something which he was incapable offulfilling in his lifetime, even though he were to try every year, tofulfil only one or a (smaller) number of vows by Allah? Malik said,"The only satisfaction for that that I know is fulfilling what he hasobliged himself to do. Let him walk for as long as he is able and drawnear Allah the Exalted by what he can of good." Yahya related to me from Malik that what he preferred of what hehad heard from the people of knowledge about a man or woman who vowedto walk to the House of Allah, was that they fulfilled the oath whenperforming umra, by walking until they had done say between Safa andMarwa. When they had done say it was finished. If they vowed to walkin the hajj, they walked until they came to Makka, then they walkeduntil they had finished all the rites. Malik said, "Walkingis only for hajj or umra." Yahya related to me from Malik that Humayd ibn Qays and Thawr ibnZayd adDili both informed him that the Messenger of Allah, may Allahbless him and grant him peace, (and one of them gave more detail thanthe other),saw a man standing in the sun. The Messenger asked, "What'swrong with him?" The people said, "He has vowed not to speak or toseek shade from the sun or to sit and to fast." The Messenger ofAllah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Go and tell himto speak, seek shade, and sit, but let him complete his fast." Malik said, "I have not heard that the Messenger of Allah, mayAllah bless him and grant him peace, ordered the man in question to doany kaffara. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant himpeace, only ordered him to complete that in which there was obedienceto Allah and to abandon that in which there was disobedience toAllah." Yahya related to me from Malik that Yahya ibn Said heard al-Qasimibn Muhammad say, "A woman came to Abdullah ibn Abbas and said, 'Ihave vowed to sacrifice my son.' Ibn Abbas said, 'Do not sacrificeyour son. Do kaffara for your oath.' An old man with Ibn Abbas said,'What kaffara is there for this?' Ibn Abbas said, 'Allah the Exaltedsaid, "Those of you who say, regarding their wives.'Be as my mother'sback' (Sura58 ayat 2) and then He went on to oblige the kaffara for itas you have seen.' " Yahya related to me from Malik from Talha ibn Abi al-Malik al-Ayli from al-Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn as-Siddiq from A'isha that theMessenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said,"Whoever vows to obey Allah, let him obey Him. Whoever vows to disobeyAllah, let him not disobey Him." Yahya said that he had heardMalik say, "The meaning of the statement of the Prophet, may Allahbless him and grant him peace, 'Whoever vows to disobey Allah, let himnot disobey Him' is that for instance a man who vows that, if hespeaks to such-and-such a person, he will walk to Syria, Egypt, or anyother such things which are not considered as ibada, is not under anyobligation by any of that, even if he did speak to the man or didbreak whatever it was he swore, because Allah does not demandobedience in such things. He should only fulfill those things in whichthere is obedience to Allah." 22.5 Rashness in Oaths Yahya related to me from Malik from Hisham ibn Urwa from hisfather that A'isha, umm al-muminin said, "Rashness in oaths is that aman says, 'By Allah, No! by Allah!' " i.e. out of habit. Malik said, "The best of what I have heard on the matter is thatrashness in oaths is that a man take an oath on something to show thathe is certain that it is like he said, only to find that it is otherthan what he said. This is rashness." Malik said, "Thebinding oath is for example, that a man says that he will not sell hisgarment for ten dinars, and then he sells it for that, or that he willbeat his young slave and then does not beat him, and so on. One doeskaffara for making such an oath, and there is no kaffara in rashness." Malik said, "As for the one who swears to a thing which heknows is wicked, and he swears to a lie he knows to be a lie, in orderto please someone with it or to excuse himself to someone by it or togain money by it, no kaffara that he does for it can cover it." Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that Abdullah ibn Umarsaid, "Whoever swears by Allah and then says, 'Allah willing' and thendoes not do what he has sworn to, has not broken his oath." Malik said, "The best I have heard on this reservation is that itbelongs to the statement made if the speaker does not break the normalflow of speech before he is silent. If he is silent and breaks theflow of speech, he has no exception." Yahya said, "Malik saidthat a man who said that he had disbelieved or associated somethingwith Allah and then he broke his oath, had no kaffara, and he was nota disbeliever or one who associated something with Allah unless hisheart concealed something of either of those. He should askforgiveness of Allah and not return to it - for what he did was evil." Yahya related to me from Malik from Suhayl ibn Abi Salih from hisfather from Abu Hurayra that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah blesshim and grant him peace, said, "Whoever makes an oath and then seesthat something else would be better than it, should do kaffara for hisoath and do what is better." Yahya said that he heard Maliksay, "Anyone who says that he has a vow but does not mention the nameof Allah, is still obliged to make the kaffara for an oath (if hebreaks it)". Malik said, "Emphasis is when a man swears onething several times, repeating the oath in his speech time after time.For instance, the statement, 'By Allah, I will not decrease it fromsuch-and-such,' sworn three times or more. The kaffara of that is likethe kaffara of one oath. If a man swears, 'I will not eat this food orwear these clothes or enter this house,' that is all in one oath, andhe is only obliged to do one kaffara. It is the same for a man whosays to his wife, 'You are divorced if I clothe you in this garment orlet you go to the mosque,' and it is one entire statement in thenormal pattern of speech. If he breaks any of that oath, divorce isnecessary, and there is no breaking of oath after that in whatever hedoes. There is only one oath to be broken in that." Maliksaid, "What we do about a woman who makes a vow without her husband'spermission is that she is allowed to do so and she must fulfill it, ifit only concerns her own person and will not harm her husband. If,however, it will harm her husband, he may forbid her to fulfill it,but it remains an obligation against her until she has the opportunityto complete it." Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that Abdullah ibn Umarsaid, "If someone breaks an oath which he has stressed, he has to freea slave, or clothe ten poor people. If someone breaks an oath, but hasnot stressed it, he only has to feed ten poor people and each poorperson is fed a mudd of wheat. Some one who does not have the meansfor that, should fast for three days." Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that Abdullah ibn Umarused to do kaffara for a broken oath by feeding ten poor people. Eachperson got a mudd of wheat. He sometimes freed a slave if he hadrepeated the oath. Yahya related to me from Malik from Yahyaibn Said that Sulayman ibn Yasar said, "I understood from people thatwhen they made the kaffara for a broken oath, they gave a mudd ofwheat according to the smaller mudd. They thought that that wouldcompensate for them." Malik said, "The best of what I haveheard about the one who does kaffara for breaking his oath by clothingpeople is that if he clothes men he clothes them each in one garment.If he clothes women, he clothes them each in two garments, a longshift and a long scarf, because that is what is satisfactory for eachof them in the prayer." Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi from Abdullah ibn Umarthat one time the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and granthim peace, was speaking to Umar ibn al-Khattab while he was travellingwith a troop and Umar swore by his father and he (the Messenger) said,"Allah forbids you to swear by your fathers. If anyone swears, let himswear by Allah or keep silent." Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that theMessenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, usedtosay, "No, by the Overturner of hearts." Yahya related to me from Malik from Uthman ibn Hafs ibn Umar ibnKhalda that Ibn Shihab had heard that Abu Lubaba ibn Abd al-Mundhir,when Allah turned to him said, "Messenger of Allah, should I leave mypeople's house in which I committed wrong action and keep yourcompany, and give away all my property as sadaqa for Allah and HisMessenger? "The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant himpeace, said, "Giving away a third of it is enough for you." Yahya related to me from Malik from Ayyub ibn Musa from Mansuribn Abd ar-Rahman al-Hajabi from his mother that A'isha, umm al-muminin, may Allah be pleased with her, was asked about a man whodevoted his property to the door of Kaba. She said, "Let him dokaffara for it with the kaffara of the oath." Malik said,that someone who devoted all his property in the way of Allah, andthen broke his oath, should put a third of his property in the way ofAllah, as that was what the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless himand grant him peace, did in the case of Abu Lubaba.